At 7: 30 in the evening, on the Earth Federation International Channel, solemn and grand music played on time.
As this voice rang out, millions of viewers around the world fixed their eyes on this channel. They saw that the original advertisement had ended, and what replaced it was a pitch-black stage.
This was a middle-aged black man. His eyes were sharp and serious, completely different from the originally relaxed atmosphere of the television.
This program was one of the highest-rated programs on the Earth Federation International Channel, and its content was very simple. It took out the major events that the world was most concerned about during this period and interpreted them, satirizing politics, criticizing current affairs, or speaking up for the weak... This program had been broadcast for 20 consecutive years and created a ratings legend.
"Dear viewers, I'm Wilson Richard, and this is the Earth Federation International Channel — Richard's World."
The black host, Richard, stared at the screen and said without any warm-up, "The former Soviet astronomer, Kardashev, once divided the evolution and development of civilizations in the universe into three levels according to the different ways of using energy according to the principles of thermodynamics and the law of energy...
"The first level is a planetary civilization — a civilization that has mastered all the energy on the planet it is on.
"This civilization can already change the climate on the planet at will, develop the ocean, control earthquakes... In short, this civilization already has the ability to move mountains and seas on the planet, and reasonably use and control all the resources and energy on the planet.
"The second level is a stellar civilization — a civilization that can use all the energy of the entire star.
"The second type of civilization has a huge demand for energy and resources, so they need to use all the light and heat emitted by the star. The method may be to break some useless planets to create a Dyson sphere, enclose the star inside, and fully enjoy every bit of light and heat emitted by the star!
"Then, there's the third level of cosmic civilization — a civilization that can control several star systems and star clusters!"
Richard spread his arms, his expression solemn. "Even a cosmic galaxy composed of 200 billion stars like the Milky Way can truly change the world! At this time, the power of civilization will become omnipotent and unimaginable... "
As he spoke, Richard took a deep breath and suddenly changed the topic. "Many people may wonder what I'm talking about, is this a science fiction story? No, it's not! "
"This classification method is the 'Kardashev index' that was once widely circulated in the scientific community. This is a civilization classification method recognized by the Earth Federation. It is often used as a theoretical basis by researchers, science fiction writers, and prophets who search for extraterrestrial civilizations."
At this point, Richard could not help but pause. A picture appeared behind him. It was an online announcement, and the content of the announcement was the Blackwatch Dyson Cloud Plan released early this morning.
"I believe everyone has received the news about this proposal. In today's society, a piece of news can spread to any corner of the earth in a few seconds and to Mars in twenty minutes. However, everyone has different opinions about the news from Blackwatch..."
"As far as I know, the most common view that everyone has is a doubt. They are wondering if we humans have reached the level where we can build a Dyson cloud now?"
As he spoke, Richard suddenly smiled gently. This was an expression that was extremely rare for him since he appeared on the show. "In fact, we humans are closer to the goal of building the Dyson cloud than we imagined …"
"When the Kardashev index classification method was born, the Earth was once defined as a level 0.73 civilization, which was a level half a century ago... Now, after these years of development, we have unknowingly conquered controllable nuclear fusion, established a scientific research station on the moon, established a permanent colony on Mars, and even... Blackwatch has begun to exploit the resources of the Kuiper Belt asteroids!
"Behind the countless difficulties that have been overcome, the civilization index of our human civilization is also rising step by step. According to the latest calculations, the Kardashev index classification of our human civilization has reached a level 1.2 civilization, and we are fully capable of building a century-long project like the Dyson cloud!"
At this point, Richard's voice gradually became louder. "When nuclear energy has been completely popularized, we gradually discovered that controllable nuclear fusion is just a stepping stone. It allows us to knock on the door to interstellar space, but at the same time, it's just the most ordinary pass... We humans have reached a crossroads. Either we start to find new clean energy sources or we use nuclear energy to deplete our resources!
"And now, Blackwatch has once again walked in front of the Earth Federation. They are willing to stand up for us humans and explore the path to a higher level. What kind of spirit is this?"
Richard suddenly sighed and at the same time bent down to make a bow. "Please allow me, Richard, to pay my highest tribute to this company and this pioneer of mankind!
"Whether this plan succeeds or fails in the end, we shouldn't blame them because they are carrying the burden for us!"
With the last sentence, the deafening orchestral music sounded again, drowning out everything and drowning out the shocked hearts of countless people!
"This is the most important thing that happened in the Earth Federation today. I'm Wilson Richard and this is the Earth Federation International Channel — Richard's World. See you next time..."
...
Richard's World was undoubtedly adding fuel to the fire, making the plan announced by Blacklight Biotechnology burn even more intensely in public opinion. In just one day, almost everyone in the world learned about the news that Blacklight Biotechnology was preparing to build a Dyson cloud.
In this regard, the officials of the continents of the Earth Federation had mixed feelings about this because they could see further into the future than the general public. Although this move by Blacklight Biotechnology was equivalent to opening up another path for the future of mankind, if successful, they would also gain vested interests. It was even possible that solar energy would be monopolized by Blacklight Biotechnology.
Therefore, unlike the fervent expectations of ordinary people, the media of various continents were pessimistic about this matter and even used the Dark Forest Law to argue that this project might cause changes in the brightness of the sun, and this change was likely to attract the prying eyes of other alien civilizations in the future.
So in the end, the world's public opinion was divided into two factions. One faction expressed support for the construction of the Dyson cloud, while the other faction completely opposed it, thinking that this step was too big and could easily backfire.
In the next few days, the Earth Federation, who felt threatened, finally could not sit still. They held a summit of countries around the world. The four continents led their younger brothers to vote against this project, opposing and stopping this project of Blacklight Biotechnology.
In response to this reaction of the Earth Federation, Chen Chen sent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Earth Federation headquarters to participate in the wrangling, but on the other hand, the various departments of Blacklight Biotechnology began to silently implement this plan.
If it were ten years ago, Chen Chen would have to consider carefully about opposition from all over the world, but times had changed. Today, Blacklight Biotechnology had the capital to break away from the Earth Federation after owning a Mars colony. Even if the Earth Federation sanctioned Blacklight Biotechnology because of this matter, it was only economic sanctions that did not hurt much. No one had the courage to mention military sanctions.
Therefore, after wrangling with each other for a full three months, seeing that the Earth Federation could not stop the footsteps of Blacklight Biotechnology, the four continents finally had to compromise reluctantly. They made a request to the negotiating team of Blacklight Biotechnology, that was, the four continents must also join this Dyson cloud project and get a share of the profits.
In this regard, Chen Chen had no objection. After all, the four continents accounted for 40% of the population of the Earth Federation and had far more manpower and material resources than Blacklight Biotechnology. If the four continents joined, the construction period of the Dyson cloud could be reduced by more than 50%. As long as the core technology and dominance were still in the hands of Blacklight Biotechnology, there would be no problem.
Therefore, after three months of negotiations, the four continents decided to allocate tens of billions of funds and manpower and material resources each to join this most massive project in human history.
As for those small neighboring countries, just like when controllable nuclear fusion was being developed back then, they could only watch helplessly.
Soon, the four continents sent thousands of engineers and scientists to Eco Science City, treating this place as the command center of the most magnificent plan in human history. The gathering of tens of thousands of the world's top talents also brought a new wave of vitality to Eco Science City.
"This is the engineering robot designed by our Blacklight Biotechnology."
At this time, in the aerospace base in the southern suburbs of Eco Science City, the decision-making delegations of the five parties were discussing in the conference room. These scientists were fanatical, constantly throwing out their opinions and plans as if they were quarreling. Even when it was mealtime, they did not stop.
A young engineer threw out a concept design with a proud face. "There are a total of forty-three types of this robot, and each type has a corresponding division of labor... They have ceramic heat-resistant armor up to ten centimeters thick, which can completely withstand the high temperature and high pressure on the surface of Mercury. At the same time, they are controlled by the super AI designed by our Blackwatch Corporation, which can continuously produce their kind and solar panels and launch these solar panels into space by means of electromagnetic ejection."
"I object!"
However, after seeing the engineer's design drawings, the decision-makers of the four continents objected one after another. "A super AI with self-replication authority, this is something we must not tolerate. If your Blackwatch Corporation doesn't want to see a Smart Machine Crisis, I still think this kind of production can't be delegated to computers."
"We, Blackwatch Corporation, can guarantee the loyalty of AI!"
"That won't do, we firmly oppose this kind of thing..."
The two sides suddenly quarreled again.
"Okay, stop arguing, we can talk about this later."
Another scientist, who was well-known around the world, stopped the meaningless quarrel between the two sides and then said, "We have no problem with the manufacturing of the Dyson cloud equipment. Now we should talk about the problem of maintenance. How should we maintain such a huge artificial object with a surface area that far exceeds the surface area of the earth?"
"Of course, we'll also use robots to maintain it..."
Another scientist of Blacklight Biotechnology shouted, "If we can manufacture the XTN robot, we can naturally also manufacture fully automated maintenance robots that can operate in outer space. These robots only need to be more than ten centimeters in size to allow them to freely shuttle on the surface of the Dyson cloud and repair the faulty Dyson cloud components."
"What about energy transmission? The plan says it's laser transmission, so where are we going to build a device that can receive this huge amount of energy? "
"Of course, it's also the universe. We can build several energy receiving devices with an area of more than a few square kilometers in orbit and then direct this energy to the ground through a space elevator. This is the best solution. Don't tell me you want to send the laser directly to the surface? Wouldn't that be a solar bombardment?"
"So, what do we do when there's a solar storm?"
Someone was worried.
"What kind of problem is this? Haven't we already designed the Dyson cloud to be able to fold each other in the event of a solar storm with a certain unit as the core? In this way, the device can completely obtain sufficient impact resistance. Don't tell me you haven't thought of such a simple problem?"
"..."
"Who can calculate what kind of impact the major planets of our solar system will have if the weight of Mercury changes?"
Another scientist asked.
"Don't worry, this plan has been calculated before it was released."
A scientist of Blacklight Biotechnology immediately waved his hand and displayed a large string of data in front of everyone. "The acceleration caused by Mercury's gravitational pull on the Earth is only about 10-40nms ^ 2, which is considered very small on an astronomical scale. Turning Mercury into a Dyson cloud is just moving the center of mass of Mercury to the vicinity of the Sun. Its mass hasn't disappeared.
"Even if the entire Mercury is completely dismantled and moved away, after about 100 years, the Earth's perihelion and aphelion will only shrink by a ten-thousandth, and because of the periodic perturbation phenomenon, it will recover after a few decades. Therefore, if we only build the Dyson cloud, it's equivalent to evenly distributing the mass of Mercury in the solar orbit. This situation, even in the long-term, will not affect the Earth's orbit!
"Then the next topic is, how should we maintain the stability of the Dyson cloud in the solar orbit?"
"..."
There was a hubbub of voices in the conference room. Countless terms that were extremely unfamiliar to ordinary people randomly jumped out of these people's mouths. Everyone discussed painfully and happily, breaking down the details in the plan to ensure that every step could be carried out smoothly.
However, in any case, the more everyone discussed, the more they had a hunch in their hearts — when this world-shaking plan began to be implemented, it would be the biggest step in human history!
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