201: Chapter 201: Jiang Zhe's Ball

After a brief silence in the livestream room, bullet comments erupted like a tide.

"So, we're not looking for a god, but for a future champion?"

"I get it, it's the ultimate scene of involution. All civilizations in the universe are competing, and in the end, the winner takes all—even the right to interpret the history of the universe!"

"The more I think about it, the scarier it gets. Are we studying physics and doing scientific research now just to fight for mankind's entry ticket to the finals?"

"The person above is right!!"

"Please broaden your horizons, everyone. The goal of human civilization has suddenly become clear—it's not the sea of stars, but jumping out of the universe!"

"..."

Inside the professor dormitory building at Huaqing University.

Ouyang Baili's eyes were full of excitement as he nodded repeatedly. "That's right. The first civilization to observe the universe is in the future, not in the past or the present."

"The pursuit of an intelligent civilization is transcendence. As long as you stay inside the universe, no matter how powerful you are, you will eventually be bound!"

"Only by escaping and standing outside can one achieve true transformation and freedom!"

However, Professor Wu spoke up in disagreement. "The idea is very good, but it's ultimately a castle in the air. If there were as many civilizations in the universe as he describes, even if only a small portion developed to the point of interstellar communication, we should have received at least a few words by now, according to probability."

"But currently, the starry sky is dead silent. Let's not talk about the old cliché of alien civilizations not using electromagnetic waves, and let's not say that civilizations are separated by time."

"If everyone is racing and the universe is so large, shouldn't there be contestants of the same era who could meet each other?"

"The fact is, there are none—not a single one!"

These words earned the agreement of several physics students nearby who were listening intently.

"Yeah, Professor Wu has a point. Jiang Zhe's theory is deduced based on Causal Technological Civilizations; it's logically self-consistent, but it conflicts with observational facts."

"The idea that the first observer is an internal civilization that achieved dimension ascension is cool, but it doesn't explain The Great Silence."

"Thinking is one thing, and I admit his depth of thought is amazing, but on this point, it's indeed a fatal flaw."

Faced with these reality-based observations, Ouyang Baili opened his mouth but couldn't find a more powerful rebuttal for a moment. After all, where they are—that question has always been an unsolved mystery for astronomers!

Dr. Li Mo and Professor Guan Jingming glanced at each other and merely nodded thoughtfully.

The two of them didn't join the argument.

Clearly, the point raised by Professor Wu indeed struck at the contradiction between this great conjecture and reality.

...

Inside Qingfeng Temple.

Zheng Ming savored Jiang Zhe's words and then shook his head. "It still feels too mystical. The first observer was born inside the universe, then jumped out, looked back, and hey, the history of the universe was observed. This feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy. The logic works, but something feels off!"

Professor Zhang commented, "This viewpoint is very unique, one could even say it's highly subversive. It turns the observer from a static entity into a dynamic result of competition."

"Unfortunately, no matter how brilliant the idea is, it's currently only built on the foundation derived from Quantum Mechanics—it's very bold, but lacks empirical evidence. It remains at the forefront of philosophical and theoretical physics imagination."

"However, I'm starting to acknowledge this young fellow's ideas, insights, and depth of thought!"

Zheng Ming looked at him with some surprise. What are you doing? I asked you to find flaws in him, so how did you end up being won over?

It was the same with Dr. Zhou Ming last time, and Xu Mu too...

It seems that next time I shouldn't look for middle-aged or old men; I should bring a younger brother over!

Inside the big screen, on the sofa.

Xiao Yu secretly glanced at the discussions on her phone screen about where the aliens were and why they remained silent.

Her gaze fell on her brother as she asked, "Brother, if there really are so many civilizations, visible or hidden, competing in the universe, why does it feel like they are all isolated islands? Why can't we detect any traces of their existence? Do all civilizations that develop to a certain level prefer to be isolated from the world?"

As the question fell, the bullet comments suddenly stopped, and everyone focused their attention once more.

Hearing this, Jiang Zhe gently shook his head.

"It's not that they prefer to be isolated from the world, Xiao Yu."

"It's because when a civilization develops to a certain critical stage, its demand for energy will grow exponentially."

"If a civilization relies solely on the resources of its own planet, it will soon hit a ceiling."

"For example, if we humans only rely on the energy of Earth, for how many more years can we continue to develop?"

"Will technology keep advancing? For how many more years can civilization continue to develop?"

After he spoke, Xiao Yu and the viewers fell into deep thought together.

At this time, in the University of History's staff residential compound in Jingdu.

Hearing the question raised by Jiang Zhe, Ecology Professor Liu Guangyi's eyes flickered, and he immediately spoke: "This question actually has traces to follow from the perspectives of ecology and resource science!"

He turned to several of his colleagues. "If our human civilization's future technology basically stagnates, and according to the current consumption rate of chemical energy, preliminary nuclear energy, and renewable energy... considering population growth and the increase in basic needs, the available resources on Earth itself..."

"Optimistically, it wouldn't support a large-scale industrial civilization for more than a few thousand years."

"If technology doesn't advance, we are just sitting idle and eating away our resources."

"The energy ceiling is within reach, and civilization might fall into involution, decline, or even collapse because of it!"

"If technology continues to advance and energy efficiency keeps improving, or even if new energy modes are developed."

"Then the demand for total energy will not decrease, but instead will expand and accelerate consumption as civilization develops!"

"Just the energy required for interstellar voyages and building large-scale space facilities would be an astronomical figure."

"The matter and energy of the Earth and even the entire Solar System are not enough for a civilization that has truly stepped into the sea of stars—completely insufficient!"

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but shake his head with emotion. "So, regardless of whether technology advances or not, a civilization that craves sustainable development will eventually face the same problem—how to obtain energy far exceeding that of its home planet or even its home star system?"

"The only way is to explore outward and look for larger energy sources!"

"In this way, they fall into a deadlock!"

"1: To explore outward, the energy of the home system is insufficient."

"2: If the energy is insufficient, there is no way to explore beyond the system to obtain new energy."

"Combining these two—as Xiaoyu's brother said, 99% of civilizations will be locked down at this step."

Listening to Old Liu's professional explanation, Old Wang, Old Qian, and Old Chen looked at each other, feeling a sense of suffocation.

Inside the big screen, on the sofa.

Xiao Yu frowned, having quietly seen the inspiration brought by the golden banner voice bullet comment from Professor Liu Guangyi in the livestream room.

"So, brother," she asked tentatively, "many civilizations are locked within their home star systems, and signals are worn away along the way?"

"Even if, theoretically, electromagnetic signals can travel at the speed of light, they actually dissipate after a short distance. So it's not that there are no signals in the universe, but that most signals have vanished."

"According to the answer from the USA's National Radio Astronomy Observatory—which I happened to see before—a 1-million-watt UHF TV signal, after traveling about 21.2 astronomical units, roughly near Neptune's orbit, will become weaker than the ubiquitous Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation and thus be drowned out within its home star system."

"In this way, signals sent by low-level civilizations will quickly dissipate."

"But as for high-level civilizations, for some reason, they wouldn't be bored enough to broadcast signals?"

Hearing such an answer, Jiang Zhe's eyes lit up, and he finally nodded approvingly. "Not bad!"

"You're very close, Xiao Yu. This is a crucial point: signals do not propagate infinitely as ideally imagined."

"But an even more critical point is that the way we look for them might have been wrong from the start."

He nodded slightly. "Today's astronomers, including many SETI projects—the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence projects—have been looking toward the bright places in the universe, staring at those shining stars, analyzing their spectra, and listening for possible information."

"But who told you that an intelligent civilization developed to that stage must still stay in a bright place?"

"Why, brother, why?" Xiao Yu held her breath, and countless viewers in the livestream room suddenly frowned.

Could it be... they aren't in the bright places?

"Yes." The corners of Jiang Zhe's mouth curled slightly as he spoke earth-shattering words:

"They are very likely not in bright places—on the contrary, they might be hidden in the darkness."

"Why?"

Hidden... in the darkness???

Not only the viewers, but even the astronomy expert Professor Zhang Qinian sat up straight again. This time, he had a feeling that what Jiang Zhe was discussing was no longer a deduced future technological civilization, but solid technology!!!

Facing Xiao Yu's eager expression, Jiang Zhe did not disappoint and directly gave the answer:

"That's because a civilization at this stage has likely already built—or rather, their form of civilization has already been tightly bound to something: the [J-Sphere] (originally dyson sphere)."

"J-Sphere?"

What is a J-Sphere?

Countless viewers scratched their heads. Could it be a goal...

Or could it be a goal by the Xia National Team in the World Cup finals? That would be the biggest joke in the five thousand years of Huaxia, wouldn't it?