355: Chapter 355: You Won't Grow Old If You Don't Observe

Jiang Zhe turned back, his gaze landing on the six characters on the whiteboard: Observer Debt Hypothesis.

"Before I elaborate in detail, let me summarize the core of this hypothesis in one sentence."

He held up a finger with a serious expression.

"Observation is not free. Every time you determine a fact, you are taking out a loan from the universe—a debt you will have to repay sooner or later."

He lifted his white porcelain cup and began to give an example:

"For instance, holding this cup means I am determining a fact—that what I am holding is a cup."

"When I close my eyes while holding this cup, I cannot immediately distinguish it, but I can distinguish that it is a teacup through touch."

"When I stand up and move five meters away from the cup, closing my eyes, I lose the opportunity to be in contact with the cup."

"However, if the molecules of the tea in the cup flow through the air into my nasal cavity—my nose performs an observation for me—I will determine that there is a cup not far in front of me, and that there is tea in the cup."

"This is: [Observation Debt!]"

As he finished speaking, Hans, Ouyang Baili, and Old Wu in the room nodded one after another.

The others turned their heads to look at the knowledgeable science experts, who spoke up one after another: "This is Quantum Mechanics observation."

After getting the answer, they continued to look at Jiang Zhe.

Jiang Zhe spoke slowly:

"Everyone knows the observation effect in Quantum Mechanics—particles are in a superposition state before being observed, and collapse into a determinate state after observation."

"Textbooks say this is the nature of the quantum world, but what they don't tell you is—this collapse process requires energy consumption."

"Where does this energy come from?"

"It comes from the observer's consciousness. Every time you determine something, your consciousness consumes a little bit. This is the [Source of Observation Debt]."

Saying this, his gaze swept over Ouyang Baili and Old Wu, as well as the astrophysicist Professor Hans in the back.

"Let me give you an example—"

"The ground state of the universe is that all particles are in a superposition state—that is the most cost-effective mode, just like a computer in standby—consuming very little power!"

"However, as time passes, intelligent life appears; every observation by life is a wake-up call, a determination, a transition from a superposition state to a determinate state."

"This process requires additional energy expenditure, and this expenditure is paid from the observer's consciousness account."

"And the balance of your consciousness account—is the capital for how long you can live, how much you can remember, and how much of your self you can maintain!"

Professor Ouyang gasped, his eyes lighting up, and he said to Old Wu beside him: "It feels a bit mysterious, but this is our Quantum Mechanics, and judging by the look of it, it's another of his original hypotheses."

Old Wu frowned deeply, "If this is true, then all human cognitive activities have a cost."

"In this hypothesis, Old Wu, you are correct."

Seeing the scene of constant whispering and discussion, Jiang Zhe confirmed that the concept had been conveyed effectively, then stood up and walked to the whiteboard.

"Alright, since everyone has understood the basic concepts, next, we will expand on this in depth."

He picked up a black marker and drew a simple diagram on the whiteboard—

On the left was a point with a few dashed lines radiating outward; on the right was a solid circle with a minus sign marked next to it.

He put down the pen, faced everyone, and began to explain.

"You all know about Schrödinger's cat; before opening the box, the cat is both alive and dead—it is in a superposition state."

"That is the most cost-effective state of the universe, where a particle takes all paths simultaneously, and the energy consumed is almost zero."

He held up one finger.

"Once you open the box to observe, you force the universe to choose one path—either the cat lives, or the cat dies."

"This process requires consuming additional reality costs."

He scanned the room and asked: "Who pays this cost?"

The experts looked at the people around them, then pointed at themselves.

"Yes, it is you yourselves."

"Every time you use your eyes to determine that the table is here, you consume a tiny amount of consciousness energy."

"Your eyes, your retinas, your optic nerves, your cerebral cortex—the operation of the entire perception chain consumes energy."

"This energy is not entropy increase, it is not the kind of energy from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in the food you eat, but is directly drawn from your consciousness itself."

"As time passes, and it accumulates, what will happen to your consciousness then?"

As he finished speaking, the experts fell into deep thought.

What will happen in the end?

Will it be death?

But soon, many experts shook their heads.

Professor Chen Runzhi in the middle seat looked at Professor Wang Shouren, "What will happen?"

Professor Wang Shouren shook his head gently, "I don't know."

"Does no one know?" Jiang Zhe had a somewhat disappointed expression. He thought the experts were at least smart enough, but they didn't even know this?

Fortunately, Celestial Master Zhang did not disappoint; he said lightly: "Dementia!"

"Exactly, it is dementia!"

Jiang Zhe looked at Celestial Master Zhang with appreciation, "As expected of the country's number one metaphysics master!"

Hearing Jiang Zhe's praise, Celestial Master Zhang gave an awkward smile.

Once these words were spoken, everyone in the living room widened their eyes.

Consuming all consciousness energy actually results in dementia???

In the live stream, the barrages from the viewers came one after another.

"My god, how amazing!"

"From the perspective of this hypothesis, it really seems to be the case!"

"Hahaha, a mysterious explanatory angle, novel enough. I've listened to so many answers today, it wasn't a wasted trip!"

"..."

Before everyone could continue marvelling, Jiang Zhe's calm voice came.

"As Celestial Master Zhang said, this is the true mechanism of Alzheimer's disease."

"Dementia is not protein deposition, nor is it neuron death; what you all see is merely superficial."

"The essence is: the consciousness of dementia patients owes too much certainty debt and no longer has the energy to maintain a stable self."

"Consequently, those patients start to forget who they are, forget who their relatives are, and forget who this world is—because their consciousness can no longer afford the rent for the action of [seeing]."

Ouyang Baili narrowed his eyes, re-examining his own understanding of Alzheimer's disease in medicine and neurology.

As a Quantum Mechanics expert, he had never thought that medical matters could also be explained using Quantum Mechanics.

"What a monstrous kid!"

Jiang Zhe scanned the crowd and continued:

"And even more terrifying is the Large Hadron Collider!"

"Every time top domestic and foreign physicists discover a new particle, you all think it's just scientific progress."

"No, in fact, that is physicists taking out a huge debt from the wave function of the entire universe!"

"What is the interest on this debt? It is the dark energy that people in the industry of astrophysicist Professor Hans are desperately searching for."

Being named, the astrophysicist Professor Hans had a grave expression.

And Academician Zhang, who was sitting in the front row, widened his eyes suddenly.

He had studied geology his whole life; to him, dark energy was just a term astrophysicists kept on their lips, and he had never thought it had anything to do with observation.

"You think dark energy is pushing the universe to expand in acceleration?"

"No!"

Jiang Zhe shook his head, "That is just the universe defaulting on its debt!"

"It dilutes the density of observer debt through expansion. As space becomes larger and larger, the debt allocated per cubic meter becomes less and less. This is not an active behavior of the universe, but an inevitable result of the conservation of energy—debt cannot disappear, it can only be diluted!"

"When human technology develops for another few hundred years, observation becomes more and more frequent, and the debt becomes higher and higher, the universe will settle the account in a way you cannot bear."

"Vacuum decay, or something even more terrifying—the universe suddenly forgets all observed determinate facts and returns to primitive chaos."

"All particles that have been determined return to a superposition state."

"The floor under our feet might suddenly no longer be solid. The air around us might suddenly no longer support breathing. Our own bodies might suddenly turn into a probability cloud."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over every grave face.

"Guess, will you still be you then?"

At this moment, the barrages in the live stream exploded.

"Holy crap, dark energy is actually the damn interest?"

"Theoretically speaking, if we don't observe anything, we won't age, right?"

"Yes, we are even observing every moment of our breathing. I feel like I'm done for."

"..."

Old Wu was trembling uncontrollably; he wanted to speak but hesitated.

He had studied physics for most of his life and had never thought about the problem from this perspective; he needed time to digest it.

"What I just explained is the first layer. Now, let's talk about the second layer—observation interest rate: Do you think each observation only deducts consciousness energy once? That is not the case."

Jiang Zhe held up two fingers.

"The certainty that the universe lends to us is calculated with compound interest over time."

"If we stare at a cup for one second, the interest is almost zero—but if we are obsessed with the existence of this cup, for example, if we believe it is always here, even if we look away, our subconscious is still paying interest for that continuously existing cup!"

"This is why obsessed people age quickly. Your so-called anxiety, inability to let go, repeated rumination, and other behaviors are essentially your brains refusing to release the observation results, which is equivalent to you taking out a loan from the universe and never repaying it, ultimately leading to interest piling up like a mountain!"

As he finished speaking, someone in the living room subconsciously tensed their body.

Especially Zheng Ming; he couldn't help but swallow hard.

He thought of his own personality, always calculating every little thing, and any slight disturbance made him unable to sleep.

He could never be as magnanimous and tolerant as his master...

Looking at himself growing older day by day, those thoughts tossing and turning...

Zheng Ming slowly put down his phone and took a deep breath, "So it wasn't a psychological problem, but a debt problem!"

At this time, Jiang Zhe's voice came again.

"Therefore, Alzheimer's disease is not just dementia; it is the first stage of consciousness bankruptcy—"

"The brain forcibly clears the most power-consuming long-term observation debts, manifesting as memory loss and cognitive disintegration."

"When bankruptcy reaches the end, it becomes a vegetative state; the consciousness is completely insolvent and is ultimately reclaimed by the universe."

He scanned everyone with a serious expression.

"Therefore, just now there was a barrage in the live stream saying [If you don't observe, you won't age]. Yes, essentially, that smart viewer is correct."

"But!"

"To be alive is to be observing at every moment!"

"Once you believe that something always exists, that belief itself is a form of continuous observation."

"Every second you are alive, you are borrowing from the universe. Only deep, dreamless sleep is your only window for debt restructuring—unfortunately, most people are dreaming even when they sleep, and dreaming is continuing to observe."

"Because only in this state do you temporarily stop all active observation—not looking, not listening, not thinking, not being attached, not borrowing new debt from the universe, and not paying interest for old debt."

Finishing this, he shook his head with regret,

"Unfortunately, most people don't have any real debt restructuring window time: people with insomnia, people with light sleep, people who dream all night—their consciousness accounts are constantly overdrawing from the universe and have never been restructured."

"This is also why people with long-term insomnia experience memory decline, emotional loss of control, and cognitive ability decline; this is not because they didn't sleep well, but because their consciousness accounts are on the verge of bankruptcy, yet they have never had the opportunity to restructure."