351: Chapter 351: We are the universe

A few minutes later, the discussions in the living room gradually died down.

The attention of all the experts shifted back to Jiang Zhe.

Jiang Zhe scanned the audience, "Is no one raising their hand?"

Finally, his gaze landed on a silver-haired scholar sitting on the sofa to the left.

The man was wearing a dark gray jacket and gold-rimmed glasses, with a lean build; he looked well-kept and healthy!

He was a retired researcher from the Kyoto Observatory, surnamed Sun, who specialized in cosmology. He had published dozens of papers in the field of galaxy evolution and was also a senior to Lin Chen, who was sitting nearby.

"Old Mr. Sun, do you have a question?"

Old Mr. Sun sat up straight, "Mr. Jiang Zhe, could you talk about the universe?"

Jiang Zhe smiled slightly, "Old Mr. Sun, you have spent your whole life studying the universe; let me ask you a question: where do you think the universe is?"

Old Mr. Sun was stunned, not quite understanding what Jiang Zhe meant.

After thinking for a moment, he blurted out, "Where? It's right outside, above our heads."

"Outside?" Jiang Zhe pointed to the sky outside the living room, "Are you saying, the 'outside' that is hundreds of kilometers, thousands of light-years, or 13.8 billion light-years away?"

"Yes."

"Then let me ask you another question." Jiang Zhe couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile, then raised a finger, "Is the universe you see inside your brain, or outside your brain?"

Old Mr. Sun frowned and replied, "Of course it is outside the brain. What I see are real, existing celestial bodies; they are real, not hallucinations."

"How do you know it's not a hallucination?"

Old Mr. Sun opened his mouth, but was left speechless.

Jiang Zhe stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and drew a little stick figure.

Then, he drew a huge circle above the stick figure's head and wrote 'Universe'.

"This is the mainstream view: the universe is outside, and humans are inside; the universe is the container, and humans are the grains of sand within that container."

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over Academician Zhang, Professor Chen Runzhi, Guan Jingming, Old Mr. Sun, Old Zhao, and the others in the front row.

"But I must tell you all—this view is actually wrong!"

The living room instantly went quiet; Academician Zhang furrowed his brows, and Professor Chen Runzhi looked astonished.

All the experts' gazes shifted back and forth between the whiteboard and Jiang Zhe. This was tantamount to saying: 'The universe you see is wrong.'

Jiang Zhe didn't explain; instead, he picked up the whiteboard eraser and wiped away the large circle above the stick figure's head.

"Have you ever thought about a question—who invented the word 'universe'?"

No one in the room answered.

"Humans." Jiang Zhe turned to face everyone, answering his own question, "The concept of the universe is a product of the human brain."

"Before humanity appeared, there was no word for universe, no concept of a universe, no cognitive framework of a universe."

"At that time, there were only stars rotating, matter moving, and light flickering on celestial bodies; nothing labeled it as the 'universe'."

Then he held up a finger.

"You all think the universe exists objectively, but 'objective existence' itself is a human concept."

"You think the universe is real, but 'reality' itself is also a human concept."

"All the vocabulary you use to describe the universe, including space, time, matter, energy, the Big Bang, galaxies, black holes, etc., are all tools invented by the human brain."

He picked up a black marker, turned around, and drew a small circle inside the stick figure's head on the whiteboard, writing the word 'Concept' inside it.

"What is the universe that you have all spent your whole lives studying, in essence?"

He turned around, his gaze falling on Old Mr. Sun.

"It is a concept within your brains."

"You are not studying things outside; you are only studying the models inside your brains."

"You think you are exploring the universe, but in reality, you are only exploring the products of your own brains."

Hearing this, Old Mr. Sun's expression changed instantly.

He couldn't help but swallow hard, feeling that this statement somewhat transcended the grand feeling he usually had when observing the universe.

It was as if he had been pulled back to reality from the macro universe by Jiang Zhe's few words.

The feeling of vastness and magnificence disappeared, leaving only a trace of clarity and confusion.

Jiang Zhe smiled slightly and continued to explain:

"Those photos taken by astronomical telescopes—nebulae, galaxies, black holes, etc.; you think that is what the universe looks like."

"But what is that photo?"

"It's just photons hitting a sensor, converting into electrical signals, and then into an image. That image is the result of your brain's translation."

"You haven't seen the universe itself; you have only seen what your brain allows you to see."

Saying this, he continued to turn around, drew an arrow on the stick figure's eyes, and pointed it toward the small circle labeled 'Concept'.

"Cosmologists have spent over a hundred years calculating the age of the universe—13.8 billion years."

His gaze returned to Old Mr. Sun, and he answered his own question: "I ask you, what is this 13.8 billion years? It is a number. Who defined this number? Humans."

"The concept of time is a product of the human brain; before humans appeared, there were no years, no billions, no 138. You used a ruler you invented yourselves to measure something you cannot reach, and then declared that this is the truth of the universe!"

After he finished speaking, he scanned the crowd and could see that everyone's face was filled with astonishment and bewilderment.

"The most terrifying thing is that the universe you have spent your whole lives studying might not even be outside at all!"

With these words falling, the living room went completely silent.

Not outside!

The universe is not outside!!!

These words hit like a heavy hammer against the hearts of every expert present.

Old Mr. Sun stared at the stick figure on the whiteboard, his lips trembling.

Academician Zhang swallowed repeatedly; even he could not refute it in the short term.

Zheng Ming stared fixedly at the small circle labeled 'Concept' on the whiteboard.

After a long time, Jiang Zhe continued:

"Old Mr. Sun, you asked me if I could talk about the universe. My answer is—there is no universe, only the concept of the universe within the human brain."

"You think you are exploring the universe, but in reality, you are exploring yourselves."

He scanned the people present with a serious expression, "And we are the universe!"

"Next!"

For a long time, there was no sound in the living room.

Everyone was digesting this statement, and everyone saw their own future in these words.

Soon, the barrage in the live stream exploded.

"Holy crap, the universe is a concept in the brain, we are the universe!"

"So Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Einstein, and the others weren't studying the universe, but their own brains?"

"13.8 billion years is a number defined by humans, so who gets to decide the true age of the universe?"

"This guy's words are too brutal; we are just exploring ourselves."

"I suddenly feel like I have never seen the real world; I have only seen the world that my brain allows me to see."

"Is this the modern scientific version of idealism?"

"It's not idealism, it's cognitive limits. This guy is talking about the limits of human cognition."

"So, is the blue I see really the same blue that others see?"

"You're off-topic, but the meaning is similar—color is also the result of the brain's translation."

"Damn, I have goosebumps all over."

"Dude, don't move on to the next person yet, I need a moment to recover."

The barrage scrolled madly, but the living room remained quiet.

Everyone was re-examining themselves in their own silence.