Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 413 - 411: The Direction of the Future

Chapter 413: Chapter 411: The Direction of the Future

As various cultural activities flourished, inside Kunlun Mountain, a momentous transition was taking place between the old and the new generations. With a sizable population retiring all at once, the handover process was quite complex. It was estimated that three to five years would be needed to complete the entire task.

One internal meeting after another left Zhang Yuan feeling somewhat exhausted. He was no longer the young man who could get by on just three to four hours of sleep a day. After working for so long, he occasionally felt tired and sometimes even found himself dozing off mid-task. This was a physiological phenomenon caused by aging and not something that sheer willpower could overcome.

However, the development of civilization had already entered a standard phase, so it was time to pass the baton to the next generation of successors. There was nothing much to worry about.

Now that he had delegated some of his power, he finally had some free time to relax and briefly revert from being a mere "tool" back to his original self, which felt quite good.

Indeed, being the leader of a civilization often meant being a tool, unable to smile when one wanted to, or cry when needed, bottling up any emotions. He must represent the absolute justice and direction of civilization!

But this was too exhausting.

Even steel suffers from metal fatigue, let alone living human beings.

Retired life would undoubtedly be much more relaxing—he could engage in activities he enjoyed, sleep in, or even play video games, especially the recent popular games in Virtual Space. Zhang Yuan was always someone who enjoyed novel things. If it had been in the past, he would have never had the time to experience these fresh products, at best he would have tasted them superficially.

Zhang Yuan gazed at the distant Constant Star and the pale blue Taipu Star and softly said, "From the civilizations we have encountered so far, it is clear that some are more unfortunate than us, and some are luckier."

"Since we are already an interstellar civilization, we should consider ourselves lucky... At least 90% of civilizations are weaker than us based on probability."

The young people behind him, some of whom were Zhang Yuan’s successors and others young Deputy Captains, remained silent.

Zhang Yuan then asked, "What do you think is mankind’s greatest misfortune? Or, where is human civilization imperfect?"

"Imperfections... our lives are too short," Dr. Li Cheng from the secretariat answered. "Compared to the Badit people, human lifespans are much too short, and most people’s minds are not very smart, making it difficult to adapt to long-distance space travel."

"During the Age of Great Navigation in the Middle Ages, humans could only endure loneliness for two or three months at a time. Columbus took two months to discover the New Continent; Magellan’s circumnavigation lasted three years, but he made at least seventeen stops, which is equivalent to docking on the coast every two months. Any longer would be untenable, and the sailors would surely rebel."

"... The interstellar era is similar. If it wasn’t for the fact that Kunlun Mountain society is large enough, and through hibernation, to forcibly shorten perceived time, such interstellar travel would be too tedious for humans. Space workers from time to time suffer from wilderness terror, and even with training, there is still a probability of this occurring."

Generally speaking, with over ten million people on Kunlun Mountain, the number of years they are consciously awake is about one million, which is the scale of a mid-sized city, so people don’t feel lonely.

Furthermore, with hibernation, which means that a 50-year interstellar journey feels like only five years, it becomes somewhat acceptable.

Dr. Li Cheng continued, "The briefness of life not only shortens the period of human peak performance but also hinders technological advancement. Although the peak of Intelligence’s capacity is long, the peak period of creativity is not."

"From an ideological perspective, people prefer to settle on a planet. Hence we can only build gigantic Mother Ships like Kunlun Mountain to gain that deep sense of security... Actually, the probability of falling into mediocrity is higher in the settlement model."

"In contrast, the Badit people are much better off. They need only a large shuttle and a population of twenty thousand to endure the long passage of time. They do not get bored facing the same thing and could entertain themselves with a game like Tetris for scores of years. This indicates that their brains have slightly different happiness trigger mechanisms..."

Yes, the length of life greatly influenced human ideology.

Taking Earth Civilization as an example, in ancient times, humans married and had children in their teens because they could only live to around thirty.

As a result, when the average lifespan increased to a hundred years, the number of older singles dramatically increased.

After the average lifespan rose to three hundred years, even the number of those getting married dwindled. Everyone wanted to make the most of their youth, to play and make a ruckus, who would think about marrying early and tying themselves down for three hundred years?

As for having children...that’s something to consider after the age of two hundred.

What, child-rearing, old-age care? Where did these primitive people come from?

That was the ideology of Earth people. Human ideology changes with the economy and lifespan. If everyone really could live three to five thousand years, it’s very possible they’d have little interest in having children, at least not in their twenties or thirties.

If there were still plenty of time to waste, who would want to settle down so early?

Of course, the ideological changes brought by increased longevity are very complex and a key subject of discussion in New Civilization History. The thinking of long-lived species is drastically different from that of short-lived species.

After Li Cheng finished speaking, Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but smile and nod in agreement, "Well said."

Subsequently, the military’s Chief of Staff, Ye Junchang, responded, "I think that it is the human body that is too fragile, especially the nervous system, which is extremely delicate. Humans always succumb to their own desires... Instincts from the ancient times that were advantageous for survival still influence us. But what was advantageous in ancient times is not necessarily beneficial today."

"These life habits are essentially a very simple philosophical concept, that is, the doctrine of survival and reproduction. You don’t need to think, you don’t need education— it exists. Under the influence of primitive philosophical views, many students have not even established the most basic modern philosophical views, despite our education system strongly emphasizing this point. Yet, they still don’t know the meaning of their existence and just drift along with society."

"If the social ethos is good, they manage to do okay, but if the social environment is poor, they quickly degenerate."

Zhang Yuan chuckled internally. Ye Junchang was a typical representative of the radical faction.

This faction was not satisfied with human genetic philosophy and the driving forces of advancement and had developed their own set of theories within the framework of New Civilization History.

The core content of this theory was that, although humans are on an upward trajectory, they still have their limits.

Human evil is often without reason and can be seen from a young age, some people just like to bully others and cause destruction while others prefer to live minimalistic lives, indifferent to the world around them, living in their little bubbles.

Even with education and various chip technologies to correct some bad habits, many things remained hidden and not completely eradicated.

In other words, highbrow and serious content could not compete with lowbrow entertainment, which spread more easily exactly because of such reasons.

However, Genetic Philosophy touches upon the most core aspects of humans and is not something that can be changed at will.

Zhang Yuan nodded, "So, first of all, we need to use technology to bridge the intelligence gap and control our desires... and also, to change our fundamental motivations for living. We don’t even know how we should change them. Modify genes? That’s difficult to achieve."