CHAPTER 903: CHAPTER 148: 200 TRILLION

Once a Main Sequence Star nearing the end of its life becomes a red giant, its temperature will rise sharply, and its volume will expand rapidly. It will quickly swell to 200 times its original diameter, engulfing planets close to its orbit.

However, this "quickly" is measured by the standard of the Universe.

For humanity, this process will last quite a long time.

But the Sun destroying humanity doesn’t need to expand that much. Just a slight increase or decrease in temperature would be catastrophic for the Earth’s Biosphere.

Once this sign appears, humanity might not have much time to prepare. A decrease in crop yields and climate imbalance would be enough to trigger a dramatic decline in the human population.

"Suppose, just today, you observed signs of the Sun turning into a red giant." Xiang Shan crossed his arms and closed his eyes, asking, "Then, given the authority to propose any plan you can think of, what would you do?"

David and Yawgmoth looked at each other: "This..."

"With the current human technology, completing interstellar migration is simply impossible. This is something we just discussed." Xiang Shan said with his eyes closed, "Directly taking a spaceship to migrate? Impossible. Because we simply can’t build a ship big enough to hold a migration group. Going into hibernation? Even less possible. The success rate of human hibernation technology is very sadly low."

"Take a step back, and perhaps ’frozen sperm and eggs’ and ’nurturing robots’ are not unacceptable. A team that migrates in cell form may socially no longer belong to humanity, but under such premises, it’s still ’acceptable’, right? At least they continue the existence of the ’human’ species. Ah, but if the nurturing system has even a minor failure, these embryos will all perish even if they can become infants."

"But what if frozen cells don’t work either? Or if no organic matter can be supported?"

"For instance, what if this journey takes 100,000 or a million years? During such a long period, the bodies of organisms could turn into fossils. Something as complex as a cell probably can’t be frozen for so long."

"Can we ’take another step back’ at this point?"

David was stunned: "Argon has no organic matter at all... one more step back? A step?"

"’As long as what arrives at the new home includes our genetic information’." Xiang Shan sighed, "Compared to the choice of ’not culturally human, but biologically human’, it’s just taking another step back. And at this point, taking another step back would mean... ’as long as it contains the genetic information of the creatures from our planet’."

"But there are no cells in Argon!"

"Didn’t we just say that? Because no cells can be preserved for 100,000 years, perhaps letting cells reproduce within Argon is also a choice—choosing some cells capable of absorbing nuclear radiation and placing them in a corner of Argon, allowing them to reproduce for generations. But maybe those cells would die out before we humans discover Argon because Argon cannot remain sealed for 100,000 years. The atmosphere and moisture inside keep getting lost," Xiang Shan said. "Argon’s travel duration is too long. In such a long time, with such low technology levels, nothing can be guaranteed."

"Like you just said, the information engraved on the stone tablet remains, but the information beyond the stone tablet has already largely disappeared. The mechanical systems aged due to the accumulation of errors, and possible microorganisms became extinct because they couldn’t keep up with the changes in Argon’s internal environment. In the end, only the information on the stone tablet was conveyed."

Xiang Shan sighed, "So, the truth of the cipher book might be this. It’s a part of the genetic information from the aliens."

David was stunned: "But it’s only... 200 megabytes?"

"Yeah."

"200 megabytes, huh."

"Yes." Xiang Shan sighed, "Even though they tried their best, they could only send out 200 megabytes of information."

"But is this really enough?"

"This is the 200 megabytes after compression algorithms have compressed it," Xiang Shan said. "I remember that the entire human genetic information is just a few gigabytes?"

"Considering the presence of a large number of repetitive sequences and conservative sequences within the genome..." Yawgmoth stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Maybe we can develop a compression algorithm with a very high compression rate?"

"There must be a method to record everything in the simplest order, removing all directional symbols, start symbols, end symbols, and converting them into binary or quaternary. Then, using simple organic compounds available at the destination to recreate them, perhaps we could create..."

Xiang Shan rubbed his forehead, thought for a moment, and said, "Create alien creatures possessing the genetic information of their planet’s life forms. The rest can be left to time."

David exclaimed, "But does this have any significance? The recreated cells might take billions of years to become intelligent life once more. During this process, the original genetic information would have already drastically changed due to mutations, wouldn’t it? No, the emergence of intelligent creatures was an incidental event in the first place! Perhaps the new home’s sun became a red giant too, and those created cells remain as plankton with no signs of evolution..."

"But the genetic information those plankton carry endured for billions of years," Xiang Shan said. "Even though they tried their best, they could only send out 200 megabytes of information. This is the best result they could achieve."

David shook his head, "I still don’t understand. Without human civilization, human genetic information has nothing special."

"If life has a ’purpose’, it is for the ’continuation of genetic information’," Xiang Shan said, "I find it very true to the essence."

Yawgmoth suddenly said, "If these pieces of information were received by other civilizations, perhaps it would be a kind of continuation too. At least the spark created by their planet over billions of years could be passed to the hands of other civilizations."

David shook his head, "This... is so bizarre. Just for that bit of genetic information?"

"Think about it, your planet is on the verge of destruction, but your civilization gave its all and could only transmit 200 megabytes of information." Xiang Shan sighed, "At least some microscopic level biological reactions are based on principles like the lowest energy laws, universally shared across the universe. But culture... who knows if your culture isn’t based on some unique physiological mechanisms?"

"These 200 megabytes are already the last shout of a civilization giving everything it has."

"After all, they really only have 200 megabytes of chances."