Making the Cake Bigger

Zhang Yuan pondered for two seconds before taking the microphone from the host. He suddenly felt that, in reality, there weren't as many conspiracy theories as he had imagined.

This blonde young woman was quite endearing; she likely asked the question because that was truly what she thought.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Yuan spoke in a calm and measured tone, "This lady, there is a concept you might have misunderstood."

"Every year, the poverty alleviation funds allocated by the government and various charitable organizations amount to tens of billions. That is real money, property donated by people from all nations. These kind-hearted individuals sacrificed their own interests to help others, which is indeed noble."

"But the 167 trillion generated by the aerospace industry every year is the gross production value, not hard cash. It does not belong to the Deep Space Foundation, but is the collective wealth created by 43 million space workers and 2.2 billion laborers on the surface, involving 273 industries of all sizes..."

"If not for this 167 trillion in production value, I believe there would be over two billion more people living in poverty on Earth. Everyone would be living much worse lives..."

"Therefore, the amount of donated poverty relief funds and the gross production value are two concepts that cannot be conflated."

"As for your question, I can answer it this way: the aerospace industry is about making the cake bigger, while donating to the impoverished is merely the redistribution of the cake. I tend to favor the philosophy of 'making the cake bigger,' which is why I donated the money to the Deep Space Foundation..."

The audience below was listening very intently.

Zhang Yuan's speaking pace was neither fast nor slow, and his logic was clear, as if he had already prepared a draft for everything.

Wang Lili and Xu Yunjing were already whispering to each other: "I didn't expect him to be so well-spoken. He's usually quite shy."

"It could be an act!"

"Haha, this is the real face of Zhang Yuan!"

Zhang Yuan continued: "...Why did I make this choice?"

"Ms. Angelica, I don't know if you have ever boarded the space elevator or witnessed the full view of the solar system with your own eyes. If you had truly seen the vastness of space, you would understand that the cake of aerospace is shockingly large—a hundred times, a thousand times, even ten thousand times larger than you imagine!"

"As long as we bake this cake well, it can support hundreds of billions, or even trillions of people!"

"The poverty alleviation you speak of is merely a minor issue."

"However..."

"The difficulty of eating this cake is also terrifyingly high. Ten billion is just a drop in the bucket, and a hundred billion is merely a grain of sand in the desert. The space elevator behind us, humanity's first, consumed trillions in funding and took a full 20 years to build!"

"...No private capital has the determination and strength to spend decades building a 36,000-kilometer space elevator that appears to have no output. Only a non-profit organization like the Deep Space Foundation can do this..."

"If, a hundred years ago, there hadn't been the investment in this space elevator, and the generous donations from those idealists, I think we might still be confined to our small Earth, living in widespread poverty. Even with controlled nuclear fusion, we would still be poor."

"That is why I donated the prize money my father received to the foundation. Although it is just a drop in the bucket, it is my own humble wish..."

"We need more like-minded people to work together to make this cake bigger, so that more people can enjoy its benefits."

"As for the poverty issue you mentioned, it is not unimportant. I agree with your philosophy and admire your altruism. But we have an old saying in the Xia Kingdom: 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.' Simply giving them money and food will only raise a group of idlers and will not lead to any essential progress."

"...I believe that only through education can their lives be changed. Regarding this, the Deep Space Foundation has a charitable department for online education that aims to popularize education through remote networks. I won't go into detail here. If you are interested, you can look into it."

"Thank you!"

A round of even more enthusiastic applause erupted.

Zhang Yuan's response was smooth and sophisticated; it was impeccable from every angle.

The blonde reporter could only open her mouth, unable to say anything further.

Although she herself was not convinced, the audience had been, and that was enough.

"Professor Wang, Zhang Qiming's son is quite impressive; he speaks very well," the foundation's vice chairman, Liu Yi, said happily. "It's as if we had specifically rehearsed it."

"Since the son of a scientist like him donated ten million, those wealthy bosses will have to bleed a fortune!"

Wang Zhong chuckled, saying nothing, though the pride in his heart was hard to conceal.

Being praised for his grand-student was far more satisfying than being praised himself.

The Deep Space Foundation was a behemoth, possessing not only powerful political influence and technological strength but also vast shares in the aerospace industry and the space elevator. For those capitalists, cooperating with the foundation was a win-win situation.

Of course, to achieve a win-win, one first had to catch the foundation's eye...

In any case, they would start by donating some money.

After all the awards were presented, the winners went on stage for photos, followed by various cultural performances and fundraising activities.

Zhang Yuan walked off the stage and sat quietly in his seat.

Professor Wang patted him gently, giving him an encouraging look.

"Professor Wang, did I say anything wrong?"

"You spoke quite well!" Wang Zhong said with a smile.

Professor Wang watched the capitalists going up to donate one by one, secretly sighing in his heart: "If Mr. Qi Yuanshan could see this scene, he would surely be very gratified."

The world is driven by profit; even if these capitalists were only doing it for gain and not for "ideals," it was still a very good virtuous cycle.

Adding flowers to a brocade is easy, but providing help in times of need is as difficult as ascending to heaven. Those difficult days were already a story from a hundred years ago; even Wang Zhong hadn't been born yet.

Qi Yuanshan, known as the "Einstein of materials science," was a true giant in the field.

His three most outstanding achievements in life were: first, the "High Magnetic Saturation Superconducting Material"; second, the "mass production method for carbon nanotubes"; and third, of course, some sociological content from the New Civilization School.

Why is controlled nuclear fusion so difficult? There are many reasons, such as neutron radiation, the triple product, and another very important point—the magnetic confinement is not strong enough.

Magnetic confinement must be powerful enough to restrain the violent plasma, making the tokamak nuclear fusion reaction stable and allowing it to last for a longer duration.

However, simply increasing the current is not enough to generate a sufficiently large magnetic field.

In materials science, there is a phenomenon known as "magnetic saturation"; once the applied current and coil density reach a certain level, the magnetic field will no longer increase.

No matter what you do, the magnetic field stays at that limit, and you are left to figure out the rest on your own.

When the magnetic confinement reaches its limit and is still not strong enough to contain the plasma, it becomes an almost unsolvable problem.

Yet, Professor Qi Yuanshan's breakthrough "High Magnetic Saturation Superconducting Material" simply and brutally boosted the original magnetic field strength by a full 10 times!

10 times!

Consequently, the violent plasma was obediently constrained, many problems ceased to be problems, and "Controlled Nuclear Fusion Technology," though long overdue, finally appeared in the world.

In that era of no oil and severe energy scarcity, Professor Qi's reputation naturally soared to the heavens, and he was hailed as the "Father of Nuclear Fusion."

His second major achievement was the mature production technology for carbon nanotubes, which made them extremely inexpensive. This material has a tensile strength over 100 times that of steel, with a density of only 0.03 grams per cubic centimeter, making it an excellent construction material.

Such a scientific giant's influence has extended all the way to the modern day, and he is the object of worship for many scientists.

However, back then, Professor Qi's Construction Plan for the Space Elevator was rejected by the government.

This was because the investment required was too massive, so large that the Xia Kingdom, having just recovered from the energy crisis, could not accept it...

As for what exactly happened afterward that caused the government's attitude to change so drastically, Wang Zhong did not know.

He only knew that the space elevator was built as scheduled and was nearing completion by the time he was born.

The Xia Kingdom gambled its national destiny for 20 years and finally won a bright future!

This piece of history is still frequently discussed with great interest by historians today.

For the development of a nation, being one step ahead means being ahead in every step.

The same holds true for a civilization.

Without that courageous step, perhaps even now, Earth would still not have a single space elevator, and there would be no beautiful present.

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