Chapter 227: Chapter 178: Countdown – Two Months l
Translator: 549690339
Human beings are an extremely complex form of life.
Even by the 31st century, human technology has advanced to such a high level, that it can break the laws of mass and energy conservation on some levels and create epoch-making equipment like the Dyson membrane based on biological principles.
Yet, even if you add together the complexity of all human-made objects in the world, they still fall short compared to the human body.
While humans can now use technology to perfectly create new bodies, they remain almost ignorant about another aspect – the brain and the thoughts and souls that are “loaded” within it.
Human research on brainwaves and thought may seem profound thus far, but perhaps it is only scratching the surface.
It’s like ancient people knowing that sunlight makes them warm or that ice, ground into a convex lens, can focus sunlight to ignite things.
But ancient people didn’t know why the sun existed or why sunlight generated heat.
Until now, no scholar dared to say with certainty which is more challenging – human beings studying themselves or studying the universe.
Human evolution research is a part of the vast project of self-study.
It has been ongoing for many years.
Based on previous research findings and recent studies on Harrison Clark, dozens of master scholars at the History Institute collectively discussed and came to the following conclusions.
Human evolution has, in fact, already stagnated.
Now, the so-called “evolution” is merely the re-development of human beings’ innate abilities, manifested as an increase in gene-awakening levels.
However, since thousands of years ago, every increase in human gene-awakening levels has often been accompanied by major explosions in technology and art.
Increasingly complex external information environments and a richer inheritance of knowledge are forcing humans to continuously improve their ability to develop themselves.
Starting from the 19th century, human physical abilities experienced a temporary stagnation, while gene awakening levels mainly involved intelligence and lifespan.
However, the essence of lifespan extension is actually to further promote our intellectual capability.
While the continuous development of modern medicine contributes to the extension of human life, it seems as if humans have recognized the need for longevity.
To advance civilization and elevate the human race, humans must have longer lifespans.
The knowledge that a person needs to learn to go from ignorance to becoming a pillar of society grows increasingly vast, consuming more and more time.
If the average human life were still only 60-70 years, like it was thousands of years ago, people might die before they even finished learning, let alone become useful members of society.
All these changes have happened subtly and quietly, like silent rain moistening everything.
No one knows whether this is a result of genetic selection, or an active evolution caused by a collective will that shrouds the Earth.
In the 25th century, some scholars expressed worries.
These scholars were concerned that human self-improvement efforts might be too focused on intelligence, resulting in the physical weakness of everyone in a few hundred years.
But such anxiety never became a reality.
With the advent of the S bacteria and global recognition of an unmatched external enemy, the need for war inevitably rekindled the direction of enhancing physical abilities within gene awakening levels.
Since then, humans have exhibited tremendous potential, with both physical and intellectual enhancement, becoming the “Even-New Humans”.
Like the S bacteria of that time, they were domineering and violated the laws of the universe.
However, just as the S bacteria had its bottlenecks at different times, so did humans.
The human race, an early Type II Civilization of Kardashev Scale trapped in the solar system, found its evolution stagnating, stuck at a 35% awakening level bottleneck, without any progress.
Even in the case of Harrison Clark, almost all scholars believe that even if he were to train tirelessly his entire life, he would still not be able to surpass the 35% ceiling.
The ceiling of an individual’s genes is precisely that 35% awakening level.
In fact, when the Particle-Related Project, Gravitational Wave Project, and Infinite Gene Project were all stuck, scholars became acutely aware that human technological advancement had also reached a ceiling.
Unless intellectual progress takes another giant leap, these challenges will remain insurmountable.
For humanity to advance once more, they must, and can only, break out of the solar system.
Enter the vast universe, and then, given thousands or even tens of thousands of years,
The future of humanity will certainly be beyond imagination.
But there is a desperate paradox here.
Without becoming stronger, humans will definitely not be able to break through.
However, the condition for becoming stronger is breaking through in the first place.
Harrison Clark closes the research report provided to him by the Science Department.
He doesn’t even want to look at it anymore.
Reading such things would hurt his enthusiasm and shake his will.
Harrison’s fingertips gently tapped on the surface of the office desk, feeling the slight vibrations.
He raised his head slightly, looking at the ceiling.
He initially thought he had done enough to help humanity, only to end up personally opening three more doors to hopeless dead ends for everyone.
His genetic progress had come to a standstill.Three major scientific breakthrough projects related to him were all stuck.
Harrison Clark stood on the windowsill of his personal villa, gazing into the distance.
There was the comprehensive training field at the Black Bear Training Base, where the once-old soldiers, now recruits, were passionately training.
Throughout the Black Bear Training Base, including Harrison Clark, a total of more than seventy recruits were selected to join the Giant Wave Vertical Team.
Thousands of other recruits joined other major fleets.
Although these recruits were not outstanding enough to pass the extremely strict assessments of the Giant Wave Vertical Team, this slightly inferior group of talents would still be important cogs in other ordinary fleets.
Not everyone could become a glorious Morrowind Warrior; some people became captains, some became navigators, some shuttled through the battleship artillery arrays, responsible for maintenance and manual adjustments to the automatic ship guns, while others excelled in completing programmer knowledge studies and advancing in mechanical principles, becoming logistics managers…
Under the dual development of military literacy and knowledge system advancement in the army, everyone found their most talented and passionate positions.
In the war that all mankind could not escape, whether a soldier or a worker, positions differed between people, and ranks or positions were high or low, but the feelings and spirit of fighting for civilization and shedding blood were the same for everyone.
With two months left until the decisive battle, everyone would soon depart on their separate journeys.
Harrison knew that for most people, this departure would most likely be the last.
The next time they met, it may only be a brilliant firework in space.
At that time, he would not be able to determine which fireworks contained the faces he was familiar with.
Although he had already solved the threat of the hidden bombs, his reason had long told him that he was still far from winning.
Harrison still didn’t know what kind of warfare tactics the enemy would use in space.
But they would definitely be powerful, perhaps even beyond his understanding once again.
This time, he had no hope of turning defeat into victory, but only hoped that in open confrontation, he could learn more about the invaders.
Harrison slapped the railing irritably, muttering to himself.
Never mind, everything that should be done and could be done has already been done.
The achievements of the History Institute are advancing by leaps and bounds, and there’s not no progress in the gravitational wave field, leaving only the Particle-related Project without any progress.
When he returns this time, he’ll push technology more aggressively and see what changes he can make next time.
As for now, the best thing he could do was probably to return to the starting point.
To become stronger and plagiarize songs.
Becoming stronger was for gaining better personal strength.
Even if all the eggs in the nest were not whole, he should at least try to be a hard-boiled egg and last until the end, seeing more things.
This time, he could use the experience from last time to make the scientific community aware of the existence of the Particle-related Project through Martha Owen.
Maybe this time, he could gain more experience before the decisive battle and then pull the Particle-related Project from theory to reality, creating an Antimatter Bomb?
Plagiarizing songs, of course, was to prevent Summit Ventures from running out of ideas when he returned, making the most of every opportunity and putting more money into aerospace and high-tech development.
Maybe he could catch two travelers.
Or perhaps, before 2500, they would send out a human expedition to Proxima Centauri.
By that time, setting up a sub-base for humans at Proxima Centauri in advance, or leaving a branch to continue on to the endless space, what would the invaders do?
As Harrison kept calculating in his heart,
A dark shadow approached from a distance, flying towards his villa.
A roaring thunder suddenly sounded in the air.
“Harrison! If you’re still a man, fight me!”
Harrison rubbed his forehead, and there was Needham Brown again.
He’s stubborn, haunting, and deeply in love.
“Why are you so selfish? I know you’ve been providing data to the Science Department, and I know that those latest training programs were developed with your help. But don’t you know that only actual combat is truly instructive?”
Harrison remained silent and didn’t want to deal with him.
“We’re boarding the ship the day after tomorrow, and I don’t have time to waste or wait. Once we’re in space, how am I supposed to find you? So you have to fight me today! Otherwise, I’ll join the Giant Wave Vertical Team! I’ll dangle in front of you every day, annoying you to death!”
“Come on, have a real fight with me, just one. If you have any shame at all, stop being a shrinking turtle. I’m not mocking your lack of courage; I’m angry that you knowingly could do more for humanity, but unreasonably stand idle.”
Harrison seemed to be persuaded, grinning: “But my Morrowind System is customized, and its performance is much better than that of ordinary models. How can you fight me?”
Needham Brown landed in front of him, hovering lightly.
“Look at my equipment again? Yours is a custom-made one, and mine is a prototype produced when they developed equipment for you. My performance is no worse than yours.”
Harrison raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”
He flew out and casually instructed the intelligent system to randomly play some classic rock songs from the 22nd century.
The automatically recognized song turned out to be pretty good, very fitting, and full of unlimited beautiful visions.
It’s called “Across the Starry Sky..”
