Earth Era

This is an informal meeting, and the participants do not hold formal government positions, although most of them have titles such as economic advisers, scientific advisers, confidential secretaries, etc., and some even work in certain non-governmental organizations. , such as having a position within a certain research institute or a certain university.

These people constitute Shen Qingyuan's think tank team. Whenever a major policy needs to be implemented, or some important decisions or changes need to be made, Shen Qingyuan will convene these people to discuss together, weigh the gains and losses, and decide on the steps and sequence for implementing the policy or plan.

This time is no exception. In fact, the standard of this meeting was higher than any previous one. At the very least, consultants haven’t seen such a large number of people with such a wide range of expertise gathered together in a long time.

"Dr. Huang Yuan, deputy president of the Central Academy of Sciences and chief scientist of the Institute of High Energy Physics and the Institute of Theoretical Physics, told me that their latest research and calculation results show that before a major breakthrough in basic physics, it is impossible for us to find materials that can withstand such The invasion of dark matter particles. If you want to achieve major breakthroughs in basic physics within a limited time, you must invest at least 40% of the year's economic output in scientific research every year."

Shen Qingyuan finished speaking calmly. He just stated such a thing without adding any emotion or tendency to the narrative.

But these words had a power that was completely inconsistent with Shen Qingyuan's tone. There was silence for a moment in the conference room, and then there was a roar of discussion as if a bomb had exploded.

An economic consultant roared with excitement: "This is simply ridiculous! Ridiculous! Forty percent of the economic output of that year? Does he know what this means? This is a complete disaster that will completely destroy the economy of our civilization. It will cause countless turmoils and even threaten the foundation of the entire civilization!"

The industrial consultant sneered: "Forty percent? Doesn't this mean that existing industrial construction must be completely stopped? Does Dr. Huang Yuan know how many projects our civilization is currently advancing? How significant are these construction projects to civilization? "

The political advisor said coldly: "Führer, you should know that this proposal is impossible to support. Your enemies will be united more closely than ever because of this proposal, and your allies will abandon you and join your cause." The enemy’s side.”

A social psychologist said: "I do not rule out the possibility of riots, armed resistance, rebellion, and separatism within civilization after the implementation of this policy. You have to understand that this policy will reduce everyone's living standards by half Above, and accustomed to heaven, no one wants to fall into hell.”

All consultants were almost unanimous in opposing this policy. This situation has almost never happened before. Whether a policy is implemented or not, there are always many voices within the think tank team. Some are opposed, some are supportive, some think it should be implemented slowly, and some think it should be accelerated. The final result always comes after people find an optimal solution that is acceptable to all parties after repeated discussions and compromises. But now, these consultants with different backgrounds and professions have all united.

There is only one exception. Shen Qingyuan's gaze passed over the many excited consultants and finally landed on an old man at the back of the conference room.

"Scientific advisor, tell me what you think."

The old man coughed slightly and said: "I agree with everyone's opinion. Implementing this policy will drag our civilization into the abyss and even cause the destruction of civilization. Not only that, this policy is also extremely detrimental to you, the head of state, because This policy touches the interests of too many people and too many forces. It is very likely that before this policy is implemented, you will be ousted from the position of head of state by opponents, and then sentenced for crimes against civilization, and ultimately spend the rest of your life in prison. .”

Shen Qingyuan lowered his eyes slightly, his expression showing no emotion or anger.

But the old man hadn't finished speaking yet.

"But...if this policy is not implemented, our human civilization is doomed."

This sentence seemed to have some kind of magical power, causing the originally buzzing conference room to instantly become quiet.

The old man stood up slowly. Although his body was trembling slightly, it seemed to contain infinite power.

"Don't you understand? Now, it is different from before. Fate has shown its fangs to us. There is an abyss ahead, and we have lost any retreat. To implement this policy, we have at least 100% chance There is an 80% chance that civilization will be pushed into the abyss. If this policy is not implemented, our civilization will inevitably be destroyed here. Now it is time to fight hard, and it has reached a critical moment for the survival of a civilization!"

In front of the old man's deafening voice, the conference room remained quiet for a long time. After a long while, one consultant forced himself to smile and said, "I don't think the situation is that serious."

"Isn't it that serious? Do you think we can withstand the explosion of the Phoenix Star, or will the Bread Nebula leave on its own in a few years? Don't be blinded by the past. You have to understand that in this universe, try your best to survive. It is normal to only earn a living in exchange for it. It is abnormal to wantonly waste resources and use precious time and energy to pursue more comfortable living conditions and a more fulfilling spiritual world! The previous universe was too cruel to us. Yourong, we are like spoiled children who take all this for granted. Now, the universe is just showing us a little bit of its true face!"

An economic consultant said: "I agree with increasing investment in scientific research, but it is not necessary so much. Maybe scientists can find alternative solutions to solve the problem, such as developing a technology that can disperse the Bread Nebula? Just let the stardust If you stay away from our fleet, there will naturally be no way to affect us."

The scientific advisor sneered: "If you had the minimum scientific common sense, you would not make such a naive suggestion. That dark matter particle is a high-speed particle with a half-life of twenty hours. It can move forward before half of the particles decay. More than 20 billion kilometers. In order to ensure safety, this distance will be doubled, that is, more than 40 billion kilometers. This means that we must disperse all the stardust 40 billion kilometers away - or That is, creating a vacuum sphere with a radius of 40 billion kilometers and a diameter of 80 billion kilometers in the Bread Nebula can ensure the safety of the fleet. Do you think that completing this project is more important than achieving a breakthrough in basic physics? A simple task?"

Not to mention that humans currently have no technology for dispersing stardust that can be used on a large scale. Even if it is developed one day, it will be extremely efficient - one instrument can disperse stardust covering an area of ​​one square kilometer, but the surface area of ​​this sphere is as high as five Ten trillion square kilometers, that is, fifty trillion such instruments are needed to achieve it. How much manufacturing capacity does this require, and how huge and complex is the calculation, coordination, and maintenance power required? This does not take into account that the fleet is moving at high speed, and the instrument must also move at high speed. At high speed, especially during super-light travel, the interaction between interstellar particles and the fleet will be countless times more complicated.

"Only majestic stars like stars can provide us with shelter. It is impossible for us to carve out a channel in the Bread Nebula on our own. Concentrating our efforts on seeking technological breakthroughs and finding ways to resist the influence of stardust is the only way for our civilization to survive. The only hope. Our civilization has reached the brink of extinction, but you are still considering trivial issues such as quality of life or economic growth?"

Under the old man's questioning, the economic consultant shut his mouth. But the old man changed his tone again and softened his tone again.

"Of course, if everyone accepts the outcome of extinction - even if civilization dies, it will always be hundreds or even thousands of years later. It should be possible for our generation and even the next generation to be born normally and then die normally. In this way If so, we don’t have to think about increasing investment in science. We can just pretend that these things don’t exist and continue to eat, drink, have fun, and continue to enjoy life. I am already over 350 years old this year, and I don’t have many more years to live. , things in the future, oh, let’s leave them to future generations to worry about.”

Shen Qingyuan still lowered his eyes and looked calm, but a voice in his heart sighed: "You can live for at least another fifty years. I am more than a hundred years younger than you, but I only have ten years at most. It’s okay to live.”

The previous treatment in order to hibernate for a longer period of time had seriously damaged Shen Qingyuan's physical foundation. Even later, after it was determined that it was impossible within a short period of time and we tried our best to remedy the situation, we still could not return to the original state.

The problem has been clearly put before people. Regardless of life or death in the future, it has little to do with the people at the moment, because by the time the final judgment is pronounced, the people now will definitely have died of old age. But people know that their choices at this moment are related to the fate of their future descendants.

If we choose to sacrifice this generation, it is still possible for civilization to continue in the future. Future generations will hopefully continue to thrive in this universe.

If you choose to perfect this generation, your current life will be almost unaffected. It’s just that civilization will die in the universe, and the name human civilization will become a thing of the past.

The consequences, both positive and negative, have been fully presented. People's moods are somewhat complicated, and at the same time they are also a little uneasy.

How to choose, the control lies in Shen Qingyuan's hands. Because Shen Qingyuan is the head of human civilization and the leader of the entire civilization.

Shen Qingyuan sighed and said slowly: "I don't want our descendants to curse their ancestors with resentment for not giving them hope of life when the Phoenix Star explodes."