352: Chapter 352: The Truth That Can Never Be Witnessed

Inside the living room.

A long time passed. Until the discussions gradually subsided and no one raised their hands, Professor Sun dared to continue asking: "Mr. Jiang, what about the Big Bang?"

"Is that starting point 13.8 billion years ago also something our brains made up?"

Jiang Zhe glanced at him. "Professor Sun, have you ever thought about one question: who determined this time point of 13.8 billion years ago?"

Professor Sun said: "It... it was back-calculated based on cosmic expansion."

"What was used to back-calculate it?"

"Galaxy redshift and the Hubble constant."

"Who measured the redshift?"

"It was us."

"Who determined the Hubble constant?"

"Also us."

Jiang Zhe nodded slightly, then stood up and walked to the whiteboard.

Next to the large circle representing the universe, he wrote a line: 13.8 billion years ago.

He turned to look at Professor Sun, his gaze sharp: "You use a ruler you invented yourselves—light speed, redshift, the Hubble constant—to measure something you cannot touch, which is the past universe, and then declare to the whole world: the universe began 13.8 billion years ago."

"But have you thought about it—whose concept is 'beginning'?"

Professor Sun and the experts looked at each other, falling silent on the spot.

Jiang Zhe continued: "Yes, 'beginning' is a concept of the human brain."

"Sunrises and sunsets have a beginning, human life has a beginning."

"You project this daily experience of a 'beginning' onto the universe; then you tell yourselves that the universe must also have a beginning!"

He picked up a black marker and drew a line under 13.8 billion years ago, drawing a question mark at the left end of the line.

"But everyone, please look, what is to the left of this line?"

"You physicists and cosmologists say there is no left side, because time began with the Big Bang."

"But the concept of 'no left side' is also from the human brain."

"You use a time framework you invented yourselves to frame something you cannot understand, and then announce to the outside world—nothing exists outside the framework."

He put down the pen, stood in front of the sofa, and rested his hands on the armrest.

"Professor Sun, let me ask you another question."

"You say the universe is expanding; what can you use to prove it?"

Without waiting for a response, Jiang Zhe continued: "Redshift. And what is redshift?—light waves being stretched."

"How do you know light waves are stretched? Spectral lines shifting toward the red end. And who measured those spectral lines? You. And who interpreted the phenomenon of spectral line shifting? Still you!"

He held up a finger with a serious expression.

"You think you are measuring the real universe; in reality, you are only measuring the data of the universe inside your own head."

"You have constructed a closed loop for yourself: you take readings with instruments, then process the readings with mathematical formulas, then reach a conclusion, and then say—[This is the truth of the universe!]"

"But this truth, from beginning to end, has never left your laboratory, has never left your eyes, and has never even left your brain!"

After speaking, he turned and walked back to the whiteboard.

He drew a circular arrow between the little person's eyes and the small conceptual circle.

Turning around, he scanned the room, the many experts full of shock.

His voice was unhurried: "You say the universe is expanding. I ask you: the action of expansion requires space, right?"

"Who defined space? Still you. You use space defined by yourself to contain an expansion observed by yourself, and then say this is an objective fact."

His gaze swept over everyone present, finally landing back on Professor Sun.

"Professor Sun, I am not denying cosmology; I am saying that what you study is never the thing outside."

"You and all cosmologists in the world are studying the universe model inside your brains."

"And you all treat the model itself as the universe itself."

As the series of words fell, everyone in the room gasped.

Without giving them time to react, Jiang Zhe asked again: "Professor Sun, you asked me if the Big Bang is true; my answer is—the Big Bang is true, but it is not the starting point of the universe."

"It is only the starting point of that universe concept in your brain."

"13.8 billion years ago, it wasn't that the universe started to explode and then expanded; it was that your... no, human cognition started to weave a logically coherent story for the universe."

"You think you are tracing the history of the universe."

"In reality, everyone present is tracing the evolutionary history of human cognition, whether it is the universe, the Earth, or civilization."

"From the geocentric theory to the heliocentric theory, from Newton to Einstein, from the Big Bang to the multiverse; this is essentially not the universe changing, but the concept of the universe in the human brain changing."

He sat back on the sofa, saying calmly: "So, you ask me how I view the universe, what the truth of the universe is."

"In my opinion!"

"The truth of the universe is that it has no truth; it only has constantly evolving human cognition."

"Every generation's cognition of the universe changes, and I can responsibly say—the universe is never what you top experts think it is, and you will never be able to see or touch the truth of the universe."

"Professor Sun, you and the individual experts present have studied the universe for a lifetime; it is not the universe that is changing, but the universe in everyone's brains that is changing."

"And that universe has never been the thing outside; it has always been your own cognition."

"Professor Sun, you and all the cosmologists in the world—no, they are not cosmologists, but cosmic archaeologists who know how to write stories."

"All cosmic archaeologists in the world are not digging up the history of the universe; they are digging up the history of virtual stories that the human brain has woven for the real universe."

After speaking, Jiang Zhe smiled slightly and said no more.

In the room, all the experts fell into a long silence.

It felt as if something proud had just been shattered.

The twenty-one big shots looked at each other, all seeing unwillingness and frustration on each other's faces.

Professor Sun sat on the single sofa, motionless.

The curiosity on his face had completely transformed into confusion, shock, and finally deep thought.

About 2 minutes later, he muttered self-deprecatingly: "Then what have I been studying my whole life?"

Ouyang Baili, sitting not far beside him, spoke softly: "Professor Sun, let me tell you a story."

Professor Sun looked at Professor Ouyang and nodded slightly.

"Once upon a time, there was a person who, from birth, was put on a pair of red glasses by his parents, and that person had never taken them off."

"So it caused him to feel that everything he saw was red; he saw pears as red, cucumbers as red; he saw the sky as red... everything he saw was red."

"When that person was 18, after having sufficient knowledge; he began to study the colors of the world."

"So he did many experiments, wrote many papers, and finally, in his old age, concluded—so our world is red."

Speaking of this, Professor Ouyang asked seriously: "Was he right? In his glasses, he was right. But what color the world itself is, he will never know."

At this point, Ouyang Baili pointed deeply at Professor Sun's eyes, and then pointed at his own eyes.

"Professor Sun, actually, you and I are both wearing a pair of glasses."

"It's just not red, but the color of [Human Cognition]."

"You have worn it since birth and have never taken it off; this caused you to see the universe as red, and you thought the universe was red."

"You have studied the universe for a lifetime, written hundreds of papers, and finally concluded—the universe began 13.8 billion years ago with the Big Bang, without a doubt!"

"But that Big Bang is what you saw through your glasses; does the real universe have a Big Bang? Does it have a beginning? Does it have 13.8 billion years?"

Ouyang Baili shook his head, "You don't know. You only know the color on the lens is red!"

After Ouyang Baili finished speaking, he said no more.

The living room was incomparably quiet, with only the buzzing of the outdoor air conditioner.

After a long time, Professor Sun's originally dull eyes regained a glimmer of realization, "Then can I take off these glasses of mine?"

Ouyang Baili smiled slightly, met Professor Sun's gaze, but pointed his finger at Jiang Zhe.

The next moment, Jiang Zhe's voice came: "Professor Sun, you and everyone present have already taken them off just now!"

Professor Sun was stunned, the others were all stunned, then they relaxed with sudden realization.

Not knowing who suddenly said it, it seemed to be Lin Chen's voice, "This is damn cosmic philosophy!"

Then, the expressions of everyone in the room became much more solemn.