Tim and Pamela both understood that their Earth was still far too distant from entering the cosmic age. The most fundamental problem was that they were not united enough.
In theory, under economic globalization, it was not impossible to pool the strength of the entire planet and prioritize solving the energy problem. But would the United States be willing? Would Saudi Arabia?
So even children a few years old knew that the enormous ball of fire hanging above their heads was humanity's inexhaustible source of energy, yet they could not harness it. Not even with Batman's technology and Superman's strength.
One or two heroes could not push all of humanity forward. What they lacked was not any single breakthrough, but coordinated planning as a whole. So they remained a scattered rabble: the strongest could already charge in and out of Apokolips seven times over, while the weakest still did not have enough to eat.
Tim knew that, under such circumstances, even if he obtained a Mercury energy device, it would be useless. He could not secretly put it into operation and then provide humanity across the globe with energy of unknown origin.
But among all the Robins, only Tim had noticed in advance that Bruce might be planning something huge. If he succeeded, perhaps Earth could unite. With this complete set of technology, they would not have to start from scratch. After all, energy was both the capital and the purpose of all technological development—the starting point and the end point.
If he failed, then after the Economic Crisis, Earth would face a genuine survival crisis. The global order would inevitably be reshuffled. Traditional energy tycoons would not be able to supply the energy needed to rebuild Earth, so humanity would have to use solar energy whether it wanted to