Three Body 1: Earth's Past

Chapter 16
"Ms. Ye, I have a question: At that time, the exploration of alien civilization was only a marginal basic research. Why did the Red Coast Project have such a high level of secrecy?" After listening to Ye Wenjie's narration, Wang Miao asked.

"Actually, this question was raised at the initial stage of the Red Coast Project, and it has continued to the end of the Red Coast Project. Now, you should have the answer. We can only admire the advanced thinking of the top decision-maker of the Red Coast Project."

"Yes, very advanced." Wang Miao nodded deeply.

Once contact with extraterrestrial civilizations is established, how and to what extent human society will be affected has been systematically and deeply studied as a serious subject, and it is only in the past two years.But the research has heated up dramatically, reaching shocking conclusions.The previous naive idealistic wishes were shattered. Scholars found that, contrary to the good wishes of most people, it is impossible for human beings as a whole to contact alien civilizations. The effect of this contact on human culture is not fusion but fragmentation. The conflicts among different human civilizations are not dispelled but intensified.In short, once contact occurs, the internal differences of the earth's civilization will sharply widen, and the consequences may be disastrous.The most astonishing conclusion is: this effect has nothing to do with the degree and method of contact (one-way or two-way), as well as the form and evolutionary degree of the contacted alien civilization!
This is the "contact symbol" theory proposed by sociologist Bill Matthew of the RAND Think Tank in his book "The Iron Curtain of [-] Light Years: SETI Sociology".He believes that contact with alien civilizations is just a symbol or switch, regardless of its content, will have the same effect.If a contact occurs that merely proves the existence of an extraterrestrial civilization without any substance - Matthew calls it a meta-contact - its effects can also be magnified through the psychological and cultural lens of the human population and have a huge impact on the progress of civilization. Substantial impact.Once this kind of contact is monopolized by a certain country or political force, its economic and military significance is beyond imagination.

"What about the ending of the Red Bank Project?" Wang Miao asked.

"You should be able to think of it."

Wang Miao nodded again. Of course he knew that if Hong An was successful, the world would not be what it is today, but he still said a word of consolation: "Actually, we don't know whether it is successful or not. The radio waves sent by Hong An, I haven’t traveled far in the universe until now.”

Ye Wenjie shook her head, "The farther the radio signal is transmitted, the weaker it is. There is too much interference in space, and the possibility of alien civilization receiving it is very small. Research has found that in order for the alien civilization in the universe to receive our radio signal, we need to The emission power of the universe should be equivalent to the radiation power of a medium-sized star. Soviet astrophysicist Kardashev once suggested that different civilizations in the universe can be classified according to the energy they use for communication. He divided the imaginary civilizations into There are three types: I, II, and III: Type I civilization can mobilize energy equivalent to the entire output power of the earth for communication. At that time, he estimated that the power output of the earth was about 1015-1016 watts. Type II civilization can use energy equivalent to the entire output power of the earth. The output power of a typical star - 1026 watts for communication. The power of type III civilization for communication is 1036 watts, which is approximately equal to the power output of the entire galaxy. The current earth civilization can only be roughly defined as type 0.7 - even I The model has not yet reached, and the transmission power of Red Coast is only one ten-millionth of the output power that the earth can mobilize. This call is like a mosquito buzzing in the sky thousands of miles away, and no one will hear it. of!"

"But if the Type II and Type III civilizations that the Soviets envisioned exist, we should be able to hear their voices."

"Red Bank has been in operation for more than 20 years, and we have heard nothing."

"Yes, thinking of Red Bank and SETI, will all these efforts finally prove one thing: In the universe, there is really intelligent life only on the earth?"

Ye Wenjie sighed softly, "Theoretically speaking, this may be a matter that will never be concluded, but from the feeling, I, and everyone who has experienced Hong An, agree with this point."

"It's really a pity that the Red Bank project was cancelled. Now that it has been built, it should continue to operate. This is a truly great cause!"

"Red Bank is gradually declining. In the early 80s, a large-scale transformation was carried out, mainly to upgrade the computer system of the launching and monitoring part. The launching system was automated, and the monitoring system introduced two IBM medium-sized computers. The data processing ability has improved a lot, and it can monitor [-] channels at the same time. But later, with the broadening of their horizons, people also understood the difficulty of alien civilization exploration, and the superiors gradually lost interest in the Red Coast Project. The first thing I saw The change is that the security level of the base has been lowered. At that time, it was generally believed that such a high level of security in Hong'an was a big deal, and the base guard force was reduced from one company to one squad. Later, there was only a five-member security team left. It was also at that time After the transformation, although the establishment of Red Bank is still in the Second Artillery, the scientific research management has been handed over to the Institute of Astronomy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, so it has undertaken some research projects that have nothing to do with the search for alien civilizations.”

"Many of your achievements were made at that time."

"The Red Coast system initially undertook some radio astronomy observation projects, and it was the largest radio telescope in China at that time. Later, with the establishment of other radio astronomy observation bases, Red Coast's research mainly focused on the observation of solar electromagnetic activities and In terms of analysis, a solar telescope was also installed for this purpose. The mathematical model of solar electromagnetic activity we established was leading in that field at that time, and it also had many practical applications. With these subsequent research and results, Red Coast’s huge investment Finally, there is a little return. In fact, a considerable part of all this is due to Political Commissar Lei. Of course, he has a personal purpose. At that time, he found that the prospects for political work in the technical army were not very good. Before he joined the army, he also studied astrophysics He learned it, so he wanted to return to scientific research. The projects other than the exploration of alien civilization introduced by the Red Coast base were all the results of his hard work."

"Where is it so easy to return to the profession? You haven't been rehabilitated at that time. I think he is more likely to put your achievements on his own name?"

Ye Wenjie smiled tolerantly, "Without Lao Lei, the Hong'an base would have been over long ago. After Hong'an was designated as a military-to-civilian conversion area, the military completely abandoned it. It's all over."

Ye Wenjie didn't talk much about her life in Hong'an Base, and Wang Miao didn't ask either.In the fourth year after entering the base, she and Yang Weining formed a family, and everything happened naturally, very ordinary.Later, in an accident at the base, both Yang Weining and Lei Zhicheng were killed, and Yang Dong was born as a posthumous child.Their mother and daughter did not leave Radar Peak until the Red Shore Base was finally withdrawn in the 80s.Ye Wenjie later taught astrophysics at her alma mater until her retirement.All this Wang Miao heard from Sha Ruishan at the Miyun Radio Astronomy Base.

"The exploration of extraterrestrial civilizations is a very special subject, and it has a great influence on the researchers' outlook on life." Ye Wenjie said in a drawn-out tone, as if telling a story to a child, "In the dead of night, listen to the I heard the lifeless noise from the universe, this noise was faint, and seemed to be more eternal than those stars; sometimes I felt that the sound was like the endless cold wind in the winter of Daxingan Mountains, which made me feel very cold, that kind of loneliness is really infinite can't be described."

"Sometimes when I work the night shift and look up at the night sky, I feel that the stars are like a glowing desert. I myself am a poor child abandoned on the desert... I have that feeling: life on earth is really an accident in the universe, and the universe is an accident. In a large empty palace, human beings are the only little ant in this palace. This thought made me have a very contradictory mentality for the rest of my life: sometimes I feel that life is so precious and everything is as important as Mount Tai; sometimes I feel that people are so small , nothing is worth mentioning. Anyway, the days pass day by day in this strange feeling, and people get old before they know it..."

Wang Miao wanted to comfort this venerable old man who devoted his life to a lonely and great cause, but Ye Wenjie's last words made him fall into the same sad state of mind. He couldn't say anything, but said: "Ms. Ye , I will accompany you to visit the ruins of the Red Bank base someday."

Ye Wenjie shook her head slowly, "Xiao Wang, I'm different from you. I'm getting older and my health is not good. Everything is unpredictable. From now on, let's just live from day to day."

Looking at Ye Wenjie's silver hair, Wang Miao knew that she thought of her daughter again.

(End of this chapter)