PFC Chapter 4218 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (25)
Chapter 4218 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (25)
Chapter 4218 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (Twenty-Five)
It took Schiller about ten minutes to accept the current situation. Simply put, the Milky Way is building a highway, and Earth is the roadblock. To get the highway open, they need to find a way to get rid of Earth.
The saying goes, "To get rich, build roads first," and it's common knowledge that road construction is a top priority. So even if the Earth were blocking the way, Schiller would prioritize figuring out how to solve the Earth's problems.
Fortunately, the Earth can move, so it doesn't face destruction. The problem is, while the Earth can move, it can't keep moving forever; it needs to find a place to stay. But the place it was originally located in is being used to build a highway, so it has to be moved.
Furthermore, since this teleportation channel carries certain risks, it's best not to place your home in the vicinity. That would require moving a significant portion of the planet. If Earth moves, other planets will have to follow; and if other planets move, the sun will have to move too.
"Schiller!" A figure clad in metal armor stormed into the tavern. He abruptly stopped in front of the bar, walked over, sat down, crossed his arms, and banged on the counter.
"How could you join that lunatic Richards in his nonsense? What do you mean by moving the solar system?! Is that even possible???"
With a "click," the visor opened, revealing Stark's face inside the mech. Schiller, who was arranging bottles behind the counter, turned to look at him and said, "So, what are your thoughts, Dr. Stark?"
“I told you not to call me Doctor.” Stark stretched his arms, cracked his neck, and said, “You really only know how to fix light bulbs. Didn’t you realize that Reed’s so-called spatial teleportation technology and Doom’s virtual information flow technology are the same technology?”
Schiller was taken aback; he genuinely didn't know. He turned to look at Stark. Stark sighed helplessly and said, "The essence of this technology is uploading us to the antimatter universe and then downloading us from somewhere else. Do you understand?"
“I think I understand,” Schiller said, “but the problem is that the upload and download ports are fixed. If that can’t be changed, then we’ll have to move the solar system around.”
Stark's eyes practically rolled to the sky as he said, "I'll say it one last time, this technology is unsafe!"
"How does it compare to a teleportation portal?"
“It’s not like the portal is safe!” Stark hesitated for a while, seemingly unsure how to explain. He tapped the table and said, “The common name ‘portal’ is too conservative. If we call it ‘dimensional folding and spatial explosion’ technology, I believe more people will study its security issues.”
"So the portal is a combination of dimensional folding and spatial explosion, while Reed's teleportation channel is a virtual information flow. Which one is safer?"
"None of them are safe."
"Do you have a safer way?"
“Not yet,” Stark shook his head and said, “but if I had to say, portals are a relatively mature technology. And what they created…”
Stark's expression was somewhat complicated. He said, "I have to admit, this is very technically advanced. Those two are indeed geniuses, at least geniuses who can rival Stark. However, I must also emphasize that, from my perspective, it is too early for humans to apply this technology. The social and ethical issues that may arise are more difficult to overcome than the technology itself."
"what do you mean?"
“Virtualization, of course,” Stark sighed. “Turning humans into virtual information is extremely risky. Even with very stable technology that can convert them back and forth, it will never pass ethical standards.”
"why?"
“This is murder.” Stark looked Schiller in the eyes and said very seriously, “To completely erase a person from the real world, even if he is transformed into a virtual stream of information, means that he has lost his existence in the real world. This is no different from death. And if this transformation technology is not in his own hands and cannot be controlled by him voluntarily, then whoever controls this technology can erase humanity with impunity. Can you imagine what a terrifying scene that would be?”
Schiller also composed himself, sat down opposite Stark, and said, "So this is what Reed and Doom were planning?"
“I don’t think they want to rule humanity this way. But the problem is that if someone wants to do it, the technology can be stolen. They can also be manipulated. If all of humanity is wiped out, our race will be extinct.”
“He didn’t tell me about this,” Schiller explained. “I don’t think he was deliberately hiding it; it’s just that his understanding of the technology is different from yours. He thinks we just borrowed a route to the antimatter universe.”
"That's not wrong. But the process of 'borrowing a route' is actually a kind of transformation."
"What I want to know is, are they now able to reliably transform humans?"
Stark shook his head slightly and said, "The kind of thing Doom proposed before, directly converting people into information and storing it on a server, is definitely not possible right now. However, it is possible to convert people into something else and upload them to the antimatter universe. They wouldn't have proposed this plan if they didn't have stable technology."
"I don't understand, what's the difference?"
“The key is the soul,” Stark said. “The soul is the masterpiece of the Creator, and no being can be above the Creator. Therefore, they can edit genes and modify the body, but they cannot play with the soul.”
"We can transform the physical body into any form, but we cannot change the soul even a little bit. This is one of the inherent constants of the cosmic server, invisible to most beings. Even to the cosmic administrator, it is read-only and cannot be written."
"There are only a few fixed methods for manipulating the soul, which are programs pre-set by the Creator. No one can break through these programs to transform the soul into what they want; otherwise, they would be the Creator."
"So you mean our souls can't be uploaded?"
"That's right. We can't store our souls in the things we create, which is like you can't step on your right foot and fly in a gravity environment."
Schiller asked with some confusion, "Then what about Mephisto? He has many souls in his hell, so why can he store them?"
“Because that’s a separate dimension,” Mephisto said, emerging from the back door. “I don’t store souls in anything. They’re all in the Hell dimension.”
Having said that, he pulled out a crystal from somewhere. Inside the crystal was the phantom of a small figure, burning with raging flames. Mephisto waved the crystal in his hand and said, "This is what is called the Soul Crystal. To you humans, it may seem that I have imprisoned a soul in a crystal, but that's because you can only perceive this world through your basic senses. In reality, the soul is not inside; it still resides in the Hell Dimension. This thing is merely a beacon."
"I want to take the soul out of here, not from this crystal, but from the hell dimension according to the crystal's location. This way, it won't violate the laws governing the soul."
"And what about the Spirit of Vengeance?"
"It's a bit complicated. However, there's no rule that a body can only have one soul. In certain specific circumstances, multiple souls can share a body. But the most I've ever seen is three, so it's not exactly an efficient storage method."
Schiller stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "So, the soul can only reside in the natural dimension. Those so-called methods of storing the soul are just illusions?"
“I suppose so, at least for complete souls. Some incomplete souls can be stored under certain circumstances, but that’s beyond the scope of our discussion,” Stark continued.
"So, they can upload their souls to the antimatter universe, because that is also a natural dimension, but they can't upload them to the servers we created, because that's not the Creator's creation."
“That’s right,” Stark nodded.
"Then the kind of thing you're talking about, wiping out all of humanity, is impossible, right? We can't be uploaded to the virtual world. Even if we were, it could only be transmitted within the natural dimension of the Creator."
"Where do you want to send it?" Stark asked. "Besides, once the body is erased, humans can't survive entirely on their souls. Destroying the body alone is terrifying enough."
“That is indeed a problem,” Schiller sighed. “I should have paid more attention to Lucifer’s lectures on the structure of the universe.”
“This hardly qualifies as cosmology,” Stark said, leaning against the bar. “The technology sounds sophisticated, but it’s really just scratching the surface of the universe. Even so, it would be difficult for humans to use safely. The same goes for everyone.”
"You mean even the three great empires can't be utilized?"
"Of course. If they had that ability, they wouldn't have been unable to solve the antimatter wormhole that Reed created. In fact, they're far from understanding cosmology. Robots don't even have souls."
“I have to say, given the lack of a better solution, Reed’s plan is very likely to be approved.” Schiller handed Stark a beer. “Human progress is like rowing against the current; if you don’t move forward, you fall behind. Our time is already very limited. If we continue to hesitate, this precious opportunity may not come again for another ten thousand years.”
Stark wiped his face, took two gulps of ice-cold beer, and said, "Okay. Of course I know we should take advantage of the three great empires' weakness and get everything done. But..."
“But you’re still worried and a little anxious.” Schiller handed him a slice of watermelon and said, “How about this, I’ll call Reed over, and you two can talk.”
“What’s the point of calling him here?” Stark seemed a little disheartened. “We’re complete opposites. Compared to him, I’m a pessimist who always sees the bad side of things, but I also know that my view isn’t mainstream now. I don’t want to always be so annoying.”
Schiller understood that Stark's reluctance to meet Reed stemmed from his knowledge of his inability to win an argument. Now that they had finally weakened the three great empires and completely diverted their attention, they needed to seize this opportunity to rebuild their homeland. Such an opportunity would not come again.
Construction went smoothly, and everything was thriving. All the media outlets were reporting on the development progress; humanity was making great strides, and everyone was looking forward to a brighter tomorrow.
From a technical standpoint, Reed's plan couldn't possibly have any problems; otherwise, Stark would have had a perfectly legitimate reason to stop him. What held him back was nothing more than morality, paranoia, and a pessimistic view of human nature.
But no one would stop such an important project, one that was clearly on track to succeed, just because of his opinion. So, from any perspective, it would be very difficult for him to stop Reed Richards.
“Are you angry that I didn’t stop him either?” Schiller asked.
“Of course I’m angry,” Stark said, his eyes wide. “If you had used your genius brain to learn more about science and engineering, you wouldn’t have been so easily fooled by him. And you should be more aware of social and ethical issues than I am. You should have used that to seriously question him.”
“I will,” Schiller nodded.