Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 267 - Chapter 267 Chapter 267 A Leap in Mindset

Chapter 267: Chapter 267: A Leap in Mindset Chapter 267: Chapter 267: A Leap in Mindset In the time to come, various departments would allocate more manpower to devote substantial effort to researching this technology.

Zhang Yuan breathed a light sigh of relief, but felt a bit lost. The whole human civilization, including the history of the Gleize Civilization, had undergone an extremely significant change at that moment!

He was unsure whether what he had done was right or wrong.

In the end, Old Zhao gently patted his shoulder and brought him back to reality, “Since you’ve decided, and the calculation isn’t wrong, there’s no need to doubt yourself.”

Zhang Yuan sighed and nodded, then heard many people discussing related preventative legislation.

“…Once a technology is developed, it cannot be kept in a cage… someone will eventually try it.”

“Our common people might inadvertently become addicted to this technology for a long time… The virtual is always more pleasant than the reality.”

“When such a phenomenon becomes a major trend, it cannot be reversed, not even by us. So, we must prepare corresponding defensive measures.”

“Yes, tempt the Glizerians to enter, but don’t tempt ourselves in the process.”

It wasn’t impossible for such scenarios to occur; some people watched too much television and got lost in it, imagining themselves as princesses or princes.

Some people had mental breakdowns while reading novels, thinking they were omnipotent protagonists…

Others had a dream and couldn’t distinguish between virtual reality and reality anymore. Various precedents were laid before their eyes.

“Do not think that humans are creatures with incredibly strong willpower… Human brains are too fragile.”

Similar incidents had even occurred on Earth.

The technology of Immersive VR games wasn’t particularly complex and had already been developed. However, due to the realism of these games, they caused a large number of cases of schizophrenia, forcing the government to enact stringent laws to regulate these games. For example, requiring real-name systems, adult-only systems, and time-limited systems.

Yet, the number of people suffering from similar diseases was still overwhelming; they were addicted to illusions, causing various social issues.

The consequences of Immersive VR weren’t too severe, after all, humans had to wear helmets to game, which allowed them to genuinely feel the difference between reality and illusion… Once the helmet was removed, everything returned to reality.

A more realistic experience would obviously relate to the “Brain in a Vat” technology, which involved using biological nano-robots to rewrite sensory nerve signals, or in other words, using bioelectric currents to directly stimulate the brain to generate perceptions.

As such, it would become very hard to distinguish between the real and the fake.

Research in this area had also been conducted by humans on Earth, but it was not deeply pursued. Considering the ethical issues involved were immense, Earth’s governments did not support this research emphatically, hence, thousands of years of research yielded little significant progress…

The Universal Factory of the Glizerians contained data on this, but the data was not tailored specifically for Glizerians. Considering the vast differences in brain structures among intelligent organisms, the Glizerians, with their weaker technological development capabilities, had never been able to conduct experiments.

There were even technologies more realistic than the “Brain in a Vat,” namely Consciousness Upload!

Once the self-awareness of intelligent beings was uploaded into a virtual world, waking up from that “dream,” they would not know the true nature of the world and thus, could no longer differentiate.

Even if you were informed that your current world was an illusion, you might not necessarily want to return to the real reality.

Now humans wanted to bypass the “Brain in a Vat” technology entirely, a decision fraught with risks that warranted serious consideration.

Li Zhendong pondered for a while, then suddenly seemed to think of something, “Yes, Consciousness Upload and the virtual world are not just for dealing with the Gleize Civilization, they have other uses for us as well.”

“For example, during interstellar travel, our bodies could go into hibernation, and we could upload our minds into computers, continuing to be active. That way, we wouldn’t need to waste a lot of time sleeping.”

“Or take another example, if thoughts could give rise to other thoughts, we wouldn’t need to bear children at all. Why not directly select excellent talents from the virtual world and guide them into reality?”

He spread his arms: “We could select the best talents from millions of virtual worlds and bring them into the real world! These excellent talents would be the outstanding citizens of civilization.”

“Also, if some of our common people develop ideological deviations, commit crimes, or other serious transgressions, just enter the virtual world, enjoy their wonderful life, and never have to come out again.”

“Wouldn’t this ensure the purity of civilization?”

Zhang Yuan listened to Li Zhendong’s ramblings, and chuckled bitterly: “The idea is beautiful, especially selecting talents from various virtual worlds… it’s exactly like what I imagined, even though it might provoke significant discussion among the populace…”

“But what if this technology causes everyone to develop ideological deviations?”

“Including you, Li Zhendong–if you were immersed in a society where all your desires could be fulfilled, would you choose to come out? Facing such hardships in reality, who would want to suffer alive rather than enjoy a lifetime? What if you were given a ‘Golden Finger,’ turned into a rich tycoon with a harem, flaunting and face-slapping every moment?”

“If even you, Li Zhendong, cannot guarantee, what about other common people? If the elite are corrupted, the civilization is beyond redemption.”

Li Zhendong was suddenly stunned.

Even if he were narcissistic, he indeed couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t be addicted to a frivolous and endless fantasy world.

What Zhang Yuan said indeed posed a massive dilemma.

Captain Zhao sighed: “This is exactly why our civilization can undergo a qualitative change, isn’t it?”

“All the people in reality possess strong beliefs and an unstoppable fighting spirit. As for those unwilling to advance, just let them enter the virtual world. If there’s little difference between virtual and reality… why stay in reality?”

Everyone was both excited and fearful, even slightly worried about being attracted by the virtual world.

With the precedent of the Gleize Civilization, playing with uncontrollable high technologies could mean literally dying without a place to cry!

But…

The advantages it brought were also clear, including what Li Zhendong and Zhao Qingfeng mentioned, a leap from a short-lived species to a long-lived one, an ideological leap.

Or perhaps… selecting even more excellent talents.

This was literally a way to skyrocket to heaven… enabling a true qualitative transformation in human civilization!