189: Chapter 189: There are 80 billion alien civilizations in the universe

Civilizations are like mayflies on the cosmic scale...

Even if thousands upon thousands have existed, most of them miss each other, living and dying in solitude.

In the principal's office, Old Yu murmured, losing his color: "This... this is even more distressing than them not existing at all. To think there could have been so many!"

Principal Fu furrowed his brows, puzzled: "If there truly were that many, even if only a small fraction of signals had traveled through time to reach us today, we should have detected something. Why can't our radio telescopes hear anything?"

Old Wang rested his cheek against his hand: "Is it like an ancient battlefield where signal beacons were lit and then extinguished one by one? But because they were too far apart and too much time had passed, by the time we saw that light on the horizon, the beacons had long since gone out, the war in the distance was over, and everyone was gone. Is that it?"

Xiao Wang seemed a bit lost in thought: "Then are the signals we send out like throwing a small stone into a bottomless ancient well, listening for an echo that might never have an answer?"

Inside the Huaqing University faculty dormitory.

Professor Wu took a deep breath, his tone heavy: "Isolation in time may be even more despairing than isolation in space; it is a barrier set by the laws of cosmic physics that cannot be crossed!"

Professor Ouyang's tense body relaxed involuntarily, his eyes locked on the big screen: "This means that between what is observable and what is communicable, there lies an infinite time difference. We might be able to see the brilliance emitted by a civilization a million years ago, but we cannot communicate with them at that point in time; unless signals break the speed of light, allowing us to receive each other's information."

"But the pity is—we are now ghosts in each other's history and future."

The physics students nearby looked at each other, a profound sense of powerlessness arising spontaneously.

They studied physics to explore the laws of the universe, but at this moment, it was as if they had touched the cold, iron laws beneath those rules!

It made them unconsciously feel how insignificant and extremely fragile humanity is!

Li Mo's expression was unnatural: "If this is true, then the history of the universe is just a silent and regrettable epic movie. Damn it!"

On the other side, in Qingfeng Temple.

The skepticism on Professor Zhang Qinian's face had vanished; he just stared blankly at the number 1600.

With such a massive base, to have only 1600 civilizations—even in the pessimistic group—he seemed to see the starlight of countless civilizations extinguished in the depths of time and space.

Beside him, Zheng Ming, Celestial Master Zhang, and Wang Chongyang all wore extremely grave expressions.

At this moment, they all felt a sense of macroscopic loneliness, feeling that the deceit in the human world, the desperate struggle to move forward, and the striving all lost their meaning in an instant.

In the living room, on the sofa, Jiang Zhe looked at Steel Rain's pale expression: "Steel Rain, look, Formula J not only gives the possible range of numbers but also reveals a deeper fact. On the stage of the cosmic scale, [Civilization Existence] itself may not be rare, but [Civilization Encounters] require miracles!"

"And this may be just one of the reasons why we cannot hear them!"

He looked at Steel Rain, his gaze profound: "Now, do you still think that the reason we haven't discovered them must be because they don't exist?"

Steel Rain swallowed, recovering from the shock—the sorrow of being born at the wrong time still enveloped her thoughts.

Her voice was obviously a bit low: "It's, it's too despairing; it's as if the entire universe is staging a grand and eternal missed connection. We and they are forever separated by a thick wall of time, perhaps never even having the chance to brush past each other."

Soon, she shook her head vigorously, shaking off the oppressive mood, her eyes becoming firm again: "Big Brother, the optimistic group, the optimistic group; I don't want the pessimistic group anymore. The answer from the pessimistic group is too oppressive!"

Not only her, but countless viewers also empathized, struggling out of that complex emotion, staring intently at the screen.

Jiang Zhe smiled slightly: "Alright, then let's do the optimistic group!"

He turned around, facing the wallpaper again, explaining as he wrote.

"Now, these are the parameters for the optimistic group."

"Optimistic parameters: B = 0.5, C = 0.2, D = 0.1, E = 0.01, F = 0.1, G = 10000 years."

"N Universe, optimistic = 4 × 10^23 x 0.5 x 0.2 x 0.1 x 0.01 x 0.1 x 10000 years!"

Jiang Zhe gave the answer on the spot: "The result is approximately 8 × 10^10; that is, 80 billion alien civilizations!"

After writing, he turned around and grinned: "Are you still pessimistic now?"

The moment the number 80 billion appeared, Steel Rain and the entire livestream room seemed to fall into a dead silence; even the bullet comments suddenly vanished.

Everyone who was originally in a complex mood instantly broke free from it.

One pessimistic, one optimistic—there's an exponential increase in magnitude between them???

At this moment, Steel Rain's mouth was slightly agape, dumbfounded, unable to say a single word.

All the viewers watching this scene, whether teachers or experts, were shaken by this impact purely from the order of magnitude.

A few seconds later, the bullet comments in the livestream room erupted like a flood!

"How much??? 80 billion? My ears aren't playing tricks on me, right?"

"Alien civilizations in the tens of billions, my brain can't process this number!"

"This is just the optimistic estimate of communicable alien civilizations. If we also consider ancient alien civilizations, city-state civilizations, and primitive civilizations; holy crap... aren't civilizations in the universe as numerous as the stars, it's just that most don't have the ability to communicate with each other?"

"Holy shit! So doesn't that make the fermi paradox even more bizarre? With so many [possibilities], why can't we hear anything?"

At this time, in the principal's office.

Old Yu gasped, his face full of astonishment: "This, this order of magnitude is just too high—so high... so high that it actually makes one feel afraid!"

Principal Fu was at a loss: "80 billion, even if only one in ten thousand is real, that's still 8 million civilizations; why, why can we still not detect a single signal?"

In the Kyoto History Family Quarter.

The four professors led by Old Chen looked at each other, their faces full of incredulity!

"It's optimistic alright, but this is so optimistic it scared me!" Old Chen patted his chest ruefully, trying to calm down from this unbelievable answer.

At this time, in the Huaqing University faculty dormitory.

Ouyang Baili couldn't help but swallow, his gaze somewhat shocked: "The order of magnitude is in the tens of billions. Even considering the distribution of time, in the long history of the universe, the waves of civilization should have been layered on top of each other. This silence, it's too silent, and instead has become a mystery more terrifying than noise!"

In Qingfeng Temple.

Professor Zhang Qinian stared intently at the 80 billion on the screen...

The original skepticism and criticism had now turned into earth-shattering confusion.

He subconsciously repeated: "Under optimistic parameters, 80 billion. Even if optimistic, it is absolutely impossible for all intelligent civilizations to live in the same period. In the 13 billion-plus year history of the universe, they are like lights scattered across different sections of a river..."

Zheng Ming couldn't help asking: "Professor Zhang, does this formula calculation have any merit at all? I mean, astronomical merit?"

Professor Zhang Qinian was silent for a long time before shaking his head: "This is a purely numerical game, but, but the board for this game is just too big. So big that one has to re-examine the weight of the word 'possibility'."

He had taken this time to carefully consider the scientific content of Formula J.

It does have technical content within the astronomical circle, and the technical content is not low, but the results are always erratic; so it also doesn't have much technical content!

At least for a national-level astronomy research professor!

On the big screen, in the living room.

Jiang Zhe's gaze fell on Steel Rain's shocked face, and he summarized calmly:

"Steel Rain, look, this is probability on the cosmic scale."

"Even if Big Brother uses relatively conservative optimistic data and sets the technological active period of civilizations to 10,000 years—which is still just a fleeting moment on the cosmic time scale—in the entire observable universe, theoretically, there could have existed or exist intelligent civilizations on the scale of tens of billions."

"If you continue to want to be more optimistic—assuming some civilizations can stably exist for 100,000 years, a million years, or civilizations where the form of life undergoes a qualitative change, then this number will skyrocket exponentially!"

Speaking to this point, he paused for a moment and continued to explain: "Of course, conversely, if the Great Filter is very cruel, the value of G, which is the lifespan of a civilization, is generally very low, then this number will also drop sharply!"

"But in any case, extrapolating from the Milky Way to the universe, what Formula J tells humanity is: on the observable universe, this vast platform that cannot be described in words, the play of intelligent life can by no means be an exclusive performance for us humans on Earth."

"In other words, humans, don't think of yourselves as too special; humans are neither the chosen ones nor the protagonists; human civilization is just a drift in the vast universe!"

He put down the brush, looked at Steel Rain, who was still in shock, and his tone recovered a little,

"So, returning to Steel Rain's initial question about the first observer, perhaps we can think about it from a different angle now."

"On the cosmic scale, the number [first] is very meaningless."

"But [countless numbers] and [civilizations that continue to exist and continue to observe until the end of the universe], that is the key that truly determines whether reality can continue without collapsing."

"What we are going to explore next is what kind of civilization is capable of becoming a member of that [continuous existence] and even making it to the end."

He walked back to the sofa, picked up the pink inflatable hammer he brought from the old house, and smashed it onto Steel Rain's dog head.

"You should wake up!"

Steel Rain finally recovered from the shocked state and uttered a sentence: "I, Steel Rain, fuck!!!"