"Obstacle? So you want me to rub my hands together and get out? That's unnecessary, right? I'm just one person, and you have an organizational machine. If you can't get through, then I can't do it even more!" Jiang Ling scratched his head when he heard that, very confused.
"This obstacle is different from what you imagine," Li Wenjia patiently explained. "If it were a wall, it would be infinitely thick, infinitely high, and infinitely far to the left and right—that's the kind of obstacle we're facing. It couldn't be man-made, because its surface is extremely rough, even messy. Man-made things are always orderly, at least on a certain scale."
"Wait, are you talking about death?" Jiang Ling interrupted.
“No, but it’s pretty much the same in a broad sense.”
"Oh, I understand. Life is mortal, and you really can't achieve immortality—whose stupid idea is this? Why do I keep hearing on the road that you're very pragmatic?"
"Of course, we are not arrogant enough to attempt to touch the realm of God," said Lin Ke.
"Say it earlier! What on earth is that?"
"Don't worry, let me explain slowly." Li Wenjia paused for a moment, and the shadow of the Endless Galaxy transformed into a rotating Earth. "Jiang Ling, you must have heard of 'cosmic sociology' before hibernation, right? It was a very popular new discipline at the time, and you must have heard of it. They assumed that basic constants such as the speed of light, gravity, repulsion, and pi were variable values, and used this as a benchmark to study the evolution of cosmic civilization on extremely large scales. They predicted many things, and these things were verified one by one after we set sail.
“It’s hard to imagine their divergent thinking at the time, but the reality is so cruel—our universe is a ruin, and the seemingly well-developed human civilization is just a seedling struggling to survive in the ruins.
"In the pre-Asteroid Earth era, we humans also naively fantasized about the limitless expansion of civilization. Like bacteria, one begets two, two begets four, filling a lake in a week, spreading across an entire planet in a few years. Back then, the fantasy was pure. Dyson spheres, ringworlds, orbital elevators, skyhooks—huge structures in space were captivating. Power struggles staged on the Milky Way, super-personalities that viewed several galaxies as a whole, countless individuals in a civilization contemplating the same thing simultaneously—what a romantic story!"
"It's a pity that all they have left now is romance." Lin Ke interjected.
Li Wenjia continued, "The reality is, we've reached the limit of our expansion. The more we develop technology, the more we can clearly perceive the terrifying marginal effect. We'll never reach this boundary, but that doesn't mean it's infinitely far away. In fact, it's very close."
"Because of the speed of light?"
"Yes, but it's not just the speed of light; it's all the laws of physics," he said. "The universe we live in is more complex than anyone imagined. The physical laws we observe are actually the result of the interaction of many more physical laws. These microscopic rules are constantly changing. They may not seem to have much impact on the macroscopic scale, but in fact they are changing the world every moment. And because they are so tiny, subtle changes are difficult for civilizations to detect. And because they are so tiny, even the slightest change is enough to make civilizations unable to explore the ultimate universe even if they exhaust all their resources.
"Of course, we chose to conceal this. I've been in the upper echelons of the community for so many years, and I know very well how many people truly understand it—just a handful. Living in such a world requires immense courage. Anyone who understands this will be terrified. After all, no one knows whether the clean water placed on the table will turn into a highly toxic solution in the next second.
"Furthermore, if the end is imminent, the scientific community will also sink into depravity, and the pursuit of rationality may very well become a superstition, bringing about a dark trend of thought that will be enough to destroy the remaining rationality in society."
"Just like those crazy tribes on the surface after the war?" Jiang Ling followed his words and made associations.
"That's right, the wasteland is full of madness, and there are civilizations everywhere that have destroyed their own future because of madness. The same is true in the universe, and compared to the earth, the distant spatial scale will make it more difficult for these "crazy tribes" to get help. So - we are lucky." Lin Ke said meaningfully.
"In other words, this is a big filter?" Jiang Ling said.
The two of them were silent for a while, and Jiang Ling thought they must have agreed.
Li Wenjia continued, "You haven't heard of 'cosmic complexity' yet, have you? This is information we've obtained through reverse engineering of Martian ruins, and it's been kept strictly confidential. Simply put, the multiverse exists, its total number is incalculable, each one is unique, and each one has the potential to give rise to civilization. The multiverse is in perpetual motion, constantly merging and decomposing, and a very small number of them will eventually cease to exist."
"During this process, the universe will become more complex. The more complex the universe, the lower the probability of the birth of new civilizations and the lower the probability of understanding the laws of the universe. At the same time, the new civilization will be more adaptable to changes in the laws.
"That super civilization divided it into ten levels. The lower the level, the purer the universe, and the more popular they are. Levels 0 to 1 are usually excellent temporary residences, levels 1 to 4 can be used for temporary stays and repairs, and levels 4 to 7 are more dangerous, but they can still replenish matter and energy. They didn't say what the levels above that were, but we can imagine the level of chaos in those universes. It is said that when the universe was at its purest, the laws of the universe were like candy in a transparent jar, and anyone could comprehend the ultimate laws in their own backyard. By the time that super civilization left their universe, the complexity of the universe had reached 3.7."
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