Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 239 - Chapter 239 Chapter 239 A World without Oxygen

Chapter 239: Chapter 239: A World without Oxygen Chapter 239: Chapter 239: A World without Oxygen The Glizerians indeed already knew about the existence of electricity, thanks to some minor revelations from the “Enlightener Civilization.” This made it possible to leap directly from the Stone Age to the Electric Era.

However, unfortunately, this step was extremely difficult.

For a hundred thousand years, countless talented individuals launched attack after attack, yet not one could take that critical step.

It was merely because there was no oxygen…

Upon reading this, the volume of discussion in the conference room suddenly increased, with some expressing doubt, others curiosity, and still others questioning the accuracy and reliability of the report.

“There was no birth of technology? They actually spent so long and still didn’t give birth to real technology?”

“Could it be that all real technology was given to them by the second batch of aliens?”

The professor on stage smiled meaningfully, as if anticipating such reactions from the audience, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have a question. If humans faced this predicament, without oxygen but possessing a certain amount of scientific thinking, could we leap directly from the Stone Age to the Electric Era?”

The audience gradually quieted down and began to think seriously.

“…It would be incredibly difficult, unbelievably so.” Captain Zhao, sitting in the front, gently shook his head.

With no oxygen, there would be no natural phenomenon of combustion, making the development of science extremely challenging. Under these conditions, thinking about smelting copper or iron on a large scale was nearly impossible.

For humans, the simplest methods of smelting copper and iron involve the carbon reduction method, which at high temperatures uses carbon as a reducing agent in redox reactions with metal ores to smelt pure metals.

But this method requires extremely high temperatures. For the Glizerians, who lacked the phenomenon of combustion, reaching temperatures of thousands of degrees was undoubtedly as hard as reaching the sky…

Unless they could find a natural active volcano and use the heat from the volcano, there might be a slight possibility.

But when the Glizerians encountered volcanoes, they were more likely to run away than to risk their lives smelting iron. They didn’t even know about chemical reaction equations!

So, aside from the carbon reduction method, were there any other methods? Of course, there was: the electrolysis method! Most metals can be smelted using electrolysis, but electrolysis requires electricity!

That is to say, without combustion, it was impossible for them to enter the Bronze or Black Iron Age. Their technological progress could only remain in the Stone Age, and their productivity could hardly improve.

And the development of science is a gradual process. Even if they already possessed decent scientific thinking, they needed experiments to support the proposed views.

Science is a methodology; a view can be temporarily considered correct if it aligns with experimental results.

If it doesn’t fit the facts, the view will undoubtedly be discarded.

But the problem is, how to experiment?

Take a simple example. If you want to study biological cells, you first need a microscope, right? And to have a microscope, you need to know how to make glass and manufacture lenses, right? But without fire, how can you make glass?

Inventing new experimental tools is as crucial for scientific research as proposing new theories.

There were too many similar challenges; even though the Glizerians knew about the marvelous natural phenomenon of “electricity” and its ability to convert into great power under the guidance of the Enlightener Civilization, without iron, without copper, not even having conductors, how could they study electricity?

The scholar sitting in front of Zhang Yuan turned around and discussed, “In this situation, I can think of two solutions. The first is to clearly understand what electricity is all about. Just like us, we have mastered this knowledge. If suddenly thrown back into the Stone Age, we could leap in technology, bypassing bronze and black iron.”

Zhang Yuan shook his head, “No, for some reason, the Enlightener Civilization only told them about the existence of electricity, not its essence, nor phenomena like electromagnetic induction; so they too could only grope in the fog.”

“The second solution is to prioritize electricity research with the force of the entire nation, relying on a vast number of talents to tackle these bottlenecks. The oxygen content in their planet is low, but iron, copper, and magnets exist as pure substances in nature…relying on these natural materials, there is still a tiny possibility.”

“Professor, your statement is too difficult, too idealized…” another expert commented, “Only a dictatorship could dictate such a command… Only a mad dictator would issue such an order. A democratic government wouldn’t have the chance; they would have been ousted by the people long ago.”

Listening to these discussions, Zhang Yuan sighed, “That is to say, under those circumstances, humans would likely be stuck as well, with nothing good to argue about. Knowing only the term ‘electricity,’ how could they possibly try to research things like wires, magnets, or electromagnetic induction?”

“Continuing with this speculation, in the Universe, is it really difficult for a planet without oxygen to develop genuine technology? That’s really… quite strange.”

“I have thought of another method–biological smelting! The possibilities of life’s changes are endless; on Earth, there are some bacteria that can accumulate soluble metals very well under high temperatures. Perhaps some planet’s life forms could rely on their own abilities to smelt metals?”

“This probability isn’t zero, but it is very low. You can’t expect every creature on those anoxic planets to evolve the capability of biological smelting…”

By the time he arrived at this conclusion, Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but lament humanity’s good fortune.

That condition is indeed a bit harsh; planets with abundant oxygen are certainly in the minority, as oxygen is produced by plant photosynthesis and can’t simply appear out of nowhere. The reactive nature of oxygen means that if it isn’t produced continuously, it will quickly react with other substances and be used up.

Anoxic planets are the majority.

Because of this, the Gleize civilization remained in the Stone Age; there was no way to separate natural elements chemically, and it was even less possible to research electricity physically.

During storms, lightning would occur, which was the only electric-related natural phenomenon they could observe. Countless physical models were proposed, and some even sacrificed their lives trying to touch lightning!

But, in a situation where the production tools were still stone and wood, what was the point of all this?

Such tragedies and difficulties are indeed hard for outsiders to understand…

“I don’t know, I don’t understand anything… We know nothing about this world, as if a layer of darkness has shrouded our eyes, blocking the path forward. We know about the existence of electricity, and we know that it can exert marvelous power.”

“But all attempts have been fruitless…”

This sage, from his youth through to middle age, and then to his frail old age, exhausted all his energy to no avail, and wrote in his diary with sorrow, “Damn electricity, what exactly is it?!”

At this time, it had been… thirty thousand years since the Enlightener Civilization had departed.

In that instant of reading this paragraph, something seemed to strike Zhang Yuan’s heartstrings. As a scientific researcher, wasn’t he often expressing similar sentiments?

The Universe is so callous, stalling a civilization with only a tiny missing catalyst.

Just merely because there was no oxygen.

There was no intention to mock; the human race, compared to the Gleize civilization, merely had a bit more luck and had at least developed its own technology, piercing through some truths of the Universe.

“Ah… Earth civilization’s technology has also been stuck for quite some time. Could it be missing something that we don’t know?”

“Might it be lacking some thoughts, or reasons unknown to us… or something else…”

History continued to evolve, unaffected by any life’s will…

When long-term exploration bore no fruit, science slowly lost its driving force; physics, chemistry, biological sciences, and medicine were all in a stagnant state, with no one willing to study them anymore.

Mathematics, however, was thriving, because it didn’t need experimental validation and wasn’t limited by productivity–logic was sufficient.

Year after year, ten thousand years after ten thousand years…

The technological tree of the Gleize civilization began to show severe imbalances; mathematics took the lead, while other disciplines were a complete mess!

The situation became both ludicrous and tragic–their level of mathematics had even surpassed humanity’s! However, they were still using the most primitive tools, those of stone and wood.