Did the world end today?

Chapter 429 The Incidental Achievement of Reaching the Vast Stars

Destroyed by excessive technological expansion?
Is it similar to a "high-dimensional theocratic society" before the emergence of the countercurrent?
Lin Xu looked at the screen with some confusion, and at that moment, an extremely complex tree diagram appeared on the screen.

Starting from a single seed, with each division, the world's development moves in a new direction.

Many of these paths ultimately led to destruction.

The one with the shortest journey even experienced only three splits before being destroyed.

Lin Xu looked at the concluding remark, "The catastrophe of nihilism," and asked incredulously:

"Will humanity really be destroyed because of something as metaphysical as 'nihilism'?"

"Will do."

Zhiyun's voice revealed an undeniable firmness.

"The process of moving from reality to nothingness is actually a long one, but the key points it requires are extremely simple."

"Or rather, its 'selective horizon' is extremely narrow."

"After the 'black box,' or atomic-precision manufacturing platform, was born, the machine quickly entered the self-replication stage."

"This self-replication process is quite fast—it takes us a full six months to replicate a second black box from a first one."

“But it only takes 4 months to replicate the third black box from the second one.”

"After that, the manufacturing efficiency of the original mother machine will increase exponentially, and within three years, humans will be able to manufacture a black box sufficient to meet the needs of the entire world."

"And after this point, humanity entered a crossroads."

“We define this intersection as a ‘meaning-driven intersection’.”

"Humanity must determine at this crossroads whether its existence still has meaning, because when everything can be manufactured by automated machines, almost all of human physiological activities will become meaningless nothingness."

indeed.

This concept is actually quite easy to understand.

You have to go through a process when you play a game. Mining is mining, chopping down trees is chopping down trees. Only after going through that process will you feel excited when you finally get the rewards.

If you simply bring up the console and fill up all the resources, then the game is basically over.

If a game gets boring, you can switch to another one, but in real life, the consequences can be terrible.

This is not some so-called "hedonistic trap." In an environment with highly developed productivity, hedonism can also be a driving force for the continued progress of society.

The scariest thing is, once you've reached the pinnacle of pleasure, what else can you do?

All that remains is endless emptiness.

To be honest, this intersection shouldn't be difficult to choose.

After all, the end of the world is just around the corner.

You're going to die in 17 years, you can't possibly say you've lived long enough in 17 years, can you?
Moreover, 17 years from now, there is a brighter future regarding higher dimensions, so theoretically, no civilization will fall into this trap.

Indeed, the tree diagram provided by Zhiyun shows that at the crossroads where meaning determines the path, each branch temporarily rescues humanity from a temporary "nihilistic trend."

Unfortunately, most of the choices here lead back to nothingness.

Whether it's a large-scale deployment of consciousness networks or a temporary suspension of the use of black boxes, after a brief revival, even more severe backlashes will surge forth.

The ultimate result is that we return to nothingness in one cycle after another.

Therefore, the only solution to this problem is…

"Strengthening humanity itself."

Zhiyun's voice rang out, and Lin Xu nodded thoughtfully.

The idea is very clear.

The goal of strengthening humanity itself is to enable humans to possess abilities superior to those of machines.

In this way, the "meaning" naturally returns to the individual human being.

But is it really possible to do that?
The camera captured Lin Xu's suspicious expression, and Zhiyun immediately explained:

"In our research on the human brain, we have discovered that each brain is similar to a miniaturized, finite quantum computer."

"The human brain is filled with a large number of complex quantum activities. We can only observe them in the same way, but it is difficult to ultimately complete a fundamental analysis of them."

"This has already proven the potential of the human brain. To fully unleash this potential, we need to rely more on the power of higher dimensions."

"And this ultimate goal is enough to ensure that human society will not fall into nihilism as a result."

"Of course, this is just a rough simulation."

“In fact, we need more precise and detailed strategies throughout the entire evolution process.”

"This simulation system can only provide a general direction of reference; the real decision still needs to be made by humans."

Oh?
The decision-making power still rests in the hands of "people".

That is a limited version of digital centralization.

This aligns well with Lin Xu's vision of the future society, but how to reach this stage is not a question he needs to consider at this time.

"All right."

Lin Xu paused slightly, then continued to ask:

"Besides this simulation system, what else is there?"

"Project Second Earth".

"Second Earth??"

Lin Xu's eyes widened instantly.

"Yes, the second Earth."

"To be precise, it's not a second Earth, but countless backup planets."

"and many more."

Lin Xu interrupted Zhiyun, frowning as he asked:

"But in reality, it doesn't mean much. If the disaster we create here is enough to destroy civilization, then even if we start over on another planet, it won't make much difference."

"High-dimensional disasters do not possess the fixed nature of low-dimensional coordinates; they are merely an empty, ever-expanding probability circle."

"But according to our research, this probability circle does indeed have the symmetry of low-dimensional coordinates."

Zhiyun replied:
"The probability circle first appeared on Earth, and at a symmetrical point on the other side of the universe, it has a similar density to that on Earth."

"In the middle of two symmetrical points, the density is significantly lower than that at the symmetrical points."

"Therefore, disaster recovery planets still make sense."

"It allows us to be more uninhibited in conducting high-dimensional research."

"In another world, without obtaining enough defect information, we completed the initial analysis of the boundary coding information in this way."

"understood."

Lin Xu let out a long breath.

He looked up at the window; by then, it was getting dark.

Tonight, the night sky was cloudless, and the Milky Way was clearly visible over Nanjing, a city with severe light pollution.

But in fact, that wasn't the Milky Way at all.

It was hovering outside geosynchronous orbit, docked in a makeshift spaceport.
The first, massive, interdimensional fleet ever built by humankind.

The era of exploring the stars and the sea has arrived.

Even more absurdly, the goal of reaching for the stars and the sea was achieved "incidentally."
"Humanity's first interstellar fleet, reservations for tours will be open soon!"

"A New Era Arrives: The Secrets of the 'Kunlunshan' Support Technology Contractor Revealed!"

"Heroes have returned in triumph! A welcome reception will be held on the morning of the 20th."

"The global disaster recovery response mechanism has officially announced its disaster recovery plan, and the target star system has been selected." The arrival of the fleet swept across the world like a giant wave, and the first to react were the Reverse Current Working Group, which had already received first-hand information.

On the second day after information access was granted, Ni Liu released his first video.

This video details everything about the fleet, but the core content revolves around three questions: "Where did the fleet come from, how did it get here, and why did it come?"

This video was like a thunderbolt, shattering the worldviews that countless people had built up over the years.

At first, they did not understand the significance of the "cross-world support" plan. Even when the Kunlun Mountain returned, they thought it was an alien fleet from some distant galaxy.

But when the answer was finally revealed, everyone was stunned.

"So the final conclusion is that we spent two days supporting another world, and then that other world turned around and supported us in return?"

"Is this some kind of 'ladder to the clouds' technique? Is it like climbing a tech tree by stepping on your right foot with your left?"

"Theoretically speaking, it's not like stepping on your own foot with your left foot; it's just trading space for time."

"Another world gave up hope of dimensional ascension and chose to vigorously develop basic technologies, and then use these technologies to support our main world."

"A more accurate way to put it is that it resembles a kind of cross-dimensional colonization."

"Stop joking, those people are our own too. You want to colonize yourselves?"

"That's why I said it's similar—its operating logic is the same, but unlike true colonialism, they over there—or rather, we over there—chose to make sacrifices."

"However, according to Ni Liu, this sacrifice is temporary."

“Once we enter higher dimensions, we will have plenty of opportunities to bring them back up.”

"But we don't have much time left."

"The demise of that world proves the existence of the apocalypse, and compared to the information previously released by the authorities, this apocalypse doesn't seem like a random event, but rather something that is predetermined."

"A predetermined apocalypse? Holy crap, no way!"

"Life was finally starting to get better, and now you're telling me the end of the world is coming?"

"I'm only 18! I don't want to die!"

"Don't embarrass yourself, this is nothing."

"Moreover, once this mechanism is in place, we will have more options."

"Perhaps we won't even have to wait until the end of the world before we can ascend to heaven."

"Ascension? How do I ascend?"

"Who knows? Maybe the authorities will just send a fleet to travel to some ancient world and spend thousands of years developing it."

"When they come back, the technology they bring back will be incredibly advanced."

"Don't worry, maybe when we wake up tomorrow we'll find we've already entered a higher dimension."

As she scrolled through the comments, the girl in front of the screen scratched her slightly itchy scalp, tilted her head back curiously, and asked the man holding her:

"Dad, is what they're saying true?"

"Can we really send a fleet to ancient times and then come back the next day with the technology?"

Hearing her words, the man smiled and shook his head.

"It's highly unlikely to work."

"According to our research, we can influence the ancient world through some information, but we cannot directly penetrate into the ancient world in material form."

"This is related to the characteristics of boundary defects, which require a large number of stable high-dimensional channels to achieve the reorganization of matter."

"But the large-scale emergence of high-dimensional channels actually began in 2021."

"So, this is just a beautiful fantasy."

"so."

Ruoruo nodded, then asked:
"What if, as you say, we influence others through 'information'?"

"Perhaps another world that develops will proactively support us?"

"We can send messages to many worlds. As long as one world is willing to support us, we've succeeded, right?"

When Ruoruo asked the question, Wu You was clearly taken aback.

He never imagined that his daughter, who used to seem a bit slow due to her serious illness, would have developed such advanced thinking abilities.

She's very smart, why didn't she notice this before?

Wu You suddenly found it a little funny.

He realized that he was actually quite smart, but he hadn't noticed it before.

After a slight pause, Wu You answered:

"This is where the problem lies."

"In fact, someone has already tried it."

"But in fact, it has been proven that without direct communication between worlds, all worlds that work in isolation will get stuck at the last step."

"That is, the step towards a higher dimension."

"Whether it takes twenty years, two hundred years, or twenty thousand years, the result will be the same."

"The only difference is how long the stagnation will last."

"In a higher dimension, time is a less important element."

"What really matters is more and more information."

"Oh!"

Ruoruo jumped off Wu You's lap.

"So, the other world isn't actually another world; it's just 'more information,' right?"

"That's right!"

Wu You extended his hand, and the two gave each other a high five.

Ruoruo wanted to say something more, but just then, Wu You's phone suddenly rang.

He somewhat awkwardly took out his phone, pressed the answer button, and then went into his room.