Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 616 - 612: Pursuing Endless Surprise

Zhang Yuan smiled dismissively, "Terrifying? What’s so terrifying about it? Our virtual technology can even turn a living person into a vegetative state, and it can even create Pseudo-men who can move around without consciousness! That’s even more terrifying!"

The Diplomat continued, "Their bionic science is quite impressive, and they’re also pursuing more sophisticated intelligence technology, willing to offer a decent price. We can trade a little bit with them."

"They like our brain assist technology very much and we’ve sold it to them at a good price, Extra Perception... I don’t even know if they can afford it..."

"They might not have enough Amoeba Points... It’s a bit of a pity!"

"A pity? You didn’t even ask them, so what’s there to pity? After all, we closed a deal. If more business is done, it’s not a bad thing," Zhang Yuan said irritably, "This way of working is not advisable. Don’t just assume that because they are a Third-level Civilization, they don’t have money!"

"At first, the Tos Civilization was also a Third-level Civilization, but they were wealthy. When we humans were penniless, we weren’t looked down upon in the trade market either."

"It’s not what you imagine... The papers on Extra Colors have already been sold by us once, and we even signed some confidentiality agreements," the gentleman quickly explained. "We either break the agreement directly, conduct trade sneakily with the Half-sphere Civilization, or we can only sell them further papers on Magnetic Field Perception."

"And the price for Magnetic Field Perception is even higher... At least six or seven thousand Amoeba Points? Maybe even more than ten thousand!"

"Is that so..."

Zhang Yuan suddenly became less inclined to sell the knowledge related to Magnetic Field Perception. It was core technology to humans, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it directly elevated the Racial Value of the entire Human Civilization!

If they directly broke the agreement and sold the papers on "Extra Colors" again, it wouldn’t be entirely out of the question... He was assessing the risks and ultimately sighed.

"Let’s forget it for now... We’ll see if there’s an opportunity in the future."

The purpose of an agreement is to be torn up. But humans didn’t want to provoke trouble without reason at this point.

"Applause!"

Once more, he heard the fervent clapping sound at his ear.

Faced with this peculiar Third-level Civilization, Zhang Yuan wasn’t sure what to say, but he looked at the screen with curiosity at this clapping "robot"...

Why would they do this? It always felt a bit odd, contrasting sharply with those rigid, almost robotic beings of the Ji Haman Civilization.

Both had robotic models, yet both seemed strange... one overly lively, but only a Third-level Civilization; one utterly dull, yet a Level 5 Civilization.

Each civilization has its unique stories and experiences. How interesting it would be if one could know the "stories" that happened in the universe!

He suddenly had a premonition that this motive might be a great stepping stone to becoming a Level 5 Civilization!

A Level 5 Civilization must have a firm and practical goal.

This goal can’t be illusory; it cannot be something too vague like "pursuing progress." Humans can’t encode such a goal into their genes.

This goal must be tangible, something that can be written into genes, part of the entire pursuit process, an action.

For instance, if someone’s ultimate goal is the pursuit of happiness, how would one achieve this?

Some find happiness in making money. "Making money" brings pleasure, an action that can be written into genes. Some find happiness in love, the act of experiencing love can also be encoded into genes.

But "happiness," this abstract outcome, can’t be written into genes, because there are far too many processes to achieving this outcome. Carrying such complex Genetic Philosophy is beyond human capability.

"...The pursuit of Endless Surprise, exploring stories among Cosmic Civilizations, could this become a noble goal for humans?" Zhang Yuan frowned, deep in thought.

Establishing a new set of genetic standards, what a difficult task... Just thinking about it seems infinitely complex.

Unrestrictedly enhancing human curiosity is actually unreliable; it only makes people restless and unwilling to do anything.

Learning is a tedious affair, and even with the aid of augmented brains increasing intelligence, humans still have to repeat training to master knowledge.

Therefore, haphazardly modifying genes to make people exceedingly curious can turn out very badly. It might seem that a person’s curiosity has increased, but then they no longer want to learn, only to seek novelty... Such an outcome is meaningless.

The ultimate purpose of people is to guide the ultimate result of "endless progression" through a "specific action."

The consequences of this action are extremely complex, lacking the logical perfection of the "survival and reproduction" system. It might still require some intricate programming to regulate this new action. As of now, humans have yet to develop a complete theory to study these things.

At this moment, the diplomat from the Half-sphere Civilization spoke up again, "Respected New Human Civilization... Our civilization is only five thousand years away from advancing to a Third-level Civilization, and we still have some room for development. After completing this transaction, we will leave this place. If your civilization has technology related to enhancing intelligence, we can negotiate during this time."

"This Dyson Sphere is indeed valuable, but the complexities it contains are no longer something a Third-level Civilization can partake in..."

"The augmented brains offered by your civilization are really suitable for ours! Perhaps our civilizations have many things in common! Applause!"

The individual on the other end of the video began clapping for themselves, as if showing off their wisdom, and even started introducing themselves, inviting the New Human Civilization to visit!

A Third-level Civilization, inviting a Fourth-level Civilization to visit, was a first-time experience.

Why would this be?

Firstly, the other party might have some hidden assets, or they genuinely liked the technology provided by humans.

Secondly, Zhang Yuan thought that it was very likely that this civilization had removed most of their bodies without fully understanding the mechanisms of genetic philosophy, leaving only a brain, which made their behavioural principles seem somewhat odd.

Many emotions and hormone regulations in the body are not solely controlled by the brain.

As such, complete bionic modification can lead to many defects.

Therefore, in order to keep their thoughts stable, they cleverly designed a series of programs to substitute for normal emotions, such as clapping to express "happiness" and so on.

Of course, whether or not this has any downsides, humans do not know.

What a peculiar civilization indeed!

What the other party is really like may forever elude human understanding, which is quite distressing for Zhang Yuan. He was someone with a strong sense of curiosity and genuinely wanted to visit...

Thinking this, Zhang Yuan turned to say, "Old Yang, if we’re free later, maybe we can pay a visit to this Half-sphere Civilization and exchange ideas with them. Although they are only a Third-level Civilization, the fact that they’ve castrated their hormone regulation function and how their societal structure has evolved from that is quite worthy of research."

"You mean... the research on the genetic philosophy mechanisms needed to advance to a Level 5 Civilization?" Old Yang frowned, understanding Zhang Yuan’s point.

"Yes," Zhang Yuan replied.

Old Yang shook his head again, "This might be difficult; where would the trust come from to exchange cultural history? Unless we go to war and plunder what they have..."

Zhang Yuan laughed, "We can talk... They did invite us, so it shouldn’t be without reason. They might also see that we’re not a civilization with aggressive tendencies."

"Indeed, we have never been a civilization that developed through plundering. Haha!"

...