APTnovel Chapter 4: Arrival at Area 51
Chapter 4: Arrival at Area 51
"Hmm, that's interesting. I'll think about it later. Thank you. Zhou Yuan, is there anything you want to say?"
"Sir, my thoughts are basically the same as Director Mei's, and some of them are based on what Director Mei just said. In addition, I would like to report to you the preliminary plan for the EMC team's subsequent actions." Zhou Yuan paused for a moment, sorted out his thoughts, and then looked at the sir and Mei Fan. "My ideas may go against science, but since science has paradoxes in this world, I don't care."
"First, please allow me to introduce the classification of civilizations. In 1964, Nikolai Kardashev envisioned a classification of extraterrestrial civilizations based on their mastery of different energy control technologies. He believed that the technological progress of human civilization was closely related to the total amount of energy that its inhabitants could control. Based on this line of thought, he identified three types of civilization development in the Milky Way galaxy, from lowest to highest: planetary civilizations, which are the masters of their planet's energy, meaning they can control the total energy of their entire world; star system civilizations, which can collect energy from their entire star system; and galactic civilizations, which can utilize the energy of their galaxy for their own purposes." Cosmologists use the Kardashev scale to predict future technological advancements and extraterrestrial civilizations. Currently, humanity on Earth is only at a Kardashev scale of around 0.73. Galaxy civilizations, advanced civilizations, or even higher-level civilizations and super-civilizations are unlikely to be numerous, given the enormous energy they utilize. However, some argue that the Kardashev scale classification doesn't necessarily reflect the existence of an advanced civilization, because a highly developed civilization might only consume a small amount of energy to achieve "exotic technology." They possess the technology to generate and utilize this energy, rather than relying on actual energy consumption.
Next, let's talk about life forms. The renowned biochemist Isaac Asimov proposed six life forms in his article "Not What We Know." Of course, Asimov's classification of life forms is mainly based on the environmental conditions of habitable planets. Here, I'll expand on that: advanced life forms might include: non-metallic life forms, such as our carbon-based life, and perhaps silicon-based, sulfur-based, fluorine-based, and nitrogen-based life forms; metallic life forms, such as mechanical life; intelligent life forms, such as intelligent AI, those self-aware and capable of evolutionary programming entities. Of course, such AI may not exist naturally; it might be artificially created and then evolved; and special life forms, such as plasma life, electromagnetic life, pure energy-state life, and pure consciousness-based life. We can't say these don't exist, after all, the world is full of wonders.
Finally, let's talk about types of civilizations. Based mainly on their internal relations and external influence, I roughly divide them into the following categories:
Colonial type: This type of civilization has an instinct to consume resources and reproduce infinitely, like a group of intelligent cockroaches.
Queen type: Only the queen has intelligence, while other individuals have low intelligence or no intelligence at all.
Symbiotic type: This type of civilization is quite special. Their survival is not based on competition, but on cooperation. They have formed symbiotic and cooperative relationships with certain organisms.
Centralized system: This refers to a system in which the highest social authority permeates the lives of every individual and requires each individual to resolutely comply, such as the ancient imperial system.
Representative Civilization: This is the current type of civilization in which humanity exists. The civilization is internally divided into complex power groups and has not yet entered a unified era. Individuals in this type of civilization possess nearly equal intelligence and abilities, with minimal differences between individuals. Through clear division of labor in various fields, the entire race accumulates knowledge, and a select group of individuals is chosen to exercise decision-making power through elections or war.
Unified type: This type of civilization achieves internal unity, establishes a power structure that transcends the entire civilization, largely avoids inter-tribal warfare and violence, greatly improves social efficiency, avoids unnecessary resource and energy waste, and clarifies the direction of civilization's progress. This is also a very likely direction for human development.
Alliance type: They may accidentally establish contact with and a relatively good relationship with the surrounding alien civilizations, which may lead to a rapid increase in their own civilization.
Competitive type: These civilizations are in a state of fierce competition, which will greatly promote the development of civilization. The result of their competition is likely to be all-round development rather than total destruction. So much so that, in less extreme cases, almost 100% of such hybrid civilizations will move towards advanced civilization.
Starship-type: This type of civilization's homeworld may be destroyed or rendered uninhabitable due to catastrophes, war, invasion, or attrition. However, the civilization's technology has advanced to the point of interstellar travel, and lacking a suitable new home, they are likely to establish an interstellar civilization with starships as their homeworld. This type of civilization has a relatively high starting point and generally possesses a strong sense of crisis and a strong will to survive.
Adam type: This type of civilization was created by a more advanced civilization. They did not evolve naturally. As for their purposes, they could be varied: perhaps for research, perhaps for war, perhaps for exploitation, or perhaps simply to prove that they could.
AI-type: This is the only type of non-biological civilization. They were created by an advanced civilization. For certain purposes, they built these AIs and endowed them with the ability to establish civilizations.
Superhuman type: This type of civilization is also quite unique. Their individuals possess powerful abilities, even superpowers, which they use to ensure their survival. Their inherent abilities save them a lot of trouble, unlike other civilizations that need to compensate for their shortcomings through technological advancements.
Creation type: They created various civilizations and things in the universe for different purposes, and are the true 'creators'.
"Sir, regarding the current situation, I'd like to venture a further speculation. Based on the decreasing speed of light and considerations of matter and energy, I personally believe that, since energy is ubiquitous, advanced life forms are likely in a pure energy state, not bound by physical bodies and matter. Um, I'm sorry, I need to think about this further. Now, let me discuss my work plan for the future."
“Academician Zhou, don’t rush this. Let’s talk about it after we get to Area 51,” the leader interrupted him.
"Understood, sir."
"Thank you both for your hard work. Please rest a little longer before we set off."
"Okay, you can rest now, I won't disturb you any longer."
"Thank you. I'm getting old, you can't deny it. I'll rest for a while, see you later."
The two looked at their leader, their eyes involuntarily becoming moist.
On a summer night, somewhere in the mountains, the soil, heated during the day, exudes the scent of the earth, mixed with the fragrance of trees, as if it is cleaning the air to welcome distinguished guests.
A child holds his mother's hand and looks at the stars in the sky.
"Mommy, why do the stars in the sky twinkle?"
"Because it is singing."
"Mom, why is only half of the moon showing in the sky?"
"Because it wants to lie."
"Mommy, Mommy, the sun doesn't lie, does it?"
"Civilization, you should know that once the sun rises, the moon can no longer lie."
The moon hangs silently in the starry sky, offering only the sun's reflection to the earth.
Suddenly, from the northeast in the sky, eight or nine faint flashes of light accompanied by a larger flash of light flew by rapidly. The mother and the young boy paused briefly to observe, and they had already passed silently overhead, disappearing in the southwest in the blink of an eye, slowly merging into the stars in the sky.
"Mom, what are those?"
"Civilization, it should be airplanes, right?"
Mei Fan sat by the airplane window, trying to look down, but couldn't make out anything. It was shrouded in mist, with only a few bright stars flashing by like shooting stars. In the moonlight, he could see several fighter jets arranged in a defensive formation. Mei Fan quickly shook his left hand, and a circle of pale blue light emanated from his shirt buttons, forming an inverted circular light screen centered on the buttons. The screen displayed: June 21, 2022, 6:17 PM, Tuesday, May 21rd, Summer Solstice. Mei Fan glanced at Zhou Yuan in the seat next to him. He seemed to be asleep, emitting soft snores and occasionally making noises. He had a square face, thick eyebrows, and still seemed somewhat childish. Even in sleep, he wore a sly smile, as if he didn't care about anything. Mei Fan recognized it as an innate confidence.
"Experts, we've arrived." Mei Fan felt only slightly dazed. Looking out the window, the plane was already descending, gliding down between the mountains. In the distance, there seemed to be a large, bright white circle. As they drew closer, Mei Fan saw runway indicator lights on both sides, and rows of heavily armed soldiers standing around the perimeter. Two minutes later, the plane paused slightly, then continued straight at a steady speed, without any jolt upon impact. The cabin doors opened, the stairs descended, and everyone disembarked. Mei Fan stepped off the stairs and walked towards the large white circle. My God, it was a massive mountain tunnel! Military vehicles carried them into the tunnel, and after a long while, the view opened up. After iris and facial recognition authentication, the heavy automatic doors opened, and a beam of intense light suddenly shone from the cracks, somewhat blinding. Inside was a huge, ceiling-high hall, where a group of people in white coats were walking around hurriedly, occasionally greeting each other. At this moment, a large yellow ball of light descended from the ceiling, bouncing up and down twice like a bouncy ball, before hovering in the center of the hall. To everyone's surprise, parts of the ball of light suddenly turned black, revealing a smiley face symbol formed by yellow light. Then the smiley face disappeared, accompanied by a child's voice saying, "Dear grandpas, grandmas, uncles, and aunts, oh, there's also a big brother here. You've all worked hard. Welcome to Area 51. I'm the head housekeeper here, the beloved Aya." A pale purple figure gradually grew from the ground upwards, stopping after reaching a meter in height, and then walked gracefully to Zhou Yuan.
What a perfect and dazzling debut!