As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 193 Exposed
Magic has been around on Blue Star for about three years.

During the past three years, the investment in magic by countries around the world has been gradually increasing.

America's budget for pure magic-related research in 2024 has exceeded billion US dollars, not including investment in high-end research and development fields such as aerospace, quantum accelerators, etc.

In order to lead all countries on a brand new track, American even underwent a certain degree of strategic contraction.

Maybe they were going to shrink anyway, but the emergence of magic gave them a better excuse.

Other countries are similar and have invested huge amounts of research and development costs in magic.

"I mean maybe, maybe Merlin's curse is the combined effect of the loss of cellular organs and the soul level, which makes people unable to feel any positive emotions.

Biologically alone, this may not be possible.”

“If this is the case, I believe the already desperate mood of the bigwigs will become even more desperate.

There is still hope that biological problems can be solved, but I don’t know when the problems of the soul will be solved.”

When it comes to diseases that prevent people from feeling positive emotions, the first thing that comes to mind is usually depression.

In recent years, depression has become well known to the public.

There are many causes of depression, including physical factors, environmental factors and so on.

A detailed introduction to depression can be found in Dr. Aaron T. Beck's book Depression: Causes and Symptoms, published more than 40 years ago.
treat".

After Merlin's curse occurred, scientists naturally linked it to depression.

But even for people with depression, it is impossible to be completely isolated from positive emotions.

The American government previously approached Martin Seligman to participate in the treatment.

This psychologist, who was called the father of modern positive psychology by the media, was helpless against Merlin's curse.

Cognitive therapy and cognitive psychology don't work.

Not only was Merlin's curse treatment ineffective, but American also never figured out how Merlin was able to curse all the big shots one by one from a distance.

Martin said bluntly: "I'm sorry, this is beyond the scope of medicine. If I can consult Merlin in person, maybe there is a way to solve it."

"But in the current situation, I have tried everything I can think of, but nothing works."

After seeing Bill's condition, Martin felt a deep awe for Merlin. Only by seeing it with one's own eyes could one know what kind of pain it was.

Martin also knew why America was so eager to find him. Bill was in so much pain that those bigwigs who were used to a life of luxury could not bear it even more.

However, Martin was indeed helpless against Merlin's curse, and the American side did not make things difficult for him.

If magic was so easy to crack, they wouldn't be unable to confirm Merlin's true identity yet.

When science cannot explain something, the Americans turn to metaphysics:

"Merlin may have directly attacked them at the soul level through means unknown to us."

After this idea was proposed, the American side became even more wary of Merlin.

At the same time, in Merlin's bounty mission, there are multiple upload opportunities for questions about the soul.

One magic coin means one chance to upload an answer.

Because of this, England has been trying to trick the remaining magic coin from Japan and the Kangaroo Country.

Unfortunately, after Merlin appeared, countries began to pay more attention to magic coins.

England tried everything but failed to get the other magic coin.

Officials in various countries speculate that the uploaded content is different, and there must be a substantial breakthrough compared to the first uploaded answer in order to obtain more magic coins.

Different answers to the same question need to be breakthrough to satisfy the questioner, which is the basic logic of the bounty mechanism.

The Alcor Life Extension Foundation and the Cryonics Institute are now under unified management by American officials.

All researchers from other countries or who were not trustworthy in Alcor have "graduated".

"Professor Bedford may not wake up in the distant future?"

“Excuse me, it would have been difficult for Professor Bedford to come back to life, not only because his soul might have been damaged due to long-term freezing.

Moreover, his entire body's blood had been replaced with dimethyl sulfoxide, which would cause certain damage to the human body."

"No wonder Alk has been reluctant to thaw Bedford. They are afraid that the myth of human hibernation technology will be shattered."

James Bedford is a psychologist who was the first person on Blue Star to choose to be cryogenically frozen.

People have long imagined freezing human bodies and then reviving them in the future using more advanced technology.

This is also time travel in a sense, but this kind of time travel is irreversible.

Back in 1967, Bedford chose to freeze himself, hoping that humans in the future would thaw him.

Some say he died before being frozen, but in fact he was just on the verge of death before being frozen, so he chose this method.

His body is kept at the Alcor Foundation, and Bedford himself hopes to unseal it 50 years from now, which is 2017.

There is no doubt that this time has been delayed, and he will remain in cryopreservation until 2024, when Americana officially takes over all research projects of the Alcor Foundation.

"So our mission is to study cryonics technology, help the bigwigs enter the frozen state, and thaw them when humans can cure Merlin's curse."

Cryonics technology is a very common technology in fantasy literature.

How to ensure that human lifespan is sufficient to support long-term space travel? Many science fiction writers have proposed the solution of cryonics technology.

You wake up on a brand new planet.

This type of technology is not recognized by the mainstream scientific community, but it still cannot stop the demand of a large number of wealthy people.

They need a vague hope that tells them they can live again someday in the future.

For example, if you can only live to 85 years old now, and you choose to be frozen at the age of 80, after you are thawed in the future, if humans can achieve life extension technology, then the only five years you will have left can be extended to a longer period.

Many religious people on Blue Planet believe that cryonics technology is unreliable because they only consider the physical state and not the existence of the soul.

When a human body is frozen, the soul will leave. You can't freeze the soul as well, right?

The cryonics company previously said: We can! The soul will not leave the body after human body is frozen.

After Merlin proved the existence of the soul and this result became known to the public.

Religious figures who had previously been unable to find evidence began to question and even sue the cryonics company for false advertising.

They said: You said before that the soul will not leave the body after human body is frozen. Now there is a way to observe the soul. Please prove it to us.

Now it's the cryonics company's turn to pretend to be dead, and they can't guarantee it.

This also led to the plummeting of the human cryonics business. The rich are afraid of death but they are not stupid.

I chose cryonics before because it could give them a vague hope. Now that magic is available, I might as well use the money to pursue magic.

Originally, the Alcor Foundation was facing a large number of lawsuits, not only from religious figures who had previously questioned it, but also from the descendants of wealthy people who had purchased human cryopreservation services.

When the American government took over Alcor, it only took over all of his research projects and research materials. The American government would not help them clean up this mess.

Alcor Capital was stripped of its valuable parts by American, and its shareholders behind it wanted to die.

"Human cryonics is also a very important basic technology for future interstellar travel. At least before achieving faster-than-light travel, human cryonics is very important."

In the existing physical system, superluminal travel is unrealistic.

But it does not mean that even if major breakthroughs are achieved in the basic system of physics in the future, superluminal travel will still be unrealistic.

"Now the competition between China and us in the aerospace field is becoming more and more serious.

I heard that China's recent lunar space station successfully entered orbit and began to work, but it made NASA very unhappy. "

NASA has a larger budget than it did two years ago, but its capabilities have not increased.

Not only were Chinese people suspected and dismissed one after another, but some researchers who had suspicious relations with the Europa League were also dismissed.

Even outsourced employees are excluded from the Chinese population.

“It is said that China’s lunar space station has occupied the orbit reserved by NASA, and they are very unhappy.”

"No wonder, their budget is much larger than ours, but fortunately there are no Chinese competitors in our field."

"As the Chinese say, we have taken the lead."

"My thought is that the first thing we need to confirm is whether cryonics will cause the soul to be damaged or disappear."

"Tell me more about your idea."

“We first cryopreserved experimental monkeys and developed freezing plans with different plans and durations.

The monkeys were thawed and processed, and then a soul observation device was used to observe whether the souls in their bodies still existed.

Monkeys have had a hard time in recent years. The study of the soul is now a popular subject, and not only institutions under the governments of various countries are studying the soul.

University research groups, biopharmaceutical companies and even Internet giants are all conducting soul-level research.

However, it is not realistic to conduct soul-level research on humans. Even for death row inmates, only state institutions can obtain such resources.

According to private and unofficial statistics, the number of human trade on the black market in South Asia has skyrocketed.

Most institutions and individuals can only use experimental monkeys, and monkeys have a hard life.

"Have you ever thought about this question? Soul damage and no soul are two different things. If only the soul is damaged, it is difficult for you to observe abnormalities."

“It takes time to freeze the experimental monkeys, at least a year. Oak Ridge has a method for quantitative analysis of the soul.

If all goes well, we will be able to catch up with the soul quantitative measurement method and equipment there."

Like electric current, force, waves, etc., humans have found units to measure them.

Blue Star also hopes to find some way to measure the soul.

The competition between China and America in the aerospace field is being watched by countries around the world.

It is easy to understand. NASA has always been a big player in aerospace, and CNSA has chosen a more radical aerospace solution.

Everyone can understand.

However, the Europa League also entered the market and invested heavily in the aerospace field, which made other countries confused.

Because you have to know that most of Europa Space Agency’s previous space projects were in cooperation with other countries.

Including but not limited to American.

The Europa League also had a cooperation project with Neon before, but of course this project has been shelved now.

No one can understand Europa's generosity, after all, the Europa League has never been so wealthy before.

Even Russia, whose economy has always been poor, has increased its investment in aerospace and maintained a high degree of cooperation with China in aerospace.

Neon realized something was wrong, and their loose alliance with England and Kangaroo Country could all obtain magic coins.

There's no reason why other countries can't get it.

Neon is not so conceited that they are the only ones who can find the cosmic coordinates that conform to the Heber algorithm.

Magic coin is essentially a computing task, and it will definitely be found if the computing power is sufficient.

It is only through mathematicians' optimization of algorithms and astronomers' observations that the required computing power can be reduced.

Neon Country suspects that America, China, and the European Union know something that they don't, which is why they have significantly increased their investment in aerospace.

The Neon ambassador specifically sought out relevant American personnel to inquire.

"Your country must have obtained the magic coin, right? Don't rush to deny it. If you admit it, I will also reveal some secrets to you."

".Yes, we got a certain amount of magic coins."

"The number of magic coins you have obtained is definitely no more than two, and Neon has never used the magic brain."

The Neon ambassador was shocked, thinking that someone inside had leaked the information, but then he thought it was normal for someone from Neon to leak the information to the American side.

America's infiltration into Japan is all-encompassing, even though Japan itself does not want to be controlled.

"Sure enough, these cannot be hidden from your country."

“Don’t be surprised, because your country is cooperating with England and Kangaroo Country. If you have used the magic brain, you will definitely know why we are going to space.

I can tell you the specific reasons, but Neon will have to offer corresponding benefits in exchange."

The price offered by American made the Japanese ambassador dare not make a decision on his own. He broke out in a cold sweat because it was too expensive.

America's offer is really fierce.

He said he would go back and discuss it.

Neon knows the same news, America knows it, China and the European Union know it too.

As long as they are willing to exchange interests, China and Europe's asking price will not be that high.

Neon purchased the information contained in the magic brain directly from both the European Union and China.

Purchase information from both parties so that they can verify each other.

China's offer was lower than America's, and they demanded that Japan provide a certain core technology in exchange. China was most eager for technology.

After comparing with Japan, we found out that England had concealed very important information.

England did not reveal anything about the magic forum that the wizards could enter, nor about the bounty missions announced by Merlin in the magic forum.

The Europa Alliance also revealed with ill intentions: there is a bounty task that can easily obtain magic coins, and anyone who answers it can get at least one magic coin.

When Neon found out, he was furious. How dare you, England, a ruined noble family and a discarded child of the European Union, deceive me like this?

Alas, I do have a serious procrastination problem.

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(End of this chapter)