336: Chapter 336: Waiting for J!

"Four: The reason the Sumerians were able to suddenly develop writing, cities, and agriculture 6,500 years ago wasn't because they were smart, but because they saw what the previous cycle of civilization left behind."

"Those things told them—"

"Writing should look like this, cities should be built like this, and crops should be planted like this."

"They were not the inventors; they were the inheritors."

At this point, Professor Chen Runzhi got stuck.

Because Jiang Zhe had previously mentioned that in Puma Punku, a place tens of thousands of miles away from the Sumerian Civilization, writing from the Sumerian Civilization had been unearthed.

And the indigenous descendants of Puma Punku said that this was the writing spread by the Anunnaki.

After thinking for a moment, he added a sentence to the paper: [Sumerian writing was unearthed in the Chicken Bone Civilization of Puma Punku, tens of thousands of miles away. In local legends, the writing was spread by the extraterrestrial visitors, the Anunnaki; this argument is suitable for expanded thinking, not for archaeology!]

After finishing, he continued reading:

"Five: From this, we can infer that human civilization doesn't evolve; it cycles."

"Every civilization stands upon the ruins of the previous one."

"The ruins of a civilization will weather, collapse, and disappear; but things carved on stone can survive the fault lines, survive the blank periods, and live until the next cycle of civilization wakes up."

After Professor Chen Runzhi finished reading, he nodded with satisfaction.

After a long silence, Professor Liu Guangyi finally spoke: "This argument is even more subversive than the recursion problem!"

"I know, but this is what was derived from what he taught; we just wrote it into a paper."

Professor Wang Shouren stopped typing on the keyboard, looked up, and asked, "Then what about the paper's conclusion?"

Professor Chen Runzhi thought for a moment and said while typing:

"The conclusion is—civilization never truly perishes."

"Every annihilation will leave behind seeds, just like a dandelion."

"And the seeds in the cycle of civilization are stones, the symbols carved on stones, the fact that we existed, and the thought that we want to be remembered."

"The next cycle of civilization digs up the seeds, they take root and sprout, growing into a new civilization; then it is annihilated, leaving behind seeds again."

"And so it repeats. For hundreds of thousands of years, even the 140,000-year blank period isn't a blank, but a cycle."

"We are not the first cycle of civilization, nor will we be the last!"

He finished typing this line, finally satisfied. "It's ready to be published."

Professor Chen Runzhi opened the website and filled in the title:

《On the Cross-generational Transmission Mechanism of Civilizational Knowledge: Re-examining the 140,000-year Gap in Human Evolution from a Meta-knowledge Perspective!》

Authors: J, Professor Chen Runzhi, Qian Mingyi, Professor Liu Guangyi, Professor Wang Shouren.

Abstract:

"This paper proposes the concept of Meta-knowledge, referring to the knowledge about the preservation of knowledge."

"By analyzing the selection logic of information carriers in early global civilizations, it was discovered that the realization that [stone can last for ten thousand years] cannot be obtained through the internal accumulation of experience within a civilization; it can only be passed down by observing the remains of even earlier civilizations."

"From this, it is derived that during the 140,000-year gap in human evolution, civilizations rose and were annihilated multiple times."

"After each annihilation, technical knowledge resets to zero, but Meta-knowledge is transmitted across generations through stone remains, providing seeds for the next cycle of civilization."

"Our human civilization is not an evolution, but a cycle."

"We are not the first cycle, nor will we be the last."

The mouse clicked publish.

Ten minutes after the paper was published, it appeared on the homepage of Site A, which is used by scholars both domestically and abroad.

About ten minutes later, the first comment appeared.

An account signed by the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge posted a comment.

"The concept of Meta-knowledge is the most important theoretical innovation I have read in the last ten years."

"We have always been digging into what civilization is, but never asked how civilization remembers itself."

"This article again cites J, giving the answer as stone through the paper's conclusions by Mr. Chen and Mr. Qian from Kyoto University of History."

"It's so simple it makes one want to cry."

Soon, a second comment appeared.

This was the account of the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the Max Planck Institute.

"The issue of the 140,000-year blank period has been debated in academic circles for decades. Some say archaeology hasn't found anything yet, some say environmental constraints, and some guess we aren't the first. Inspired by J, Mr. Chen used the concept of Meta-knowledge to piece all the fragments into a complete historical background map."

"We are not the inventors; we are the inheritors."

"This sentence alone will give me food for thought for ten years!"

The third comment came from an anonymous account with an IP address in the USA.

"I have been studying Collapsology for fifteen years, and the conclusion I've always given myself is: civilization inevitably collapses, and after collapse, everything resets to zero."

"J's inspiration tells me: no, it won't reset to zero; stones will remain."

"Meta-knowledge will remain, and seeds will remain."

Then, as always.

Any paper involving J would inevitably be clicked on by many famous and unknown scholars.

A Brazilian archaeologist left a message:

"It's the amazing J again. I have seen similar symbols on the rock walls of the Amazon Jungle."

"I always thought it was primitive graffiti, but J's inspiration says those are seeds; I think I suddenly understand what I saw."

A European geologist left a message:

"We geologists study the age of rocks in units of hundreds of millions of years; we never thought that humans could also have a time scale in a geological sense; it was J who gave humans this scale!"

A Xia Country netizen, seemingly a student, left only one line of text.

"Bro is awesome, every viewpoint can make famous domestic universities write papers; so we aren't the first cycle, we are just the sprouts from the seeds; although this viewpoint was inspired by Bro, having Professor Chen propose it makes it feel so romantic!"

This comment was voted to the top.

At the end of the paper, there was a note.

As time passed, countless domestic and foreign scholars saw this note.

[Note]:

All core viewpoints and the argumentative framework of this paper are derived from the content taught by Mr. J in his livestreamed tutoring sessions.

The authors of this paper are only responsible for organizing, supplementing literature, and academic expression.

As the Spring Festival is approaching, Mr. J is busy with New Year preparations and will not be outputting new content in the near future.

This is hereby stated!

This note was screenshotted at five in the morning and, just like the previous heat on Weibo, spread across the entire domestic and international internet.

Foreign academic forums and domestic academic forums were occupied by this paper in a short time, especially the news that J was stopping his tutoring sessions.

The comment sections both at home and abroad were filled with wailing.

"Fxxk, I'm used to watching his recorded broadcasts every morning, and now you tell me he's not tutoring anymore?"

"Oh my God, I can't imagine days without him; my life will fall into such a low point!"

"Shit, I can't accept days without J!"

"..."

"One month, one month without new content, how am I supposed to live!"

"I've already downloaded the paper and plan to read it a hundred times until New Year's Eve."

The person above +1, the paper will be my spiritual food for this month."

"..."

Although J's fame abroad wasn't too explosive and only circulated within academic circles.

Still, J's hiatus caused countless foreign fans to wail, and some even went to the Xia Country internet to look for more news about J.

On the largest Qiandu platform, J's name once again occupied the headlines with a massive volume of searches.

...

Xia Country, as time passed, daytime.

Gusu University, History Department Teaching Building.

During the morning break, Lin Xiao, a sophomore, was sitting in the last row of the classroom, with the paper on her phone screen.

She had already read it for the third time.

"What are you looking at?" her deskmate leaned over.

"J's new paper."

"J published a paper?"

"He didn't publish it; Professor Chen Runzhi and the others did, but the content is all what J taught."

The deskmate leaned in to look at the screen, scanned a few lines of the abstract, and her expression changed from confusion to seriousness.

"'We are not the inventors; we are the inheritors.' Although J didn't say this, it makes me feel a bit sad!"

Lin Xiao nodded: "Yes, I've read it three times. Every time I feel—the way we study history might be wrong."

"We've always thought civilization was evolutionary, from low to high, from primitive to advanced."

"But J tells us it's not like that; our civilization is a cycle; every civilization stands on the ruins of the last."

"This is Nirvana and rebirth!"

The female deskmate was surprised for a moment and couldn't help asking: "Then our current cycle of civilization, whose ruins are we standing on?"

"I don't know; but we can find clues from the previous cycle of civilization all over the country. Maybe it was a previous technological civilization."

Ding-ling-ling, the university bell rang for class.

Lin Xiao put her phone away and opened her textbook; but her mind was still on that paper.

...

Fudan University, History Department Research Office.

At noon, Professor Zhao walked into the office carrying a lunch box and turned on his computer.

His inbox was stuffed with emails, and the top one was from Professor Chen Runzhi.

The subject was: New paper!

Professor Zhao put down his lunch box and clicked on the attachment.

He stared intently at yesterday's recorded broadcast abstract and Professor Chen Runzhi's paper abstract.

Time passed, and half an hour later, he put down his chopsticks; the food in the lunch box had already gone cold.

He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Old Chen, I've read the paper. That concept of Meta-knowledge, how did you think of it?"

"I didn't think of it; it's his."

"He said it? I didn't see it in the recorded broadcast."

"He mentioned it in passing when he was talking about out-of-place artifacts before, that some knowledge doesn't need to be taught; it's just known once it's seen; just that one sentence."

"I suddenly remembered it when I was writing the paper in the early hours of this morning, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt that this sentence was the answer."

Professor Zhao, who was over fifty-five, savored it carefully. "Old Chen, who do you think he really is? I'm not asking about J, I mean what kind of person is he really?"

"I don't know. I only know that what he is doing is more important than all of us put together."

...

At two in the afternoon, a new topic appeared on Weibo.

[Waiting for New Year's Eve!]

The initiator this time was an ordinary netizen.

"I know J isn't tutoring lately. He has to spend the New Year with his sister and prepare a gift for New Year's Eve; that gift isn't just for his sister, but also for us."

"I've thought about it carefully, and I think I know what that gift is."

"Don't forget, he could see the explosion at the Jingxuange Hotel in Magic City; that means he can see even more, even more distant things!"

"I won't reveal it for now!"

"We shouldn't rush him or disturb him now."

"But we can wait for him. On New Year's Eve, no matter what he talks about or what that gift is, I will be waiting in front of the screen; just like I have been for the past month."

Because this post spoke to the hearts of all Jiang Zhe's fans on the internet, it was quickly reposted hundreds of thousands of times.

In the comment section, countless people left messages.

"+1, waiting for J on New Year's Eve."

"I'm in the USA, thirteen hours time difference; it'll be evening there on New Year's Eve and morning here, I'll get up early then. Waiting for J."

"I'm in London, I'll stay up late, waiting for J."

"I'm in Melbourne. I'll set an alarm. Waiting for J."

"Whatever, I'll make a fool of myself, waiting for J."

"Upstairs, don't break the formation!"

"Fine, if J doesn't speak, then I will take action—no, I'll make a fool of myself!"

!!!"

"..."