(Virtual Reality 1): Special Model

65 million years ago, Venus.

He Dishēng was one of the greatest inventors in Venus's history, over a decade older than Nikola Tesla and once Tesla's boss.

Over a hundred years ago, He Dishēng invented the electric light, DC power, and the phonograph, among other things. He was hailed as the man who illuminated Venus.

In his later years, He Dishēng's greatest wish was to be recorded in Venusian scientific history as the greatest inventor, bar none.

He dismissed Tesla's inventions and theoretical hypotheses, such as AC power and the so-called Superluminal waves, with disdain. He often declared in public that AC power was unsafe and that the misuse of Superluminal waves would bring immense risks.

As He Dishēng predicted, the Superlight Wave Power Station built on Venus injected extra energy into the Earth's crust, intensifying tectonic plate movement. This caused land uplift in the Tower Island region and a retreating sea, completely destroying Venus's topography and ecosystem. Disasters like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions followed one after another.

A Superlight Wave Power Station built on a moon of Saturn exploded, creating a giant ice ball in the Saturn System. This caused Jupiter's orbit to narrow, bringing it closer to the Sun and threatening to destroy Venus, Earth, and Mars within the Solar System's habitable zone.

How could Nikola Tesla be considered as great an inventor as He Dishēng? He was clearly a reckless scientific fanatic and the main culprit responsible for the destruction of the Venusians.

He Dishēng believed that scientific research and invention were two different matters. The former could be boundless, while the latter required extreme caution. After all, the Venusians only had one Solar System, and only three planets in the habitable zone.

Ever since the Venus Alliance government publicly admitted that the Superlight Wave Power Stations had caused a series of crises, public opinion erupted. The government announced a remedial plan: the Mars explosion, stabilizing the Solar System, extracting genes, uploading consciousness, and rebirth. This announcement tore public sentiment apart once again.

The vast majority of people were realists. If there was a lifeline and hope for rebirth, they would strive to grasp it, rather than engaging in meaningless complaints.

Although the plan's opponents were a minority, their voices on social media were loud.

Interestingly, although they all opposed Tesla's plan, their philosophies and demands were not the same, even diametrically opposed.

According to Venus's current technological capabilities and the plan's arrangements, when Venusians chose to upload all the consciousness from their brains, their bodies would lose vital signs, meaning they would die.

The opponents shared the same stance in refusing consciousness uploading, but their reasons for refusal varied greatly.

Some individuals with strong religious beliefs thought that everything was arranged by heaven. Uploading consciousness and cloning bodies were blasphemous acts against the divine. After death, people would ascend to heaven, so why go to great lengths to disrupt God's plan through human means?

Naturalists believed that aging, sickness, and death were natural laws and individual events unrelated to the collective. Diseases, traffic accidents, and the destruction of the Solar System were just different ways of dying, with the same outcome. Death is death; don't try to console them with talk of the Venusians' procreation or the safety of the Solar System.

No matter how loud the dissenting voices were, they would not have a substantial impact on the rescue plan. The Venus Alliance government did not intervene in the opposition.

Perhaps sensing tacit approval, some radical opponents even proposed taking action to prevent the Mars explosion.

Their reasoning was that Tesla and the scientists at the Venus Academy of Sciences claimed that only by actively exploding Mars could the destruction of the habitable zone be prevented. But who could guarantee that their calculations were correct?

What if Jupiter's orbit was never going to change, and Venus could still "manage" to maintain the ecosystem required by the Venusians? Wouldn't that mean Tesla and the others exploding Mars directly caused the deaths of the opponents? That would be murder!

Killing one person to save fifty – that was the unsolvable philosophical dilemma again.

The Venus Alliance's stance was firm. The Council and the government served the vast majority of people. In a matter of survival, maintaining the stability of the Solar System and the continuation of the Venusians were paramount.

The radical opponents were not resigned. They needed a more convincing leader. In terms of scientific achievement and personal prestige, He Dishēng was an ideal candidate, no less than Tesla.

Thus, a fiery essay by He Dishēng, Venus's greatest inventor, became a trending topic. He wrote:

The government need not and has no right to actively explode Mars. This is my stance and my reflection as a scientist on so-called science.

When I was young, like most scientific workers, I believed that the scope of science was far smaller than that of philosophy and theology. However, as I grew older and with the continuous progress of Venusian science and technology, the boundaries of science have become increasingly blurred for me.

Some people ask me if I believe in gods. I say, if by gods you mean omnipresent and omnipotent beings, then no.

But if you mean gods as creators, then I must believe. Otherwise, we cannot explain why the universe on a large scale and the particles in the microscopic world are distributed so uniformly and have such similar structural forms. The scenes in which human activities take place, regardless of distance or size, are too unified, too perfect, more like they were created.

When Venusians can run code programs on computers, set up scenes and characters, build electric cars and robots, and even upload consciousness, I have no reason to deny the following viewpoint:

The scenes in which Venusians live and we humans ourselves are a program written and run by a "Creator." It is a game designed by him.

If our so-called reality is merely virtual, then the Creator should also know the crisis we face. If he is not tired of us, the Solar System and the Venusians will not be destroyed.

The so-called rescue plan requires great effort from us and will cause loss of life for the sake of the so-called majority.

But for the Creator, it might be very simple; he only needs to press the restart button.

He Dishēng's influence was indeed extraordinary. The rescue plan, forcefully passed by the Venus Alliance Council, was once again thrust into the spotlight. Although the number of opponents was small, the situation was worsening daily. The one who tied the bell to the tiger must untie it. Speaker Kent and Dean Abbott paid a visit to He Dishēng.

He Dishēng understood the purpose of their visit. He spoke first, saying, "Tesla's Superlight Wave Power Station created the crisis. I believe his so-called rescue plan is a greater crisis. You should stop the Mars explosion plan."

"Respected Mr. He Dishēng, now is not the time to assign blame. Moreover, Tesla only proposed the theory; we built the power station. The path of human scientific exploration is always accompanied by risks," Speaker Kent said. "If we do not take measures to avert the crisis, we will all be destroyed. Unless you have a better solution."

"If you are here to discuss measures and methods, we will find it difficult to reach an agreement. I think it is necessary to tell you about my reflections on science and divinity over the years."

As He Dishēng spoke, he opened a holographic projection screen and elaborated on his logic. In the past few hundred years, Venusian scientific research had made tremendous progress.

Simple and elegant formulas and laws were discovered. The vast and diverse world could be explained by mathematical logic and replicated by program code.

From images to videos, and then to virtual reality technology, science's "simulation" capabilities had developed to a point where distinguishing between reality and simulation was difficult.

Dean Abbott understood He Dishēng's thoughts. He realized that it would be difficult to reach an agreement in their discussion today because both sides had different understandings of science. With this in mind, Dean Abbott followed He Dishēng's train of thought and asked:

"If there truly is a Creator as you say, and we do nothing, can you guarantee that he will automatically save the Solar System and the Venusians?"

"Why wouldn't he? He can decide whether to explode Mars himself, or perhaps there is a simpler way to stabilize Jupiter's orbit," He Dishēng said.

"I am truly speechless. Then, as you say, could you describe what your Creator looks like?" Dean Abbott asked helplessly.

This was indeed an interesting question. If the Creator had the ability to create any kind of scene in three-dimensional space and create any form of life, what would he do?

He Dishēng believed that the Creator would build a huge, stable structure and make it move. Within the structure, he would create various living beings because that would be more fun.

Beetles, dinosaurs, or even Thanos – any living being could be designated as the protagonist of a particular game.

But after the game scenes and protagonists changed from one round to another, the Creator would suddenly find it boring to be just an observer. Why not participate directly?

The Creator, as a player, would gain the greatest pleasure by joining the virtual reality game he designed. Therefore, the protagonist among his creations was likely a "special edition" modeled after himself. This most intelligent special edition would be the Creator's kin – humans.

So, the Creator's most likely form of existence is a person!

If our universe is a scene set up in a virtual reality game, then the creator is likely a human in another space, and their clones, indistinguishable from real humans, are scattered throughout the bustling crowds.

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Poem Compiled from Chapter Titles:

As all know the Azure Emperor brings back spring, Song, Zhang Gongxiang

Private wisdom can hardly fathom creation. Qing, Yu Yue

Wishing to be an example for reclusive souls, Song, Liu Caishao

A long star offers you a golden cup. Qing, Qu Dajun