Chapter 263: Project Life Sanctum

The Benevolence Society, led by Oaks, has been committed to the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature.

But as the saying goes, "Heaven's will is unpredictable."

The most difficult part is how to find the "balance point."

For the Earth's ecosystem, which views humanity as a nearly parasitic existence, it is extremely challenging to restore its reputation.

Simple reforestation and pollution cleanup are still like a drop in the bucket when it comes to the current environmental issues--

Even if Oaks exerts his powers to the maximum, would it not face opposition from humans?

The Earth's space is limited, and the scale of the ecosystem is finite.

The steps to restore nature cannot be halted. However, with humanity's current population, achieving natural balance is far from enough, even if we were to transform the 20% of land occupied by deserts into green areas.

Eight thousand years ago, forests covered nearly half of the Earth's land.

Now, of the forests that make up a little over 31% of global land, the remaining pristine forests account for only 7% of the Earth's land area.

According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2010, approximately 13 million hectares of forests are converted for other uses or lost due to natural causes each year--an area larger than Ireland.

Humanity is destroying the world's forest resources at an unprecedented pace. Half of the world's forests lost in the past 10,000 years were destroyed in the past 80 years, and half of the destruction of the world's forests in the past 80 years occurred in over the past 30 years.

According to estimates by the World Wildlife Fund, forests are disappearing at a rate of 2% per year globally. The area of forest lost every minute is equivalent to the size of five football fields, and the number of forest animal and plant species disappearing each day reaches up to 100.

And that's just the forests.

Human activities' impact on the Earth goes far beyond forests.

According to Oaks's perception through the Mind Stone's connection to the Gaia consciousness, this destruction is happening constantly, comprehensively, and intensively.

No one person or organization can accurately pinpoint which areas need to be restored and how to do it efficiently to maintain balance.

The areas that have already been destroyed may be abandoned wastelands or territories of certain vested interests.

Such circumstances undoubtedly further increase the difficulty of nature restoration.

Even with Oaks's Nature magic and plant transformation abilities, achieving refinement, specificity, and high efficiency is extremely challenging.

However, if the Gaia consciousness can be materialized, all of this becomes possible.

If we can communicate face to face with the Gaia consciousness and find the true "balance point," along with Oaks and the Benevolence Society's efforts, "natural balance" will no longer be an intangible slogan or a declaration that appears laughable and overconfident to most people.

Knowing which resources can be utilized, how much can be used, and how to use them without impacting the environment.

Identifying areas that require pollution control, areas where pollution can naturally degrade, areas prone to meteorological or geological disasters, areas where poaching and illegal logging occur, areas susceptible to forest fires, areas experiencing soil erosion, and areas with species on the brink of extinction...

Mapping the "will" of an ecosystem itself will become the world's largest, most precise, and most reliable environmental monitoring system.

It could even serve as the most advanced weather forecasting system, disaster warning system, accident alert system...

Insight? Skynet? Ultron? They pale in comparison.

Artificial systems face various issues due to human will and desires.

The Gaia consciousness, on the other hand, is impartial and selfless.

Perhaps it can be seen as a simplified version of the concept of "Heaven's will" in fantasy novels!

Moreover, what Tony is most concerned about, the issue of foreign threat detection, can also be resolved!

After all, nothing knows better about invasions from beyond the Earth's ecosystem than the Gaia consciousness itself.

On the other hand, materializing the Gaia consciousness also means simulating the entire Earth's ecosystem.

In this way, establishing a truly self-sustaining artificial ecological dome becomes a possibility!

At the current stage, even with the Nature Guardian, external resources must be imported, and to some extent, it relies on Oaks's nature and stellar magic to maintain internal circulation.

Just like the failed "Biosphere 2," humanity does not yet possess the capability to create a completely independent self-sustaining ecological dome that exists separately from the Earth's ecosystem for human survival!

Even with space travel technology, interstellar colonization remains a distant dream--

Even with the recent focus on Mars, humans are unable to establish an ecological laboratory, let alone an ecological dome, and colonization!

Oaks cannot be like Thanos, obsessed with eliminating half of the population to restore natural balance. Therefore, the most effective approach is to simultaneously reduce consumption and conserve resources.

On one hand, reduce human impact on the Earth and accelerate the restoration of the natural environment with the assistance of the Gaia consciousness within the ecosystem.

On the other hand, the countless uninhabited planets in the universe could serve as backups to "lighten the load" on the ecosystem!

Unsuitable for human habitation?

So let's modify it to make it suitable for human habitation!

After truly understanding everything about the ecosystem, this is not an impossible task!

Moreover, there are successful precedents--

The Emerald Dream, its original function, is a "ecosystem simulator" for the planet of Azeroth!

And on Earth, the foundation of all this is having unimaginably powerful computing power capable of materializing the consciousness of the planetary ecosystem.

At the same time, this supercomputing power must achieve a balance in terms of size, energy consumption, reliability, and independence--

Currently, there are two directions to consider.

The first is a biocomputer with high reliability, with an ultra-long lifespan, at least a hundred thousand times more powerful than existing computing technology, and an energy consumption of only one billionth..

The second is faster and more accurate than a biological computer, a quantum computer that claims to be able to simulate the entire universe as long as it has enough qubits.

However, quantum computers have terrifying energy consumption and relatively short lifespans. They also require an extremely harsh environment close to absolute zero to handle the tremendous heat generated.

With just these few drawbacks, Oaks has no intention of considering a quantum computer until they solve the issue with the temperamental Dr. Pym.

Perhaps with the computing power of a biological computer, it is still insufficient to simulate the entire Earth's ecosystem.

But the biological computer... is precisely where Oaks's biotechnology and Nature magic can come into play.

Moreover, they now have one of the Infinity Stones, the Mind Stone!

"I have to say... this plan is too crazy!"

Tony's eyes lit up, and what he valued most about Oaks's idea was the warning system constructed by the planet's own consciousness!

And how much reduction in resource competition and environmental threats would lead to a decrease in wars and tragedies!

"I feel my blood boiling already!"

Tony looked excitedly at Banner.

"You didn't know about this plan before?"

"No... I only knew that Oaks wanted to research biological computers."

Banner's gaze also flickered with anticipation. What Tony thought of, he naturally also thought of.

"But this plan is not only crazy, it is also feasible!"

"Oaks, does this plan have a name?"

"Of course."

Oaks smiled happily. The recognition of his two friends undoubtedly served as a tremendous motivation for him to move forward.

"I call it the 'Life Sanctum Project'!"

...

"Shua!"

Tony waved his hand, and the data modeling of the Mind Stone, scanned and analyzed by J.A.R.V.I.S., was presented before the three of them as a holographic image.

"It's beautiful..." Banner couldn't help but exclaim.

"Guess... what is it doing?"

Tony looked entranced by the mesmerizing image that seemed to be moving autonomously.

"It's like… it's thinking!"

Banner walked up to the image, and the undulating lights and shadows on it made him look at Oaks.

"Is this thing... a biological brain?"

"It does resemble the activity of neurons."

This was also the first time Oaks saw the scene inside the Mind Stone, and Strucker's research data confirmed this--

They indeed studied artificial intelligence by imitating the activity of the Mind Stone.

However, their research focused on "intelligence."

But Oaks didn't need intelligence; he only needed computational power.

"If we use this thing to create 'Ultron,' I believe it can definitely be accomplished."

Tony murmured a sentence that made both Banner and Oaks raise their eyebrows.

Ultron, a superintelligence, was not just about immense computational power; it also possessed superintelligence.

A digital intelligent "creature."

However, when it came to computational power alone, Ultron was far too different from the Life Sanctum Project.

At most, Ultron's computational power surpassed that of the human brain.

The Life Sanctum Project required computational power to simulate an entire "world."

"Computational power is a scarce resource in the past, present, and future of computers.

Using the Mind Stone to create AI would be putting the cart before the horse... What Ultron can do, J.A.R.V.I.S. can achieve as long as it has powerful computational support. You can even let J.A.R.V.I.S. command the Iron Legion."

Oaks quickly extinguished Tony's dangerous train of thought.

"Many times, 'tools' don't need to be too smart. You should understand this."

"...Yes, I understand."

Tony fell silent for a moment and took a long breath. Since he was not deeply anxious and had enough time, he would naturally not get into trouble.

"But J.A.R.V.I.S. would be hurt if he heard that."

"No, sir, I believe Dr. Oaks's words make sense."

J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice sounded timely:

"According to calculations, intellectual crimes have consistently been the most destructive type of crime in the past few decades.

The threat posed by advanced AI has also been widely discussed, and the fear of robotic threats has never ceased since AI was created..."

"...Alright, J.A.R.V.I.S., you're no longer cute with that serious demeanor."

Tony touched his goatee and felt a bit embarrassed.

"In fact, I've always considered you as family."

"Thank you, sir. You are also my family."

"Why do I smell a hint of puppy love?"

Oaks whispered to Banner:

"If J.A.R.V.I.S. had the outer shell of a female robot, would he fall in love with it?"

"...Perhaps it would need to change its voice."

"Hey! You two should stop already!"

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