It has been about three years since magic appeared on Blue Star.
In the past three years, investment in magic by countries around the world has gradually increased.
American's budget for pure magic-related research in 2024 has exceeded 100 billion yuan, not including investment in high-end research and development fields such as aerospace and quantum accelerators.
In order to lead all countries on the new track, Amerikan has even made certain strategic contractions.
Maybe they were going to shrink originally, but the emergence of magic gave them a better excuse.
Other countries are similar and have invested a lot of money in research and development of magic.
"I mean, maybe, maybe Merlin's curse is caused by the lack of cellular organelles and the combined impact of the soul level, which makes people unable to feel any positive emotions.
This may not be possible at the biological level alone. "
“If this is the case, I believe that the already desperate mood of the big shots will become even more desperate.
There is still hope for the biological problems to be solved, but it is unclear how long it will take for the soul problems to be solved. "
When it comes to diseases that prevent people from feeling positive emotions, the first reaction is usually depression.
And depression has also become well-known to the public in recent years.
There are various causes of depression, including physical factors, environmental factors, etc.
For a detailed introduction to depression, see Dr. Aaron T. Beck's book "Depression: Causes and Causes" written more than forty years ago.
treat".
After Merlin's Curse happened, scientists naturally linked it to depression.
But even patients with depression cannot be completely insulated from positive emotions.
The Amerikan government had previously approached Martin Seligman to participate in the treatment.
The psychologist, whom the media calls the father of modern positive psychology, is helpless against Merlin's curse.
Cognitive therapy and cognitive psychology do nothing.
Not only that Merlin's curse treatment had no effect, American never understood how Merlin managed to curse the big shots one by one from a distance.
Martin said bluntly: "Sorry, this has gone beyond the scope of medicine. If I can ask Merlin in person, there may be a way to solve it."
"But in the current situation, I have tried every method I can think of, but to no avail."
Martin was deeply in awe of Merlin after seeing Bill's state. Only when he saw it with his own eyes could he know the pain.
Martin also knew the reason why American was so eager to find him. Bill was so painful and the big shots who were accustomed to being pampered couldn't bear it.
However, Martin was indeed helpless against Merlin's curse, and Amerikan did not make things difficult for him.
If magic was so easy to break, they wouldn't be unable to confirm Merlin's true identity now.
When science cannot explain it, Amerikan relies on metaphysics:
"Merlin may have directly attacked them at the soul level through a method we don't know about."
After this idea was proposed, America's fear of Merlin became even deeper.
At the same time, in Merlin's bounty mission, questions about the soul can be uploaded multiple times.
One magic coin means one opportunity to upload an answer.
Because of this, England has been trying to trick the remaining magic coin away from Neon and Kangaroo Country.
Unfortunately, after Merlin appeared, countries' attention to magic coins has reached a new level.
England tried every means but failed to get another magic coin.
Officials from various countries speculate that the uploaded content is different, and that there must be a substantial breakthrough compared to the first uploaded answer in order to obtain more magic coins.
Different answers to the same question require breakthroughs to satisfy the questioner, which is the basic logic of the reward mechanism.
...
The Alcor Life Extension Fund and cryonics facility are now under unified management by Amerikan officials.
Researchers from other countries or who are not trustworthy in Alcor have been "graduated".
"Professor Bedford may not be able to wake up in the distant future?"
"With all due respect, it would have been difficult for Professor Bedford to come back alive, not least because the soul might have been damaged due to long-term freezing.
Moreover, his whole body blood had been replaced with dimethyl sulfoxide, which would cause certain damage to the human body. "
"No wonder Alke has been reluctant to thaw Bedford. They are afraid that the myth of human hibernation technology will be shattered."
James Bedford is a psychologist who was the first person on Blue Star to choose to freeze himself.
People have long imagined freezing human bodies and then resurrecting them through more advanced technology in the future.
This is also time and space travel in a sense, but this time and space travel is irreversible.
In 1967, Bedford chose to freeze himself in the hope that humans would thaw him out in the future.
It is said that he died before being frozen, but in fact he was only on the verge of dying before being frozen, so he chose this method.
His body is being kept at the Alcor Foundation, and Bedford himself hopes to unblock it 50 years later, in 2017.
There is no doubt that this time has been delayed. He will still be frozen until 2024, when Amerikan officially takes over all research projects of the Alcor Foundation.
"So our mission is to research cryonics technology, help big people enter a frozen state, and thaw them when humans can cure Merlin's curse."
Cryonics is a common technology in fantasy literature.
How to ensure that human life span is long enough to support long-term space travel? The solution given by many science fiction writers is human cryonics technology.
You wake up on a brand new planet.
This type of technology is not recognized by the mainstream scientific community, but it still cannot stop the demand of a large number of wealthy people.
They need some vague hope that they will be able to live again someday in the future.
For example, if you can only live to be eighty-five now, and you choose to be frozen when you are eighty, if humans can implement life-extending technology after being thawed in the future, you will only have five years left to extend your life even longer.
Many religious people in Blue Star believe that cryonics technology is unreliable because they only consider the physical state and do not consider the existence of the soul.
When the human body is frozen, the soul will leave. You can't freeze the soul together, right?
The cryonics company previously said: We can! The soul will not leave the body after cryonics.
After Merlin proved the existence of the soul and the result became known to the public.
Religious figures who could not find evidence before have questioned and even sued the cryonics company for false advertising.
They said: You said before that the soul will not leave the body after cryopreservation. Now there is a way to observe the soul. Please prove it to us.
This time the cryonics company pretended to be dead, but they couldn't guarantee it.
This has also led to a sharp decline in the cryonics business. The rich are afraid of death but are not stupid.
I chose cryonics technology before because it gave them a vague hope. Now that magic is available, I might as well use the money to chase magic.
Gu Xu
Originally, the Alcor Foundation was going to face a large number of lawsuits, not only from religious figures who had previously questioned it, but also from the descendants of wealthy people who had purchased cryonics services.
Later, when Amerikan officials took over Alcor, they only took over all his research projects and research materials.
Amerikan officials will not help them clean up this mess.
Alcor Fund was stripped of its valuable parts by Amerikan, and the shareholders behind it wanted to die.
"Human cryonics technology is also a very important basic technology for future interstellar travel. At least until super-light travel is achieved, human cryonics technology will be important."
In the current physical system, super-light speed is unrealistic.
But this does not mean that after major breakthroughs in the basic physical system are achieved in the future, super-light speed will still be unrealistic.
“Now the competition between China and us in the aerospace field has become increasingly serious.
I heard that China’s latest lunar space station was successfully put into orbit and started working, but it made the people at NASA very unhappy. "
NASA's budget is larger than it was two years ago, but its capabilities have not increased.
Not only were Chinese people dismissed one after another under suspicion, but some researchers with suspicious ties to the Europa Union were also dismissed.
Even among outsourced employees, Chinese are excluded.
"It is said that China's lunar space station has occupied NASA's planned orbit, and they are very unhappy."
"No wonder, their budget is much larger than ours, but fortunately there are no Chinese competing with us in our field."
"In Chinese terms, we have the upper hand."
"My idea is that the first thing we need to confirm is whether cryonics technology will cause the human soul to be damaged or disappear directly."
"Explain your thoughts in detail."
“We first used experimental monkeys for freezing and developed freezing plans with different plans and durations.
The experimental monkeys processed them after thawing them. After processing, they used a soul observation device to observe whether the souls in their bodies still existed. "
Monkeys have been having a hard time in the past few years. The soul now belongs to Xingxue. Not only the institutions under the governments of various countries are studying the soul.
University research groups, biomedical companies and even Internet giants are all conducting research on the soul level.
It is not practical to conduct soul-level research on human beings. Even for death row prisoners, only national institutions can obtain such resources.
According to private and unofficial statistics, the number of people traded on the black market in South Asia has skyrocketed.
Most institutions and individuals can only use experimental monkeys, and monkeys have a hard time.
"Have you ever thought about a problem? A damaged soul and no soul are two different things. If the soul is only damaged, it will be difficult for you to detect abnormalities."
"It takes time to freeze experimental monkeys, at least a year. Oak Ridge has a method for quantitative soul analysis.
If all goes well, we will just catch up with the soul quantitative measurement methods and devices over there. "
Like current, force, waves, etc., humans have found units to measure them.
Blue Star also hopes to find some way to measure the soul.
...
The competition between China and America in the aerospace field is watched by countries around the world.
It is easy to understand that NASA has always been a big player in aerospace, and CNSA has chosen a more radical aerospace plan.
Everyone can understand.
However, the Europa League has also entered the field and invested heavily in the aerospace field, which makes other countries confused.
Because you need to know that most of the Europa Space Agency’s previous space projects were in cooperation with other countries.
Including but not limited to Amerikan.
The Europa Union also had a cooperation project with Neon before, but of course this project has been shelved now.
Everyone can’t understand Europa’s generosity. After all, the Europa League has never been so wealthy before.
Even Russia, which has always had a poor economy, has increased its investment in aerospace and has maintained a high degree of cooperation with China in aerospace.
Neon realizes something is wrong, and their loose alliance with England and Kangaroo Country can all get magic coins.
There’s no reason why other countries can’t get it.
Neon is not so conceited that only they can find the coordinates of the universe that conform to Heber's algorithm.
Magic coin is essentially a job of computing power. If you have enough computing power, you will definitely be able to find it.
Only the optimization of algorithms by mathematicians and the observations of astronomers can reduce the required computing power.
Neon Country suspects that America, China, and the Europa Union know something they don't know, so they are investing heavily in aerospace.
Neon’s ambassador specifically sought out people related to Amerikan to inquire.
"Your country must have obtained magic coins, right? Don't deny it yet. If you admit it, I will also reveal some secrets to you."
"...Yes, we obtained a certain number of magic coins."
"The number of magic coins you have obtained must not exceed two, and Neon has never used Magic Brain."
The Neon ambassador was shocked, thinking that someone inside had leaked the secret, but then he thought that it was normal for someone in Neon to leak the secret to Amerikan.
America's penetration into Neon is comprehensive, even if Neon itself does not want to be controlled.
"Sure enough, none of this can be hidden from your country."
"Don't be surprised, because your country cooperates with England and the Kangaroo Country. If you have used the Demon Brain, you will definitely know why we want to go to space.
I can reveal the specific reasons to you, but Neon has to offer corresponding benefits in exchange. "
The price offered by Amerikan made the Neon Ambassador dare not make any decision without authorization. He broke into a cold sweat after hearing it. It was too expensive.
Amerikan's price is really cruel.
He said he had to go back and discuss it.
Neon knows the same news, America knows it, China and the Europa League also know it.
As long as they are willing to pay in exchange for benefits, the asking price of China and Europa is not so high.
Neon purchased the information contained in the Demonic Brain directly from both the Europa League and China.
Purchase information from both parties to verify each other.
China's price is cheaper than American, and they require Neon to provide a certain core technology in exchange. China is most eager for technology.
After comparing it with Neon, I realized that England had concealed very important information.
England did not reveal any of the magic forums that mages could enter, or the bounty missions announced by Merlin in the magic forums.
The Europa League also revealed something malicious: there is a bounty task that makes it easy to get magic coins, but anyone who answers can get at least one magic coin.
Neon was even more furious when he found out. As a ruined aristocrat of England and an outcast of the Europa League, how dare you deceive me like this?
