Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 108 - 110 The Throat of Fate
Chapter 108: Chapter 110 The Throat of Fate
Li Zhendong was not wrong; humans are, after all, social beings. The gradual decrease in their kind is like the withering of leaves on a large tree, causing a similar unease among the remaining leaves.
Even Zhang Yuan would have similar thoughts, feeling abandoned by the era as he watched his friends enter hibernation one by one.
Once, while eating in the cafeteria, he suddenly realized that apart from the tireless robots, he was the only person there.
That sense of loneliness was indescribable; he could only sit there stunned for a while before putting down his utensils.
He had absolutely no appetite for anything.
When the awake population fell below 10,000, basically, all functions that could be shut down were shut down, including most of the laboratories and industrial areas, leaving only the minimal necessities for survival.
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All the population was consolidated into Section A, and the merging of people brought a slight bustle to the surroundings.
Each person was assigned a small house attached to a large centrifuge, much like those on Jupiter’s moon. At 11 p.m., the entire Ferris wheel would start spinning, effectively simulating Earth’s gravity.
And the large Circular Living Area of Earth Era itself would slow down to one-twentieth of the standard speed, taking a little more than half an hour to complete one rotation.
The reduced angular velocity meant that the simulated gravity was only 0.22 times that of Earth’s.
There was no helping it; no machinery could function normally in space for 3,000 years. If the central bearings of Earth Era wore out too severely and malfunctioned, there was no way to repair them with just the people inside the spaceship.
Only the slow spin, as slow as a snail’s pace, could endure the long passage of time.
Besides his new tasks related to the nuclear power station, Zhang Yuan’s leisure study task was to monitor the turbulence of the nuclear fusion engine.
Actually, it was a very boring and idle job. The second-generation engines, which had been around for more than thirty years, had very perfected control methods and usually did not experience significant errors.
And he, personally, no longer wanted to continue studying turbulence.
Or to put it another way, even he felt that he could not produce better and stronger results in this field.
Next door, Senior Brother Zhao, in his free time, was always reading juvenile comics, a sight that was quite surprising. Perhaps the hibernation of his wife and the girls in the lab revealed his true nature.
It turned out Senior Brother Zhao was such a closeted person.
“Zhang Yuan.” In the midst of idleness, Senior Brother Zhao suddenly spoke, “There’s no need for scientific research inside the spaceship anymore. You really have to relax; with such a small population, depression is a possibility. This copy of ‘Pirate King’ is an original comic, want to borrow it?”
Zhang Yuan said, “Studying makes me happy.”
“Cough cough,” Senior Brother Zhao immediately turned serious again, “I also think this work is too simple for you. Maybe, you could take on some more challenging tasks. I have four directions to recommend to you…”
“Four directions?”
“The first is the design of new industrial standards, involving very tedious and complex mathematical calculations. If you’d like, you could go to Academician Ding and take on some tasks.”
“Secondly, learn some knowledge about spaceship control systems. I believe the Science Committee will grant you higher clearance. The more people who understand the spaceship control engineering, the better, as it will make hibernation shifts more convenient.”
“Thirdly, write some doctoral theses to earn a doctoral degree. Your current level of knowledge, theoretically, is at the doctoral level, but you still need a thesis. With all the labs closed, I suggest you switch to a scientific field and work on something math-related, or in New Civilization History.”
Senior Brother Zhao spoke freely, “Especially New Civilization History—if you’re interested in this subject, you might consider self-studying… um… this school is actually quite interesting. The Scientific Council is also interested in bringing you in…”
“New Civilization School?” Zhang Yuan had always been uninterested in politics, “I have no political beliefs; can I still join this school?”
Zhao Qingfeng looked up at him, “You know, it’s a bit different from the usual, the New Civilization School is a Cosmic Sociology that seeks truth and logic, without overly complex and rigid political ideologies. Otherwise, it would have already been banned by the ruling classes on Earth…”
Zhang Yuan paused, it seemed to be true.
But he left one thing unspoken; why should his own philosophy be considered the truth?
Indeed, Senior Brother Zhao said with a smile, “I’ve already mentioned before, the New Civilization School’s core content is pure Mathematics. Whether Mathematics is the ultimate truth, I don’t know, but it could be the closest thing to truth.”
“We generate decisions for the entire civilization through calculations, and these decisions are likely globally optimal solutions, not just locally optimal ones, avoiding situations that are very suitable now but turn out to be terrible later.”
“Such decisions cannot be compared to those made by a leader on a whim, thinking they have the right approach…”
Zhang Yuan thought for a moment and voiced his doubts, “Decisions for a civilization, all subject to calculations—your idea sounds good, even making the ruling class unnecessary.”
“But, how should the calculations be performed? How to ensure the accuracy of the algorithm? The calculations are also set by humans; how can we ensure fairness in humans themselves? Are decisions generated through Artificial Intelligence calculations to be accepted by all?”
“I think, handing over fate to algorithms, to calculations, is something most people would have trouble accepting. They would doubt it, and dislike this controlled behavior. Humans, as a biological species, might be ruled by other humans, but can never be ruled by Artificial Intelligence…”
“Yes, you’re right. These are all issues.”
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Senior Brother Zhao shook his head and sighed, “Humans are an arrogant species, always presumptuously believing that they can seize control of their fate. Sadly, 99% cannot. That’s indeed the biggest obstacle.”
He posed another question, “How many colony ships like Earth Era do you think Earth Civilization will be able to launch in the next few hundred years?”
Zhang Yuan thought for a moment, “There might be one or two more, or even three or four. It’s all possible.”
Senior Brother Zhao smiled mysteriously and held up one finger, “There’s a 66.23% probability, one.”
“The remaining probability, zero. No other possibilities.”
Zhang Yuan was slightly shocked; Senior Brother Zhao’s expression was not joking.
He pondered for a few seconds, questioning, “How was this probability calculated?”
Senior Brother Zhao said, “Through a complex function system in New Civilization History…”
