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Age of Cosmic Exploration (Web Novel) - Chapter 387 - Discussion
Chapter 387: Discussion
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The arguments in the hearing were still going on. In fact, the hearing had changed from the discussion of the interior of the green light into an academic forum on the possibility of four dimensional space existing in the current cosmos.
It had even escalated to a stage where even among Ivan's own group, there were arguments. After all, this was four dimensional space.
In reality, it was not that human science hadn't reached the exploration on four dimensional space. Before humanity left Earth, many scientists had already hypothesized about the space and time in the cosmos, like quantum theory, the theory of relativity, and string theory. Each of these theories elaborated on the concept of space and time and had a more complete elaboration on four dimensional space.
The one dimensional space is the so-called line, two dimensional space is the plane, three dimensional space is 3D space with the parameters of length, breadth, and depth. Some counted time as a parameter in three dimensional space, but that would be four dimensional space, something completely different.
In pure space theory, the whole universe was a three dimensional space, but adding four dimensional space into three dimensional universe, that was something unimaginable. The most crucial issue was that the high density of space would cause an energy dispersion and exhaustion that was beyond the capacity of any known energy source. This was a problem facing the human scientific system, either accept that the green light was really a four dimensional space and collapse the entire human scientific theories and bodies or this green light was not really a four dimensional space.
This was psychological limitation. Even though humanity's scientific understanding of space was still lacking, that was the basis of all human knowledge, it was the cradle of human civilization. It was a collection of knowledge cultivated over several thousand of years through millions of sacrifices and hard work. Even though human civilization was already half way in the door to becoming a level 3 space civilization, these scientific basis couldn't be abandoned just like that. This was also the reason why scientific progress on the Hope was so slow. The Hope didn't accept all external knowledge without filter, the Academy would spend time to dissect, master, and eventually fit the knowledge into humankind's existing scientific theories. According to Blue 6, this was the go-to method for newborn space civilizations. Of course, there was benefit to this method as well. The scientific stability for such space civilization would be very strong and a great foundation in science was rumored to be way more important than new discovery when one became a mid-tier space civilization.
This was the conundrum humanity was facing, a problem that had to be resolved, but once they admitted the presence of this problem, humanity's scientific foundation would be undermined. The scientific foundation was like a pyramid, starting from the bottom brick by brick. When the bottom layer was destroyed, the possibility of the whole thing toppling would be much higher.
The hearing had been going on for almost four hours and it had no sign of slowing down. If anything, it had only gotten more heated. If not for the scientific terms being tossed about, Yao Yuan would have the illusion that he was in the House of Representatives, watching the politicians arguing amongst themselves.
After the four hour mark, some of the more senior scientists had gotten tired. Yao Yuan made use of the opportunity to order the people to serve a simple lunch. Even though it was not as complete as a meal at the canteen, it still had three dishes and a soup as well as a choice of rice or bread. The dessert was an apple or an orange, and thus, on top of the sound of arguments, there was also the sound of eating in the room.
Yao Yuan sighed in relief internally.
Even though he was the Chancellor of the human survivors and the hero in many people's eyes, Yao Yuan was extremely polite around the Hope's scientists and academicians, to the point where certain influential scientists would go to his room to create a ruckus simply to demand new equipment or more materials.
This respect was not for show but an actual respect that came from the heart. Compared to the Black Star Troopers and Defense Unit, these scientists were the real saviors of humanity. Without them, how would humanity ever advance in space? Gaussian rifles, space armor, combat jets, various heavy weapons, those wouldn't have existed. While they might have come from Bo Li's mind, she alone wouldn't have been able to make them a reality. Therefore, the Academy was in reality the biggest hero of humanity and the sole reason humanity could survive for so long in space, so Yao Yuan's respect towards them was completely warranted.
This was why Yao Yuan sighed in relief. To preserve the vibrancy of the scientific scene on the Hope, other than during extreme situations, Yao Yuan practically stayed away from the research of the Academy. He would try his best to fulfil their requests for money, supplies, and even treatment for individual scientists. This could be seen from the Hope's earliest policy. From day one, the best treated community on the Hope was the scientists, and oftentimes the treatment was better than the Chancellor's.
So how could he break up their discussion? It was not yet a critical moment, there were at least 10 days of safety left.
However, letting this argument continue to fester was not a brilliant idea either. Yao Yuan hoped the short lunch would be able to calm the room down. Alas, as they finished their lunch, most of them couldn't wait to jump back into the argument. In fact, perhaps they had already forgotten the true purpose of this hearing. Due to the freedom accorded to scientists on the Hope, they had cultivated the habit of hashing out their academic arguments wherever and whenever, even during an important hearing.
The argument thus continued for another few hours. Just as it would seem the discussion would go nowhere, there was finally a ray of hope…
The speaker was the great physicist, Silewei. As the Hope's most senior, most knowledgeable, and the representative from the physics committee, he too was caught in the crossfire of this discussion. When he took the stage, he said directly, "Dear colleagues, I understand your concern, because I too have the same concern. This is more than a simple discussion but a preservation of our scientific foundation. I'm sure that's the thing that worries everyone, because it worries me too!
"But remember that at the end of the day, we are scientists! And what do scientist do? We question, confirm, and deny through hypotheses and experiments to find the truth! If our scientific foundation and our historical figures were wrong… Yes, to err is human, the people that contributed to the foundation of our knowledge may be wrong just as how we ourselves could be wrong, but the truth is always right. Do not fixate on the despair of the collapse of physics, because only by collapsing what is false can we reveal the truth!
"So let us open our minds and take up the courage to hypothesize. Let's say that this high tier space civilization has some kind of unknown superpower energy source and this energy is bigger than the total mass density of the observable universe like dark matter or dark energy. It could even be the preexisting super string energy or something we haven't even envisioned yet. If such an energy source exists, then four dimensional space is possible…"
Silewei was incredibly influential in the Hope's Academy, especially in the field of physics. The combination of his deep knowledge and the German's severe attitude made him one of the greatest minds on the Hope. Therefore, his words, when it came to issues related to science, were oftentimes more influential than Yao Yuan's.
After Silewei finished, the room gradually became silent. Following Silewei's suggestion, their minds were broadened and they slowly accepted this possibility. With more discussions, they even came up with methods to test out this hypothesis, and this led to another wave of excitement… Four dimensional space! If this was truly a four dimensional space and not just a computer simulation or something like that and it truly existed in space, this was purely unimaginable for creatures in three dimensional space, especially for the group of scientists. This was no different from the discovery of a new land.
A group of overly excited scientists even volunteered to form an exploratory team to enter the green light. Of course, this was immediately harshly vetoed by Yao Yuan, he even banned this group of scientists from leaving the Hope. His reason was simple, due to the freedom he gave them, the Academy had a few spaceships that were especially designed to conduct experiments in zero gravity. Without the ban, Yao Yuan was afraid these people would break into the spaceship and venture on their own into the green light compelled by the heat of their passion.
Just like that, after the hearing that lasted for three days, the Academy used the AI to simulate another result and they came up with another exploratory proposal!
