Chapter 45 Start-up Capital
Facing the thousands of silently seated attendees in the conference hall, Zhou Cheng spoke quietly, "Looking at the history of human civilization, if we want to identify some key nodes, I think we should start with energy.
In the early days of human civilization, learning to use fire was the first major breakthrough.
In the early days of fire, our ancestors usually used wood as energy.
Then, coal.
The large-scale use of coal ushered in the Industrial Revolution, the subsequent industrial age, and a leap forward in civilization.
Next came oil. Oil is not only a high-quality fuel but also the foundation of the chemical industry. Its widespread use reignited the Industrial Revolution, allowing human civilization to soar once again and leading to tremendous technological advancements.
Coal and oil have played an irreplaceable and important role throughout the history of civilization. Even as we enter the nuclear age, these two remain extremely important.
I would even go so far as to say that without sufficient and easily accessible coal and oil, our human civilization would not have developed to its current stage and would have remained in the feudal era.
Note that there are two key points here, both of which are indispensable: 1. Enough. 2. Easy to obtain.
During this period, my companion Liu Yu and I visited many coal mines and oil fields, including those of our ancestors hundreds or thousands of years ago, as well as modern ones.
In those ruins, I witnessed the wisdom of our ancestors. They could dig out tens of thousands of tons of coal, enough to supply an entire city, just by carrying it in their hands or on their shoulders and using very simple tools.
They could obtain enough oil with extremely simple tools, and even based on this, they made the so-called "fierce oil", which was used on a large scale in the military; they even built a gas pipeline with a length of more than 200 kilometers thousands of years ago. Their wisdom makes me, a modern person, amazed.
But I've also noticed that modern coal and oil fields are already making extensive use of intelligent machinery. Coal and oil extraction often extends hundreds or even thousands of meters underground. We possess highly sophisticated and sensitive exploration equipment that can precisely measure underground reserves. If single extraction isn't enough, we even have methods like water and gas injection for secondary and tertiary oil extraction, allowing us to extract every ounce of oil even from beneath a thousand meters.
Compared with modern mining methods, no matter how much I am amazed by the wisdom of our ancestors, it makes me realize a reality: no matter how smart and wise our ancestors were, if we put them in today's environment, without the assistance of modern mining equipment, they would not be able to mine a piece of coal or a drop of oil.
Because all the easily exploitable fossil fuels have already been mined by us.
Of the two major elements, the first, "enough," still exists. The second, "easy to access," has been permanently lost.
So... I think that if we destroy all the already dug mines and mines, destroy all modern mining equipment, destroy all modern scientific and technological materials, and forcibly lower the technological level of human civilization to that before the First Industrial Revolution, then our descendants will never be able to develop to our current level of technology.
They will always be stuck at the level before the Industrial Revolution, in an era where agriculture depended on the weather, transportation relied on the power of cattle and horses, medical care relied on various herbs, and communication relied on express horse stations.
Productivity determines production relations. Sufficiently backward productivity will inevitably reshape the world. Feudalism will return, hereditary succession and the emperor will reappear, and ordinary people will return to an era where they may never leave their county once in their lifetime.
Ideas and culture may continue to evolve, and intellectual trends may still emerge. However, due to the world's lack of readily available fossil fuels, these trends will no longer have a significant enough impact on social structures. They will lose the opportunity to spread widely, remaining niche, ultimately becoming the playthings of a few, and fading away under the scouring of time.
Our human civilization and future generations will continue to live in this environment forever unless some kind of natural disaster with global impact occurs."
Zhou Cheng spoke calmly and summarized his plan.
"In the final analysis, over the billions of years since Earth's creation, there has only been one 'start-up fund' for the development of wisdom and civilization. And we have already used up this fund.
Without start-up capital, no matter how smart or wise our descendants are, they will be of no use.
Now, you can question Liu Yu and I about our plan."
There was silence in the meeting hall.
Countless complex thoughts emerged in people's minds.
With only a small amount of start-up capital, they regressed to the feudal era and continued civilization in an era of low technology...
Zhou Cheng waited for a long time, and finally an old man raised his hand.
The meeting chairperson said, "Please speak."
The old man stood up tremblingly: "I have to admit that based on the existing theoretical system, if we retreat to the feudal era, our civilization's scientific and technological development system is indeed very likely to be locked.
However, I don’t quite agree with your statement that there is only one source of start-up capital.
Coal and oil were primarily formed within the last 100 million years. If we give the Earth another 100 million years, and I mean IF, our descendants can survive until then, there might be another source of 'start-up capital.'
Zhou Cheng shook his head: "No, there won't be any more. The reason why coal can be formed in large quantities is that at that time, there were no microorganisms on Earth that could decompose lignin.
And now... in just a few decades, you have seen how the wood has decayed.
In the modern world, wood has no chance of being turned into coal.
The same is true for oil. The formation of oil is inseparable from the microbial environment at the time. But today's Earth no longer has that environment, and it is impossible for it to exist again."
Another person raised his hand.
"Even without coal and oil, energy sources like water and wind will always exist."
Zhou Cheng spread his hands and said, "History has proven that water power and wind power have failed to promote the technological development of civilization.
What is needed for the development of civilization is sufficiently stable and sufficient controllable energy. There is no alternative to fossil energy.
In order to stably obtain other types of energy besides fossil energy, we must have a sufficient level of technology as a foundation.
A sufficient level of technology requires sufficient fossil energy as a foundation.
The two are locked in a knot... This is another knot, a knot that even we in modern times cannot untie."
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