Technological Regression

Yue Yuan pondered for a moment, then continued, "When a hardworking person receives the same treatment from society as someone who eats, sleeps, then eats again, that society is not far from chaos. If that society encompasses all humanity, then the seeds of destruction have already been planted.

"We cannot allow such seeds to be planted. Therefore, at this moment of humanity's rebirth, we must formulate a series of preventive measures."

Lying flat, slacking off, and dragging one's feet might not seem like a big deal, but if they were called by another term, everyone would understand how serious they were.

That term was: nonviolent noncooperation.

This was behavior capable of shaking the very foundations of a human government. Under these circumstances, humanity might very well destroy itself because of it.

Yue Yuan understood the gravity of the matter, which was why he proposed this seemingly absurd plan.

So-called nonviolent noncooperation meant being nonviolent and refusing to cooperate.

It was the ultimate evolved form of slacking off, lying flat, and dragging one's feet.

Back when there were many people, having a group—or even a large number—of idlers was not much of a problem. But that was no longer possible. Yue Yuan never forgot humanity's fragility. He had to find every possible way to bind the survivors into a single united force.

As Yue Yuan spoke, some of the attendees who had opposed the proposal without thinking gradually fell silent. They began to weigh its advantages and disadvantages, putting themselves in humanity's current position as they considered the issue.

Gradually, supporters became the majority. The remaining minority did not vote against it either, merely casting a few abstentions.

Even after the vote passed, it could not be implemented immediately. It was only a proposal, after all. The specific details still needed to be drafted by legal experts from the Ministry of Justice, and matters involving finances naturally required the Ministry of Finance as well.

Of course there was a Ministry of Finance.

There might only be this few people, but as long as humanity had not reached the level where everyone possessed the moral awareness of a saint, currency was still necessary.

The New Government on Callisto retained the previous monetary system, except that the institution issuing virtual credit currency had changed to the newly established Human Bank.

Of course, if supplies became abundant in the future, it would be necessary to distribute all survival necessities communally. But now was not the time.

The meeting continued.

Regarding large-scale construction, none of the attendees had any objections. All of them believed humanity needed to go full throttle and work with all its strength.

Production of large construction equipment needed to expand. Food processing plants, machinery factories, materials processing plants, electric force plants, mining facilities, steel mills, and a whole range of other factories all needed to be built.

Aerospace Industry and educational institutions were also indispensable.

Humanity would not forget the stars, nor would it abandon its heritage.

"We plan to build an Orbital Mass Accelerator on a relatively flat stretch of land on Callisto." The head of the Engineering Department spoke passionately at the meeting. "Once the steel mills, machinery factories, electrical plants, and other related factories have been established, priority should be given to producing the materials required for the Orbital Mass Accelerator. To achieve this, we need to expand our skilled labor force, acquire more fully and semi-automated equipment, and obtain more Engineering Vehicles. In short, we need people."

"Prospecting for minerals and mining them also require people. Some jobs cannot be replaced by machines." The person assigned to oversee Callisto's mineral resource extraction was no longer silent either.

"Your respective departments can hold smaller meetings afterward to figure out specific issues such as manpower, material resources, extraction, and prospecting." Yue Yuan cut off the back-and-forth discussion. "The main purpose of this meeting is to establish our overall direction. As for that, feel free to share any insights you have."

As soon as Yue Yuan finished speaking, Gan De, who had long prepared his remarks, was the first to speak. As an astronomer, he needed to explain humanity's current cosmic environment to everyone. He said, "Based on the latest observational data and Callisto's drifting trajectory, the closest Star Systems to us in the future will be Van Maanen's Star, Epsilon Indi A, and the GJ9066 Star System. Unfortunately, Callisto will not pass through any of their systems.

"Even taking a step back, even if Callisto were to encounter a Star System in the future, we could not wait that long. At Callisto's current speed, merely leaving the boundaries of the original Solar System would take thirty years.

"In other words, Callisto can only be our short-term habitat. If humanity wishes to survive, we must leave it and find a new Star System before Callisto's energy and resources are exhausted."

Someone impatiently asked, "How far away is the nearest star?"

"Currently, it is Barnard's Star, six light-years away. Wolf 359 is second, at 7.7 light-years. But in the future, both will gradually drift farther away from us." Gan De answered without even looking at his materials.

"In the future?" A representative hesitated briefly, then said, "We do not need to wait that long. Once our industry has recovered, we can build one or several large interstellar ships and leave Callisto directly. With our technology, crossing six or seven light-years should not be a problem, right?"

Yu Nanfeng, a doctor of mechanics, took over. "With our current mature fission thrusters, given enough fuel for continuous acceleration, we can reach a maximum of 1% of light speed."

"That is enough. Do not forget that we have hibernation pods. Say it is eight light-years away, and we will arrive in eight hundred years." The representative did a quick calculation.

Yu Nanfeng shook his head. "But we are still inside a stellar gas cloud. We cannot accelerate a spacecraft to 1% of light speed, and traveling through such an environment would subject the ship to resistance, causing it to gradually decelerate. We could very likely run out of fuel halfway there."

What if they brought more fuel?

If they brought more fuel, the spacecraft's total mass would also increase, and accelerating it to 1% of light speed would consume even more fuel.

If they were not inside a Nebula formed by a Supernova Explosion, a speed of 1% of light speed combined with hibernation pods might allow them to sleep all the way to their destination. But now, that was impossible.

"What about Controlled Nuclear Fusion? Before I came to Callisto, I heard that it was almost successful, that it only lacked some final piece of the puzzle?" someone else asked.

"Room-Temperature Superconductivity," Xu Zhenyi, a doctor of materials science, answered.

"Right, right! Did they not say it could be achieved in a few more years?" The man looked delighted, as though he had seen hope.

"Ah." Xu Zhenyi said bitterly, "That was on Earth, not Callisto."

"What do you mean?"

No one answered him. Apart from a small number of people, everyone fell silent.

Xu Zhenyi had made it very clear. That was on Earth, not Callisto. In other words, the Controlled Nuclear Fusion that had nearly succeeded belonged to the old Earth. Callisto had never had such a project.

With Earth's destruction, all core data and core equipment related to Controlled Nuclear Fusion had vanished into thin air.

Although Callisto was reputed to be the Space Base with the most comprehensive range of equipment, it could not possibly have possessed a Controlled Nuclear Fusion laboratory, or even the core technical data.

It could be said that the technological regression they had once believed was still far away had already truly fallen upon the surviving humans.