As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 379 Land
Anyone with a little common sense can infer that the magical world is not as simple as it seems.

It will definitely not be an easy game.

This has become a consensus in the outside world.

Because judging from the previous product pricing strategy of Kechuang Bio, it is a very normal enterprise, and due to its monopoly position in technology, it will enjoy a certain premium.

However, the pricing of "Future" is completely inconsistent with the market economy, and no one understands Zheng Li. Even the employees who joined Kechuang Bio when it was first established do not understand Zheng Li.

From the outside world's perspective, there is a very close connection between Zheng Li and Merlin. It is even possible that Zheng Li is the incarnation of Merlin in the human world.

Therefore, virtual reality devices are believed to have ulterior motives. As for what the specific motives are, there are various speculations on the Internet.

But many people believe that the "future" has purposes other than gaining economic benefits, which is prevalent in every corner of the Internet.

"Magic Academy" is related to magic, and you can even get magic coins directly from it.

Being able to obtain magic coins is speculation.

It is too difficult for most people to calculate a cosmic coordinate system that satisfies the Hubble constant in the real world.

An almost impossible task.

Even though Luo Shu had a PhD in astronomy and a wealthy family, he spent more than ten years trying to get a magic coin from Apple but still failed.

Not to mention ordinary people.

And it would be even better if we could find clues to the magic coin directly in the virtual world.

Malaysia's power structure is very complex. Unlike Lion City where power is concentrated in the hands of one person, its power is very dispersed.

The system is very weird.

In 16, Malaysia was rated by The Economist magazine as a flawed democracy.

The power of the head of state, theoretically the highest authority holder, has been repeatedly restricted.

In each state, there is a struggle for power between the royal family and the elected government.

Chinese netizens can often see on Chinese social media how Malaysian Chinese support China, and it is not just a simple love for Chinese culture.

The reason behind this is precisely due to Malaysia's system. According to the Malaysian Constitution, the status of Malays is higher than that of non-Malays, among which the largest non-Malay group is the Chinese.

The Malays, the royal family and the government use various means to restrict the living space of the Chinese.

The Chinese need a strong motherland to support them to avoid being slaughtered in the harsh living environment in Southeast Asia.

This is the fundamental reason why Malaysian Chinese have unprecedented support for China.

At the same time, it is precisely because of the ethnic proportion of Malays and Chinese in Malaysia that Lion City was clearly a city in Malaysia before, but they forced Lion City to become independent.

Because the vision of a multi-racial Malaysia proposed by Lee when he was a Member of Parliament in Malaysia is incompatible with Malaysia's Malay supremacy.

Lee was a key driver in gaining support from North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak for the Federation of Malaysia and Singapore.

You should know that Malaysia has only thirteen states in total.

Lee's political tactics have made the actual rulers of Malaysia realize that if they allow Singapore to be within Malaysia, Lee will sooner or later overthrow their Malay priority.

This is why Malaysia swallowed Lion City and then vomited it out.

After Zheng Li conveyed the news of his meeting with the Malaysian leaders through official channels in Singapore and Malaysia, the Malaysian side felt somewhat apprehensive.

Zheng Li killed all the diplomats in Lion City, but that doesn’t mean he killed diplomats from other countries in Lion City.

"Sir, we are willing to accept your offer and sell you this piece of land in southern Johor."

Malaysian officials circled an area on the monitor.

It covers an area of ​​approximately 1,500 square kilometers and is located in Johor State, which borders Singapore directly.

Zheng Li is very familiar with Malaysia, having lived in Kuala Lumpur for a long time.

He also has his own understanding of Malaysia’s geographical regions, but even if he doesn’t, it is easy for AI to process this basic information.

Zheng Li took a glance and knew that the land the other party was transferring was top-quality land, and top-quality here means suitable for building a city.

At the same time, it is easy to build a railway or highway directly connected to Lion City.

Zheng Li nodded and said, "Okay. The relevant materials and conditions will be sent to you after the Malaysian parliamentary bill is passed."

The area of ​​Lion City is only 728.6 square kilometers, so it is no exaggeration to describe it as a tiny place.

Johor covers an area of ​​nearly 20,000 square kilometers.

Now Lion City has twice the area of ​​its original size.

However, Zheng Li did not have much joy in expanding territory, as it was not the feudal era.

Russia is larger than China, but its economy is not as developed as China's provinces. Land is an important factor of production, but its role has declined greatly compared to the feudal era.

Besides, Zheng Li had no intention of annexing Malaysia.

The Malaysian side only tentatively asked whether they could provide a few more life-extending drugs, but after being rejected, they did not ask again.

Instead, the focus was placed on biophotovoltaics. The condition proposed by Malaysia is that Malaysia needs to obtain the right of first refusal for the biophotovoltaics produced by Lion City in the future.

Of course, Malaysian officials and artificial intelligence have drafted very detailed terms on how to specifically limit the right of first refusal.

“I am very pleased to have reached this deal with Lion City.

Malaysia and Lion City have been carrying out extensive and in-depth exchanges and cooperation in the fields of economy, education, tourism, environment, culture and so on for many years.

Friendly relations based on rationality and pragmatic interests have always been a powerful weapon between Malaysia and Singapore to avoid narrow racial or communalism.

Sir, this is your first visit to Malaysia since you took office as the Leader of Singapore. Malaysia hopes to maintain this good bilateral relationship with Singapore in the days to come.

Together, we will shape the geographical, historical, cultural, regional and geopolitical relationship between Malaysia and the Lion City in the new era.”

On the surface, Malaysia's leaders are very high-sounding.

Almost all of what was said was traditional diplomatic rhetoric.

Before 2013, Malaysia was Singapore's largest trading partner.

But after 2013, China became Singapore's largest trading partner, and this has continued to this day.

In fact, Malaysia's attitude towards Lion City is not as friendly as imagined. Whether it is water supply issues or customs, immigration, quarantine issues, as well as the sovereignty issue of Pedra Branca, the relationship between Malaysia and Lion City has become periodicly tense.

Compared with Malaysia, Singapore is a country the size of a sesame seed, but in terms of national strength, Singapore is not inferior to Malaysia.

The fact that Singapore’s population is over 70 percent Chinese is a thorn in Malaysia’s side.

The Singapore of Lee Sr. and Lee Sin Ching-kuo is a meritocracy, while Malaysia practices race-based policies.

The Lion City developed into a developed country within two generations, while Malaysia developed much more slowly.

This is a harsh verdict on Malaysia’s treatment of its non-Malays. The Malay elites are embarrassed by the tens of thousands of highly qualified non-Malays who have moved to the Lion City and helped it achieve unprecedented economic success.

After the Master took over Singapore, Malaysia dared not take any action.

Because Zheng Li's ability to carry out targeted blasting is a weapon comparable to a nuclear bomb for a country like Malaysia.

After the official communication was over, private communication with the Malaysian royal family was much more direct.

"Sir, I would like to ask you a question. If we abandon our physical body, can we achieve eternal life in the virtual world?"

For this powerful royal family member who has never felt material pressure, what he cares most about at his age is always how to achieve eternal life.

“It’s not possible with current technology.

To achieve immortality in the virtual world, one needs to be able to store the soul and memories in relevant media.

But there is no meaning, such eternal life is meaningless.

There is no end to the endless drift in the darkness. "

The royal family sitting opposite Zheng Li showed a horrified expression. "Isn't it possible to access the virtual world through some technical means?"

"Can.

But you can't guarantee that the virtual world will operate forever.

Moreover, hackers in the virtual world in the future will be able to locate your specific location.

Once the storage medium that stores your soul and memories is found, you will be powerless to fight back.

Many people have similar ideas, but the final results are not very good.

If you want to achieve immortality, the trinity of body, soul and memory is the safest.

Of course, it is easy to extend your life, but it is impossible to achieve eternal life.

Or I've never seen one."

Forever is a scary word, but in the context of Blue Star, forever also has a time limit.

It’s just that for the rich, they want to live as long as their wealth is enough to support their affluent life.

"Sir, I have always been curious, the universe is so vast, why have we never encountered aliens.

Maybe you are.

But considering the vastness of the universe, is it too little to have only you and the alien civilization behind you? "

This question was not actually what the royal family wanted to ask, but was instructed by the American people behind him.

This has also been the confusion of many science fiction writers over the years.

Because in their conception, they have conceived various alien civilizations, and humans will travel in the universe in the future.

Then we will fight or trade with various alien civilizations.

Zheng Li flipped through his memories and said:
“There’s a theory on Blue Planet called the Great Filter Theory.

Basically, there are critical links that are seriously underestimated in the process of civilization developing from planetary civilization to interstellar civilization.

These links act as a kind of filter. Even if the universe has given birth to many lives or primary civilizations in the past, they have not been able to cross these links and continue to develop into interstellar civilizations. "

"Sir, what are the specific links involved? Is it possible for Blue Star to overcome them?"

“The fundamental reason is that scientific and technological development has reached a bottleneck, and intelligent life forms are unwilling to continue to invest large amounts of resources in the field of scientific research.

If you don't invest in the past, you will know that technological research is not a linear process. You will not get the same return as you invest.

However, when a real crisis is about to come, it is too late to detect relevant signs and then solve the problem, whether it is by going to space or solving it internally.

Then they will either die out or fall back to the primitive age and start the cycle all over again.

There are still many difficult links to overcome.

This goes against the nature of the desires of intelligent life."

Zheng Li spoke very bluntly and also gave examples.

Although the mage civilization's interstellar travel capabilities are limited, its ability to communicate with interstellar civilizations is very strong.

They have communicated with many civilizations in the universe, but less than one thousandth of them have truly reached the interstellar age.

Another important reason is that there are more and more people to be supported and resources are insufficient, which leads to a decline in social vitality.

Those people in society who create value through labor will support those who do not work in various ways.

When productivity is low, there are fewer people to be supported, and even if they are supported, their quality of life is very low.

A small number of them have the motivation and ability to promote technological development and thus achieve the goal of improving productivity.

This is the fundamental reason for the scientific and technological progress in modern society.

With the explosive growth of productivity, the number of people being supported is increasing, and the living standards of the top groups being supported have reached a high level.

No matter how much technology advances, it will not make life better for this group of people.

But they have the ability to control the flow of resources.

This results in scientific research not receiving corresponding resources and falling into a state of stagnation.

If it weren't for Zheng Li's arrival, the technological stagnation on Blue Planet would have lasted for a long time.

Wait until breakthroughs are achieved in metaverse-related technologies, including chips, optics, software, artificial intelligence, etc.

Then enter the era of the metaverse.

The metaverse is indeed the next explosion point of Blue Star’s technological integration, or VR.

Zheng Li turned the node that was originally about to enter the VR era into a virtual world.

But the virtual world will not lead to an explosion of productivity, it can create more wealth out of thin air.

However, it is impossible to fundamentally solve the problem of too many dependents.

The next thing to do is to make everyone a dependent.

The ultimate burst of productivity will be achieved through artificial intelligence and biophotovoltaics.

Controlled nuclear fusion is actually more efficient and its technical route is more promising.

After all, biophotovoltaics cannot be applied to spacecraft, but controlled nuclear fusion has many more application scenarios.

The problem is that Zheng Li didn't understand. After taking over CERN, he spent part of his energy on promoting controlled nuclear fusion.

In recent years, some breakthroughs have indeed been achieved in key technological nodes, but there is still some distance to go before implementation.

Zheng Li was actually very curious about what kind of optimistic judgment the scientists on Blue Star made fifty years ago when they wrote in their book that it would take fifty years to achieve controlled nuclear fusion.

"I roughly understand that the fundamental reason is that scientific research is too difficult."

(End of this chapter)