Chapter 213: The Final Blow_1

After listening to Donald's introduction, Jiang Yu said, "We should refer to the modern era as the Genetic Era, because life in Guanghan City is enjoying the benefits brought about by genetic research."

"When nuclear-powered ships are everywhere in the Solar System, and when new nuclear energy systems can be used for power generation, only then should it be called the Nuclear Era!"

Donald made a note on the computer, "We'll use the Wallfacer-provided definition."

Jiang Yu smiled, "That's just a suggestion of mine, the specific technical standards are still up to you to decide."

Donald nodded, "The last thing I need to report on is the final strike against the 'Poison Apple Project.'"

Guanghan City's Academy of Sciences is still paying attention to Brain Implant Technology.

Because this technology can enhance memory and learning abilities, and PDC has made certain improvements to the brain implant devices, removing their network connectivity.

This prevents someone from using a brain implant device to attack another person's brain.

However, with such improvements, if one wishes to upgrade their brain implant, skull surgery would be necessary.

Therefore, most brain implants are of the permanent type, once installed, they are not updated again.

Those who have not used this technology are at a significant disadvantage in memory and learning compared to those with implants.

Because Jiang Yu had strictly prohibited anyone who had used Trisolaran brain implant technology from becoming residents of Guanghan City, the academy was preparing to develop its own brain implant technology.

However, this plan was quickly halted by Burton, due to the significant breakthroughs made by Bo Xiangdong and Gu Zhize, which extended human lifespan, offering more time to spend on learning.

People were looking forward to brain implant technology in large part because the time spent learning took up too much of their lifespan.

In modern society, one generally needs to spend about twenty years in learning before they can survive independently.

To go further, one must continue learning while working, and if someone wants to engage in research in a certain area, continuing to study until the age of thirty is considered just a starting point.

Compared to humanity, which lives into its seventies on average, the cost of learning is too great!

Thus, when lifespans were extended, many people calmed down and devoted more time to learning.

And although Burton didn't know why Jiang Yu had issued such a strict order, his past lessons taught him that it's better to follow Jiang Yu's commands.

During Crisis Year 67, when the Great Plague erupted, no one dared to use Trisolaran brain implant technology.

However, more than two billion Earthlings had already applied this technology, and removing it would severely affect their lives and work.

At that time, PDC was in complete chaos and could not investigate the flaws of the technology themselves, so they entrusted the Academy of Sciences in Guanghan City to conduct the investigation, and then PDC would determine the plans for the potential consequences of this technology.

After several years of research, experts at the Academy of Sciences finally understood Jiang Yu's good intentions: the brain capacity of those who had used brain implant technology was limited.

Here Donald provided a more detailed explanation: human brain capacity began to rapidly increase after humans started walking upright.

Donald likened this change to a bamboo pole, with four-limbed walking animals like cats, dogs, cows, sheep, and reptiles such as crocodiles.

Their body shapes resemble a horizontal bamboo pole; even a small addition to one end of the pole could affect balance.

Whereas upright Homo sapiens are like a vertical bamboo pole; even placing a bucket of water on top of the pole would not greatly impact its balance.

This was the prerequisite for the significant increase in human brain capacity, which was later followed by a decrease in capacity.

This is because in the Stone Age, everyone had to master a lot of skills, such as identifying edible objects, navigating in the wild, making tools, etc.

At that time, everyone needed to be an "all-rounder" to survive.

So people's brain capacity was the greatest during that period; as society's division of labor became more refined, people's brain capacity rapidly decreased.

It's simply because the brain consumes too much energy, and since there are so many unused areas, it was better to lighten the load.

In modern times, as scientific knowledge has become more and more abstruse and life in space requires mastery of an increasing number of skills, the human brain seems to be insufficient.

At that time, to save trouble, some people used the Brain Implant Technology of the Trisolarans.

Research by the Academy of Sciences has shown that people who have lived in Moon City for more than twenty years had their brain capacity increased by 0.8% to 1.2%.

Meanwhile, infants born in Moon City, especially Guanghan City, showed a 3% increase in brain capacity at around the age of ten compared to ten-year-old Earth children, without undergoing any genetic modification.

It is predicted that their brain capacity will increase by about 3.8% as adults compared to adult Earthlings.

It was discovered through research that this is a form of emergency evolution.

Firstly, humanity would need the brain capacity to grow a bit larger to learn those complex techniques and knowledge.

Then there is the low-gravity environment of Moon City, which frees the human neck and cervical spine from burden, similar to when humans first stood upright; it didn't matter if the brain grew a bit "overboard."

However, this emergency evolution stops when the brain capacity grows by about 4.2%, and the genes related to increased brain capacity would only stabilize after slow accumulation over dozens of generations.

Some say that humans in space might resemble the aliens with large heads that appear in movie works.

Surprisingly, people who used the Brain Implant Technology did not show any increase in brain capacity in space.

In particular, there was a case in the American Lunar City where an infant with dyslexia used Brain Implant Technology at around the age of seven, but after turning ten, there was no sign of any increase in brain capacity.

After further substantiation by the Academy of Sciences, it was almost certain that it was the presence of the brain implant device that eliminated the "drive" for the brain to increase its capacity.

The Trisolarans were extremely sinister with this trick; they must have proven that this technology had no future in space before handing it over to humanity in its entirety.

It is hard to imagine that without Jiang Yu's warning, this technology might have already been widely adopted.

The residents of Guanghan City also found it hard to resist the convenience brought by this technology; once everyone started using it, the changes in brain capacity in space would have been unknown.

Some evolutionary changes that humans might have undergone in space would then not have occurred, for the space environment is vastly different from that of Earth, and the human body would surely have to undergo certain changes to adapt to it.

In fact, there are many instances of such emergency evolution, such as the infants in Guanghan City having particularly thin legs due to the reduced gravity, which lessens the stress needed by the legs to support the human body.

Therefore, every resident of Guanghan City is very grateful to Jiang Yu, as he not only spared them from plague but also did not affect their brain's emergency evolution.

Following these events, the residents of Guanghan City and other cities of the Wallfacer Federation have started to support Jiang Yu wholeheartedly.

Those who used the technology of the Trisolarans also regretted not heeding Jiang Yu's advice.

Especially for businessmen in Guanghan City who had purchased genetic technology quotas, most died in that plague, and those who were fortunate to be saved by Bo Xiangdong also lost their status as residents of Guanghan City, filled with deep regret.

Hearing Donald express his gratitude sincerely, Jiang Yu felt somewhat bewildered, as he had acted on instinct, sensing that the Trisolarans' technology must be fraught with malice.

He had not expected that today it would result in such a "good deed"!

After Donald finished his report, he bowed deeply before leaving.

Then it was Burton's turn to come in, and he was not as reserved as Donald; he plunked himself down across from Jiang Yu and said:

"Now Guanghan City, Mars City, Grain God Star City, and Kitchen God Star City, all support the Wallfacer Project and are part of the force that founded it.

"We have formed the Wallfacer Federation together."

Burton reported: "Guanghan City now has over 1.2 million permanent residents, while Mars City has about 600,000 residents.

"Grain God and Kitchen God, each of the space cities, have around one hundred thousand residents.

"You might not imagine that on Earth we have over three million residents of Federation Cities!"