Chapter 43: The Last Glacial Maximum
I made some changes at the end of the previous chapter and added some content. The main reason was that I missed some content before, which caused some logical misunderstandings. If you are interested, you can go back and take a look.
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Zhou Cheng knew that the technological development of human civilization was now almost tied to aerospace technology.
There are too many extremely important basic physics theories that need to be verified in the space environment, too many important experimental facilities directly related to the scientific and technological level need to be built in space, and too many theories of cosmic evolution need to be studied through observations of the deep universe.
After the implementation of the Star Barrier Plan, the space environment will be directly locked to humans.
Even some space telescopes built on the surface of the Earth will be seriously affected.
The performance of telescopes originally built on the surface of the earth is greatly different from that of space telescopes built in space due to the disturbance of the atmosphere.
But even if humans can solve the problem of atmospheric disturbances in the future, these telescopes built on the surface will completely lose the ability to observe space due to the influence of projectiles constantly flying around in space.
Imagine a space telescope built on the surface of the Earth, aiming at a distant extragalactic galaxy and conducting a long-exposure observation. But during this process, a projectile flies through the observation field of view, leaving behind a disturbance trace.
Then another, and another...
Countless projectiles flying through the observation field of view are like a child holding a pen and scribbling on a famous painting. They will completely destroy the observation and ultimately not even generate any valuable observation data.
In this case, how can technology progress?
"By releasing up to 12 billion powerful projectiles into space, they would trigger a chain reaction.
According to preliminary statistics, there are currently about 165,000 spacecraft of various types launched in the peak era in the space around the Earth, with a total mass of about 1.4 million tons.
The first thing affected by the projectile was the stockpile mass of about 1.4 million tons.
When impacted by projectiles, these man-made spacecraft will break apart, releasing more high-speed fragments.
The more high-speed fragments there are, the more frequently the space debris will be impacted, releasing even more high-speed fragments, and the cycle continues.
Ultimately, the number of high-speed fragments in the space around Earth will far exceed the initial 12 billion. Model predictions indicate that the final number of high-speed fragments could be as high as 2 to 3 trillion.
By then, space will be truly and completely blocked.
At the same time, the current level of technology is completely incapable of clearing these fragments.
It is estimated that the level of technology required to fully clean up this high-speed debris will be at least 200 years beyond the peak of human civilization in our time - 200 years at a normal development speed.
However, the development of human technology is closely tied to space. If you want to develop technology, you need to enter space first.
If you want to enter space, you need to clear these fragments first.
This will create a deadlock, completely blocking the possibility of technological development in human civilization."
The proponents of the Star Barrier Project wrote this plan with extremely calm and rigorous logic.
At the same time, humans also have the space capability to carry out this plan.
Zhou Cheng also knew that compared to the previous Extreme Cold Heaven and Earth Plan, the Starry Sky Barrier Plan was more suitable and more friendly to humans.
After all, there is no need to change the earth's environment. Human beings can still live safely and comfortably on the earth's surface, and even the quality of life and the level of technology they enjoy do not need to decline too much.
The earth will become prosperous again.
Except for the inability to enter space and the inability to develop technology, everything will be the same as human civilization at its peak.
This may be the best outcome for human civilization.
After reviewing the plans of Extreme Cold and Starry Sky Barrier, Zhou Cheng followed the members of the review team and reviewed the remaining six plans one by one, including the "Resource Depletion" plan jointly proposed by himself and Liu Yu. A month passed quietly.
People once again gathered in the World Government Conference Hall.
These eight plans, totaling 8, will undergo a final review by everyone to confirm their effectiveness and efficacy, and to confirm whether human civilization truly has the ability to "castrate itself" under the existing conditions.
"The first plan to be reviewed is the 'ocean pollution' plan. This plan intends to release a large number of radioactive nuclides into the ocean, which will be spread throughout the ocean by ocean currents, turning the ocean into a wasteland for humanity.
If the ocean is completely polluted, humans will be confined to land, production and living efficiency will be greatly reduced, and they will lose the ability to raise the manpower and material resources needed to support scientific and technological development.
You can submit your questions and doubts about this plan."
Many people raised their hands.
The meeting host gave a signal, and the secretarial team collected everyone's questions and sorted them into categories.
“The questions mainly focus on the following aspects.
First, do we have the capability to mine radionuclides of this quality?
Second, which radionuclide should be chosen to ensure sufficient damage while having a sufficiently long half-life;
3. Can blocking the ocean really achieve the effect of restricting the development of human technology?
Fourth, have the plan proponents considered the problem of radioactive nuclide enrichment leading to uneven distribution?
five,……"
The plan proponent who accepted the question came on stage and began to answer people's questions.
At first, he was confident and answered fluently, but as the questions became more difficult, he became visibly hesitant.
The questioning ended and everyone voted.
Only a few dozen people approved of the plan, accounting for less than 10 percent of all attendees.
Most people do not believe that marine pollution programs can achieve the goal of "self-castration".
The meeting chair announced, "Ocean pollution plan eliminated. Next is the second plan."
…
Plans were proposed one after another, and were rejected one after another.
"Next is the sixth plan, the Heaven and Earth Extreme Cold Plan. This plan is to..."
After a brief introduction, the questioning session began again.
“Most people have no doubt about the yield of the nuclear arsenal, the geological model of the controlled explosion that detonated and contained the Blue Rock eruption, the extreme cold weather caused by the change in the Earth’s tilt and the impact of the ice sheets.
The main question is: Can extreme cold weather really limit human technological development?
"We believe that extreme cold weather not only brings about a harsh environment, but also changes human beings themselves.
Extreme cold weather will affect both our physical and psychological well-being. Based on evolutionary models, we believe that it will only take a few generations for human social patterns to undergo significant changes.
The specific model is as follows..."
The plan proposer explained his proposal.
A white-haired old man raised his hand. After receiving permission, he stood up.
"If extreme cold weather can block the development of human technology... then how do we explain the Last Glacial Maximum?"
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