This is a golden age, and we are all looking forward to a new, disruptive future.
It will change not only the composition of our material life, but also our personal spiritual cognitive realm.
But all this requires two prerequisites.
The first premise is related to science, and the second premise rises to philosophy.
Some people may think that philosophy is a mysterious thing, difficult to understand, obscure and boring.
Then you might as well calm down for a moment and think about these two questions.
The first question is if there is a ship in front of you, and from now on, you replace it with an identical but brand-new part every day. After all the parts are replaced, will the ship still be the same one as before?
Second question: What is the biggest difference between the destruction caused by wildfires caused by a cigarette butt to animals in the mountains and the civilians affected and harmed by human wars?
——Su Che·"Golden Age"
…
Two hundred and seventy-five hours after the sun disappeared, the escape capsule began to use its final reserve power.
While Yan Sichen was recording everything he could observe, he would look in the direction of the earth from time to time.
Although Xian Qianhua tortured her soul through hunger strikes, this almost self-harming behavior was forced to end when she fell into coma.
She is sleeping soundly now, with a faint smile on her lips. It seems that she has had a sweet dream.
…
"Are you awake?" The first voice Xian Qianhua heard after waking up was so unfamiliar.
She was stunned for a second, then suddenly opened her eyes and looked around.
The speaker was sitting beside the bed, smiling and looking kind.
Xian Qianhua touched the soft quilt under her body and looked at the bright sunshine outside the window. For a moment, she didn't know how to describe her mood at this moment.
Did she survive? Was she rescued?
None of these consciousnesses appeared.
Xian Qianhua just felt that all this was so far away... It was like a longed but unattainable dream suddenly came true...
Try to go for a walk.
The gravity of the earth's center is no longer a constraint at this time, and the familiar, unfamiliar, yet familiar feeling is back.
It's like a mother's concern for her children...only when you lose it do you realize how grounded it is.
The next day.
After a round of rehabilitation training, Xian Qianhua met with her attending physician.
A kind-hearted old man, he made Xian Qianhua feel more like a master of Chinese studies than a doctor.
Because he didn't smell of disinfectant, and his brows were filled with tenderness and concern.
He asked Xian Qianhua many questions, most of which were related to Xian Qianhua's current physical condition and feelings.
Xian Qianhua has also been feeling her body... The long period of wandering in space has not atrophied her muscles. She even feels stronger than before.
This may be an illusion.
"You should have a good rest for a while. Once your body has fully recovered, you can go home." The old man was very satisfied with Xian Qianhua's recovery status.
Xian Qianhua also felt comfortable all over, not like a sick person at all.
So she asked, "Then...doctor...when can I see my companion?"
Companion... This was a very hazy concept in Xian Qianhua's memory after she woke up.
She couldn't remember that person's name, but she had a vague feeling that there should be such a person.
But the old man got it wrong. He smiled and said, "It will be soon. They are waiting for you to be discharged from the hospital so that they can hold a celebration banquet for you."
Them? No...
…
The test results are out.
The ones who were more nervous than Hanako were Liang Qiuru, Natsume and Masato Shimizu.
Everyone gathered around and carefully looked at the report about Hanako's fate.
Hanako was isolated in a sterile ward. She could only watch from a distance, feeling uneasy as she didn't know what fate she would face next.
The only thing accompanying her is an artificial intelligence monitor.
Her appearance may not look so gentle, with eight robotic arms of different thicknesses and lengths, and a big square head.
But at this moment, she is Hanako's greatest spiritual dependence.
"Don't worry, you are in good health and there will be no problem." The monitor Xiaoy comforted Hanako.
Hanako didn't speak. She lowered her head, clasped her hands tightly, her fingers were red and her knuckles were white, trying to suppress her emotions.
the other side.
Several people who were watching the test report fell silent after reading the report in detail.
Liang Qiuhe and Yan Haoming stood aside until Liang Qiuru turned around and asked, "So... what does the summary of this report mean?"
Yan Haoming smiled and said, "That's what it literally means."
Although Natsume and Masato are not that professional, but...
"Eternal life?! Are you sure this is a scientific term?" Natsume pointed out the key words.
Although his voice was not loud, and through the thick glass, Hanako had no idea what he was talking about, but seeing their movements and expressions, Hanako's nervousness deepened a lot.
Fortunately, Yan Haoming noticed this very early.
He said, "How about this? I'll stay and talk to Hanako, and you and Teacher Liang can go next door to talk, okay?"
Only then did several people realize that Hanako was watching behind them.
"I'll stay too
, you... just tell me a definite result... the specific details... I don't want to know." Masato also chose to stay.
Liang Qiuru's character did not allow her to accept such an ambiguous report, so she followed Liang Qiuru to the next door.
Natsume originally wanted to stay, but after thinking about it carefully, she followed.
After the three people left the house, Hanako asked tentatively, "The result...isn't it bad..."
xiaoy replied, "No, your physical condition is very good, and the result will be extremely beneficial to you."
Hearing such an answer, Hanako smiled...a bitter smile.
She didn't know whether it was because she couldn't express herself clearly, or because Xiaoy simply wasn't smart enough and couldn't really understand what Hanako was worried about.
So her mood became even more depressed.
Until Yan Haoming and Yaren walked in.
…
"Masato...am I...dead?" Hanako asked a question that even she found strange.
Masato froze when he heard this, then forced a smile and said, "What are you talking about? Hanako, aren't you a good person?"
Hanako shook her head, "It's different."
"What's the difference?" Masato asked.
"You... no... maybe I really am not me anymore, but I just don't know it yet."
As soon as he said these words, Yan Haoming suddenly laughed.
And it was the kind of smile that sounded like being amused by a joke.
Upon hearing this, Yaren turned around and looked at Yan Haoming unhappy.
Hanako was also surprised. She didn't think her words were ridiculous, and shouldn't she be serious at this time?
Yan Haoming laughed for a while and probably felt it was inappropriate. He covered his mouth and said, "I'm sorry... I just can't help it."
"Uncle!" Masato was really angry. Her best friend was now "dead or alive". How could this man who usually seemed quite reliable still laugh?
When Yan Haoming saw that Yaren was angry, he immediately stopped laughing.
He coughed twice, and then asked Hanako, "Hanako, do you still remember when you secretly ran to my house to 'catch goldfish' when you were a child, right?"
Hanako was stunned when he heard this, and then his face turned red.
Recalling this "little thing", Hanako always feels embarrassed to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it...
"'Fishing for goldfish?' What fishing for goldfish? Is it the kind at a fireworks display?" Masato was still very naive.
Yan Haoming was about to explain, but Hua Zi quickly interrupted with a blushing face, "Oh! It's nothing, it's just 'fishing for goldfish'! It's nothing!"
When Masato frowned, he felt even more weird.
Yan Haoming laughed, "Since you remember... then Huazi, why do you think you are not you anymore? Just because you had a nightmare? Or... just because you also watched that video?"
Hanako was silent after hearing this.
Speaking of which...actually, what was clearly recorded in that video was that Natsume fired at the breeding tank, and the outline of the humanoid that appeared in the breeding tank was somewhat similar to Hanako.
If it weren't for the overlap in Natsume's and Masato's discoveries, it would be really difficult to confirm that it was Hanako.
Therefore, what really makes Hanako feel uneasy is...that part of her own memory that doesn't seem to belong to her.
Moreover, she has been hiding something.
When comparing their experiences that night with Natsume, Hanako did not reveal that she had entered the breeding area that Masato was responsible for before, nor did she reveal that she saw the mysterious symbol.
Maybe these are the real reasons why she feels nervous and uneasy.
Seeing that Hanako stopped talking, Masato seemed to understand Yan Haoming's intention. She gently held Hanako's hand and said, "Hanako, actually... we are not here to prove anything, especially for me... I want to verify
It's not the truth, but the Hanako I know still exists, so..."
"I understand... Masato... I understand..." Hanako held Masato's hand instead. She used to like holding Masato's hand and wandering around for no other reason than she was greedy for the tenderness and tenderness of Masato's small hands.
Thinking about it now, Hanako couldn't help but feel that she was really a weirdo.
Masato sat next to Hanako. She took out her hand and hugged Hanako tightly and said, "Well, that's fine. When we get back, let's go watch the fireworks display, okay?"
"good."
Yan Haoming didn't speak anymore. He took a deep breath and looked at Hua Zi with gentle eyes, but there was also a hint of vigilance and expectation hidden in his gentleness...
…
On the other side, Liang Qiuhe and others arrived in the next room.
Regarding the key word "eternal life" mentioned by Natsume just now, Liang Qiuhe gave a detailed explanation.
He said, "There are all kinds of creatures on our earth, including animals, plants, plankton, etc... For animals and plants, reproduction is their form of existence, and reproduction also helps them better understand the environment and adapt to the environment.
, having an environment gives birth to feelings and civilization, you should be able to understand this, right?"
They are all spoken in vernacular, and Liang Qiuru and Natsume can naturally understand them given their knowledge and experience.
But the question is, why do you say this?
Liang Qiuhe did not give the two people a chance to ask questions. He said directly, "In addition to reproduction, in recent decades, we have discovered many other forms of existence around the world, especially in the sea. This is another form of existence that is completely different from reproduction."
The form of species survival is - 'immortality'!"
"Eternal life?!" Natsume still felt that this word was very unscientific.
Liang Qiuru, who has been engaged in research on marine animals and plants for many years, is different.
The "eternal life" Liang Qiuhe mentioned does exist...but it is different from the "eternal life" we usually understand.
In fact, in the scientific community, "immortality" is a term
To concept.
It's like many bears hibernating.
In order to survive the winter, bears will absorb as much energy as possible during seasons when food and water are plentiful. Then in winter, when the weather is freezing, bears will hide and hibernate, entering a state of extremely low metabolism so that they can
New spring.
This hibernation behavior seems to be short-lived, but if the time is extended long enough.
For example, a certain creature will live freely for a hundred years if the environment allows it, but after a hundred years, the environment will become extremely harsh. In order to continue its existence, this creature will either choose to evolve and adapt to the new environment.
, or choose hibernation, which is what the scientific community understands, a state of infinite approximation to "eternal life" to spend this difficult time.
When the harsh environment phase ends, the creatures in the "immortality" phase will naturally wake up.
If we can understand this, then "eternal life" will no longer be a strange and unscientific term.
"Oh..." Natsume understood, but "But what does this have to do with Hanako?"
Although Liang Qiuru also looked at her cousin Liang Qiuhe, she probably already guessed what Liang Qiuhe was going to say.
"Aren't you coming to Beijing this time to confirm two things?" Liang Qiuhe took out two reports and put them on the table, and then said, "One is to confirm whether Huazi is dead, and the other is to confirm whether Huazi is still alive.
Alive, right?"
Natsume nodded. This sounded confusing, but Liang Qiuhe's description was very accurate.
"Based on the three samples you provided, we can basically confirm that the ancestral DNA sequence contained here belongs to Hanako, and after analyzing the biomass residues in the samples, we found that these residues are not as dead as they seem.
...In fact, they are still alive, but have entered the 'immortal' state I just mentioned, which means...the Hanako you saw decomposed into these residues is not only not dead, but may even be
Gained the ability of 'immortality', but this ability... doesn't look so... well... beautiful."
After hearing this, Natsume felt strange.
Although he can now understand what Liang Qiuhe is talking about, but... he always feels that this is too incredible.
Although he is not old, he has seen all kinds of strange marine creatures. Some of them have existed in the deep sea for tens of millions of years, but they have not undergone such exaggerated evolution?
Moreover, according to Liang Qiuhe’s previous theory.
A certain creature's choice of "immortality" is influenced by the harsh external living environment.
But for deep-sea fish, isn’t their living environment bad enough?
In fact... what Natsume was confused about was a blind spot in his cognitive boundaries, which directly led to his misunderstanding.
Because he compared his own living environment with the living environment of deep-sea fish, but he never thought that for deep-sea fish... the shallow sea with more nutrients and food is more like hell.
"Is Hanako dead?" Natsume asked again.
Liang Qiuhe smiled and said, "Don't worry. To get the final result, we have to solve these two problems, right? Now we are basically sure that Hanako has achieved 'immortality' in a very special way, but we are not sure yet.
Is the Hanako next door to us real or fake?"
"Um……"
"Actually, determining whether a person is the person we know is nothing more than looking at two perspectives, one is the biological perspective, and the other is the psychological perspective, or in other words, the philosophical perspective." Liang Qiuhe said and listed all the information about Huazi next door.
The detection information is projected around the room.
"From a biological point of view, Hanako's body is healthy except for her stomach, which may have insufficient digestive capacity due to genetic factors, and this genetic factor is exactly the key to proving that she is who she is!" Liang Qiu
He took out another set of comparison data, "These are the DNA test results of Hanako's mother, Xiaoru's ancestry. After genetic comparison, we confirmed that this child is Hanako. At least from a biological point of view, we have no reason to deny this.
Hanako, she is not Hanako..."
Natsume was a little dazed, but Liang Qiuru was already awake.
"So...it's our own problem, right?"
After hearing Liang Qiuru's question, Natsume gradually woke up.
"Yes, just like the landmark body-swapping experiment thirty-five years ago that seemed to subvert human ethics, the engineer exchanged his consciousness with a smart device. In theory, this should be like changing clothes.
Simple, but if you think about it carefully, how can we be sure that this process really exists? Is the smart device killing its owner and pretending to be someone else, or is it really just like when it was taken to court and then dismembered and destroyed in the factory?
As he said, he succeeded?" Liang Qiuhe's words mentioned a very sensitive topic.
This topic still easily touches the public's nerves and bottom line of human ethics even today.
But for them who have been engaged in scientific research all year round, this incident is indeed a milestone.
"In other words... no matter what happens to Hanako, what is the meaning behind it? On the one hand, her life and death are determined by her biological form and state, and on the other hand, it is determined by your
In my heart... is she still alive?"
Natsume's heart trembled when he heard this, and his whole body's nerves were tense.
Liang Qiuru didn't say anything. She was silent for a while and then said, "Thank you, I'll go and stay with Hua Zi."
After saying that, Liang Qiuru pushed the door open and went out.
Liang Qiuhe lit up a cigarette, and after taking a puff, he found Natsume looking at him, and couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, "You don't mind, do you?"
"Please feel free." Natsume said and sat on the chair, holding his forehead, feeling very confused.
Liang Qiuhe did not interrupt. He quietly looked at the data in the room and suddenly showed a meaningful smile.