Three-body: The Most Competent Wallfacer in History

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The project to shatter the two-dimensional fragments has now officially entered the implementation phase.

Construction in all the provinces has essentially completed, and the Solar System State now has more resources and finances to invest in scientific research.

This project is a key project for the next century, with an extraordinarily large total investment.

The headquarters of the project are set up on Earth as usual, and experiments will be conducted using the two-dimensional fragments of the Solar System.

Number Three said with a smile, "The Strategic Department has predicted that in the field of two-dimensional weapons research, we should already have surpassed the Trisolarans.

"We must admit there's an element of luck involved; no one expected the No. 7 Bacterium from hundreds of years ago to provide us with such great help.

"And the biological resources of the Three-Body Star System are relatively scarce to begin with, making it difficult for them to have an advantage like ours.

"There are other ways to acquire similar technology, such as from relics of interstellar civilizations.

"But, based on our experience with reverse-engineering the gyro satellites, the higher-end the technology, the more difficult it is to reverse-engineer, and the larger the disparity with the foundation of one's own civilization, the harder it is to integrate with one's own technology.

"And there is considerable danger because a civilization capable of two-dimensional strikes must be at least mid-level, and even the remnants of such a civilization could maintain their intelligent systems on standby for a long time.

"Take, for example, the Gyro Guard left by an advanced civilization tens of thousands of years ago; if it weren't bound to a planet, it could annihilate humanity by itself.

"So even if the Trisolarans came across such ruins, they could not possibly possess this technology in a short period of time. And if they were to acquire two-dimensional weapons through the accumulation of theory and technology, it would be an incredibly lengthy process."

This was humanity's second technological advancement surpassing that of the Trisolarans; the first was in the field of gravitational research and application, where humanity had already clearly surpassed the Trisolarans during the Shelter Era.

After ending the conversation with Number Three, Jiang Yu went to the living room and relayed the good news to Yang Dong.

Finally, Jiang Yu said, "From this, we can infer that the scientific development of each civilization is uneven, with some aspects naturally standing out more than others.

"But every civilization has its own technological equilibrium, maintaining a basic balance, preventing too distorted a phenomenon."

Yang Dong said with a smile, "It's like a person, always having something they excel at."

Jiang Yu was in high spirits today and poured himself a glass of his favorite beer to celebrate, "Haha, your analogy is quite apt."

Seeing Jiang Yu happy, Yang Dong also poured a glass of red wine and toasted with Jiang Yu, "To humanity."

"To humanity," Jiang Yu drained the beer in one go but still seemed to savor the taste.

Yang Dong asked, "Does this breakthrough help with the issue you've been contemplating lately?"

The exchange with Avenger No.2 had given Jiang Yu some new thoughts on the role interests play in the Dark Forest.

A two-dimensional weapon is one that could influence civilizations at a fundamental level; with them, humanity would essentially have all the most economic means of Dark Forest Strikes at its disposal.

Generally, the process should begin with mastering the two-dimensional foil and then mastering the weapons that shatter two dimensions.

But, due to the strike from the two-dimensional foil, humanity's process ended up reversed; they first mastered the weapons that shatter two dimensions, then went on to master the two-dimensional foil.

If this technology continues to advance, humanity could attain the means to actively downgrade intelligent beings, thereby completely transforming the form of a civilization.

In any case, for a civilization, this technology is of tremendous significance, which in itself could maybe provide some insight into the problem Jiang Yu has been pondering.

When Yang Dong asked this question, Jiang Yu couldn't help but sigh, "I always feel like I'm on the verge of finding the answer to the problem, but, but, ah."

Yang Dong consoled him, "Don't be anxious. You are Kong Xiang's esteemed disciple and believe in 'The blue comes from the indigo but is more vivid than it.' You have a tremendous gift in this field, and sooner or later you will make a breakthrough."

"That's a compliment I dare not accept," sighed Jiang Yu. "If only my teacher were still here; he had a unique understanding of civilizations, and moreover..."

At this point, Jiang Yu suddenly fell silent. After a few seconds, he said, "I just remembered a paper written a long time ago by my teacher, Kong Xiang."

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"Back then, Kong Xiang believed that civilization revolved around two threads, where one very obvious thread was: survival."

"The other thread Kong Xiang called the 'stealth thread,' and he tried to summarize it by piecing together a puzzle, but he failed."

"It suddenly occurred to me, could this stealth thread be 'interests'?"

Jiang Yu thought of the complete version of the "Poison Apple Project" that he had obtained from Jiang Shiliu, who was still in the Mongolia laboratory.

The sociological theory section was Kong Xiang's responsibility. Although these theories had never been published anywhere, they were the core descriptions of Kong Xiang's reflection on civilization.

Yang Dong had not seen that paper, "You could read it again and see if there's anything new you might find."

Jiang Yu hurried to where Galaxy III was to search; the complete version of the "Poison Apple Project" he had always kept close at hand like a cherished thought.

Upon finding the document, Jiang Yu jumped to the theoretical section of the plan.

Kong Xiang proposed that two threads had always been threading through the history of humanity's development.

One thread was survival; many shitty things human society had done, and some strange rules, were all for surviving.

The other thread was as important as survival and made human societies develop faster and more imbalanced.

But Kong Xiang had not found a suitable theory to explain this thread.

He stated in the text that the thread seemed to be economics, wealth, or technology, but none of these aspects seemed to fully encompass it.

However, he was sure that the second thread also existed and was more complex than the concept of survival and was a major driver in the formation of modern society.

Although this part of the theory was somewhat vague, it did not affect Kong Xiang's judgments in the least.

He demonstrated deeply and simply from aspects such as wealth and class, the current imbalances in human society.

This theory, though proposed by Kong Xiang hundreds of years ago, remains valid today, and it can be said to be a deep interpretation of civilization.

Unless there is a huge change in civilization, such an interpretation will not be invalidated.

Jiang Yu tried using "interests" to replace this stealth thread, and this generalization was very accurate in the internal societies of humanity.

The disparities in human wealth and class could be explained by the process of humans pursuing interests.

Jiang Yu was thrilled and, with this generalization, the role of the Solar System State's Governing Council was to adjust the degree of humanity's pursuit of interests as much as possible.

Too high a degree wouldn't work, as wealth would rapidly concentrate in the hands of the few.

Lack of motivation to pursue interests wouldn't work either as it would mean a lack of the driving force for societal progress.

Jiang Yu stood in front of the screen of Galaxy III for half an hour. Yang Dong did not disturb him and even told Jiang Yan not to disturb her father.

It was not until Yang Dong saw from a distance that Jiang Yu's expression became more and more relaxed that she knew, Jiang Yu must have found the answer.

Jiang Yu continued to stand there, he began considering interests as the "stealth thread" within the context of the Dark Forest.

The first thing he thought of was Avenger No.2; it was because the Solar System State had what he desperately needed that he had always been at a disadvantage in negotiations.

Humanity's pursuit of interests, considering Paradise to be the relic of an advanced civilization, had led them into the trap laid by the Paradise civilization.

The existence of Paradise was evidence of the pursuit of interests among various civilizations in the universe.

Or rather, it was based on such a theory that the Paradise civilization had set up this trap.