Science

Looking at Zagronan, Lee bowed a bit and didn't talk. 

Zagronan said, "The invitation letter I threw, read it, and decide for yourself." With that, he activated his infinite illusions complete law and disappeared. 

He took the task of sending invitation letters to new dream-focused Academies so he would not waste time explaining. He must send the letter to many other civilizations in this area.

Seeing this, Lee was angry. 

The way Zagronan threw that letter, the entire headquarters of Humanoids Academy was probably damaged; they must spend money to fix it. 

"Power is everything," Lee sighed. 

Zagronan is powerful, and they are weak, so there is nothing she can do. 

She took the invitation letter and frowned. These days, who sends letters? There are better ways of transmitting long-distance messages. 

She cautiously opened it. 

After reading for a while, she frowned. 

It was from the Dream Federation, which considered itself the largest force dedicated to studying dreams. 

They invited the Humanoids Academy to the federation.

Lee had never heard of Dream Federation, so she ordered her subordinates to look for the federation's details. 

The endless space has many different factions, alliances, and federations. Membership in one doesn't preclude becoming a member in the other. 

The biggest alliance of all is the Anti-Rachel Alliance. The Anti-Rachel Alliance is getting stronger and more centralized. However, being a member of the Anti-Rachel Alliance, as Humanoids Academy is, is not an obstacle to being a member of another alliance. 

As the strongest alliance, Anti-Rachel nowadays has no enemies and is considered the default place that all rank 10 and above civilizations must become members of. 

Recently, in the last 100 million years, most other federations and alliances began to register with Anti-Rachel to be recognized as an official alliance.

Anti-Rachel allows tasks from official alliances in its task directory. Being able to issue tasks to members of Anti-Rachel is very beneficial, just like Dream Alliance. 

A while ago, Dream Alliance issued a task of mailing official membership letters to new, dream-focused civilizations; Zagronan took the task and started delivering them.

After reading all the details, Lee put the letter away in her storage ring, singing. 

She doesn't need a space ring at her level, but she still keeps it. 

The letter itself is like a badge. If Humanoids Academy decides to join the Dream Federation, the letter would act as a key; they could access many experimental dream worlds of the Dream Federation using the letter.

"Let's go back. Inspect the damage and report to me later," she ordered and returned to the world.

...

Alex III read the recent report while stroking his beard with his right hand. 

After a few minutes, Alex ordered, "Smuggle the UD to the neighboring countries." 

UD is how Alex III refers to the new drug, the Ultimate Drug. 

Jack bowed and left. 

"Let's first test it in the neighboring countries," Alex thought. 

Even though he is nearly sure that the drug has no problem, it's still better to test it before shipping it all around the world.

The first stage is addicting the whole world to UD. 

When they are addicted, Alex will begin his second stage. 

By the end of the second stage, the whole world would be controlled by him. 

"It's only a question of when!" he thought. 

He has time, but Rob doesn't. People in Alex's kingdom can live up to 200; the rich and powerful can use precious tonics and live up to 500.

On the Star Dreamworld, however, people can at most live up to 100, and maybe a bit more. Nobody ever lived more than 130.

... 

Nowadays, Rob is addicted to checking various websites to read comments about his Ghost rumor. 

The internet is not a perfect representation of real people. It is relatively new, so older people use it far less. 

He doesn't entirely rely on the internet. 

He sent many people to go and ask around in person, but their report was the same: very few people believed the rumor.

"I'm going to die of old age at this rate," Rob sighed. 

If he cannot spread the rumor, he can only do the next best thing. 

Science! 

With science, he can extend his lifespan far beyond the average lifespan of 80. 

Recently, there have been many innovations in medical science, like cultivating organs in the lab, curing cancer, etc. 

It is the best way. 

He called his secretary and set up a meeting with the prime minister.

...

In a meeting room, the prime minister, the minister of health, and the minister of the economy sat on one side while Rob and two of his advisers were on the other.

"Now, what do you guys think?" Rob asked curiously.

Prime Minister Rose nodded and said, "It is a noble goal to advance medical science, but the government should step out and let the private sector develop."

Rob nodded and said, "Of course, we will provide funds and contracts and let the private sector do its job."

Rose nodded; regarding fiscal policy, she agreed with Rob on most issues. 

As an old person, Rose also has health issues and wants medical science to progress. 

She nodded and said, "I agree, Mr. President!"

...

UISEC poured vast amounts of money into medical researchers. 

After a year, they set up a worldwide medical science talent test.

People of all countries could participate, and if they passed, they would be given free education, a job, and citizenship of UISEC. 

Most countries cooperated and didn't stop anyone who wanted to come and take the test. 

The test was a huge success. 

UISEC discovered many talented people, and with near-endless resources, there will likely be significant breakthroughs in medical science.

The government cleared the path for innovation. 

There have not been many government regulations in UISEC, and the few that existed were repealed to 'get the government out of the way.' 

Medical scientists could even test their experimental drugs and procedures on humans without regulation. 

One problem with innovating drugs is that testing them is very hard. 

Testing on animals would not yield as precise results as testing on humans. But, with lots of government funds, large labs offered money to poor people to come and be 'volunteers.'

It was cruel because many died as a result of complications. Of course, the drugs also helped lots of people; those experimental drugs treated some sick people who could not afford their treatment.

...

Five years later.

Nowadays, UISEC is the best in the field of medicine. 

Even body transplants are achievable, to rich people only, of course.

What is a body transplant? 

Some also call it a brain transplant. It involves removing one person's brain and placing it in a healthy body. 

Even more impressive, the technology has reached the point where labs can produce bodies, so there is no need to wait for someone to 'donate' a body. 

The produced bodies are a perfect fit for the brain because they are cultivated with the DNA of the same person.

However, the core problem has not been solved. 

The brain itself also gets older. 

There is no way to replace the brain as of now. 

As long as one can scan the brain perfectly, without missing any detail, and recreate the scanned brain, it's possible to copy a person's brain with all the memories intact. 

However, that will not solve the aging problem because the copied brain will be as old as the original. 

So, one must be able to copy a brain and keep all the information stored safe, all the personality, and all the details intact, while figuring out a way to make it younger. 

That is impossible, even for modern cultures.

As a result of the latest medical advances, rich people can now expect to live up to 180, but after that, the brain itself would be too damaged and old to be functional. 

So, the next step for development is not to copy the information of an old brain into a younger brain but to make the old brain last longer. 

Normally, cells in the brain that die do not regenerate. As time goes on, more and more brain cells die to the point that one day, the brain becomes non-functional. 

Developing a medicine or procedure that could regenerate brain cells is critical to making rich people live longer.

And so, UISEC awarded many contracts to research it. 

This field was very expensive and not that useful. 

Even in the best case, it could only save less than 10,000 yearly because only extremely wealthy people could use it. 

There are better ways to help the masses, like finding ways to mass-produce organs, that can help way more ordinary people and is much more cost-effective. 

But, Rob, or even Rose, didn't consider it. 

What they wanted was to save themselves, not the poor. 

Rose was entirely on board with this. 

She was 78, and the last medical breakthroughs increased her life expectancy by a century! Of course, she wants the medicine that can make her brain young! 

Rob was pleased with this cooperation. 

The prime minister, Rose, turned out to be a good match for him.

With so much money poured in and millions of old people as experimental subjects, the project began moving quickly. 

Brain research will likely reach outstanding results in less than a decade.

At the same time, the country began pouring money into research into harmful elements that can damage the brain. 

Any damage to the brain is permanent, so any chemical that damages the brain must be prohibited. 

Even a low-regulation country like UISEC chose to do it. 

The brain is the core of human beings, or even all living beings for that matter. 

Materials like mercury are used to extract gold; this world is based on a prototype provided by Rachel, so it should not be surprising that it looks so much like her home world.

The prime minister, Rose, ordered all gold extraction mines to stop using mercury within five years. 

They must find another way that doesn't involve metals that can damage the brain.

Rose prohibited everything that scientists said might damage the brain. Her Ministry of Health also began recommending foods that improve brain functionality. 

As time went on, lots of health regulations began to be implemented. That low-regulation country of UISEC was turning into a high-regulation one regarding health. 

Still, Rose tried only to limit her regulations spree to the brain's health and a good diet for children.

As for healthcare for adults, she didn't think about it. Government healthcare would cost lots of money, and UISEC lacks the funds to implement it. 

They have been cutting the education budget for years to fund medical research. 

There is no way the country could implement free or even subsidized healthcare. 

As for more taxes, Rose didn't consider it. 

In her opinion, taxes would harm economic growth. 

Still, she used her ministry of culture and ministry of charity to encourage privately run nonprofits that give healthcare and education to selected individuals. 

It could not replace the government, but it's better than nothing.

Fortunately, with all the billionaires supporting her and giving lots of money to the parties backing her, she won the last election by a wide margin. As long as both the president and the billionaires, all of whom love to see the brain medical research's results, support her, her position will remain safe.