Chapter 238: Consciousness Transfer and the Underworld Plan

Chu is not a fool and would naturally not agree to such an outrageous request.

After much negotiation, the compromise reached was the [Consciousness Transfer Technology].

The Federation has been researching this technology for a long time and learned from the [Clone Avatar] sequence how to achieve complete consciousness transfer. The [Supreme God] sequence uses this technology, and the Federation now possesses the ability to transfer consciousness to a new body while retaining the original consciousness.

However, this technology still has limitations.

The challenge lies in how to transfer the consciousness to a machine and have it function as the original consciousness, which the Federation is still researching.

In fact, the Silkmoth already mastered this technology long ago, which involves transforming biological information into computer-readable and storable data. This process is reversible, meaning you can transfer from a computer to a cloned body and live in the real world if you don't want to stay in the virtual world.

The significance of this technology lies in changing the Federation's policies.

The Federation restricts life expectancy to prevent societal stagnation and discourage childbirth.

This is important and cannot be abandoned, but in such a vast universe, depriving a life of its lifespan and setting a fixed lifespan for all is unlikely to gain the trust of all life.

So, how can this dilemma be resolved?

Allowing citizens to enter a virtual world after their physical death is a better solution.

This plan has been in place for a long time and has a rather terrifying name: the Underworld Plan or the Hell Plan. It involves creating an underworld in a virtual world and allowing some lives to experience reincarnation.

For example, when you reach the limit of your lifespan, you can go to the virtual world to work. In the virtual world, you will still have a lifespan, say 1000 years. After these 1000 years, you will "die" again, but this death does not erase you; instead, it wipes out the memories you carry and then re-injects you into a cloned body to continue living.

In this way, a life's lifespan can be divided into three stages, effectively extending its longevity.

This solution can coexist with the option of leaving the Federation and going to other star nations without lifespan restrictions.

Why not just make it eternal life in the virtual world?

Ella and Yan Xia have discussed this, and the first reason is work. The Federation cannot create enough jobs, so after achieving eternal life, you would just be wasting resources endlessly. This topic has been mentioned before.

Wasting resources is a problem, regardless of whether you live in the real world or the virtual world.

The second reason is that most lives do not actually desire eternal life. When they don't have it, they may yearn for it, but once they have it, what will they do?

The star nations have already provided the answer.

In star nations without lifespan restrictions, like the Federation, the number of citizens does not increase exponentially into the tens of thousands because the leading cause of death has shifted from natural causes to suicide.

Every second, millions of lives commit suicide in these star nations.

It's simple: most lives are repetitive and uninteresting, and a longer lifespan does not guarantee a different lifestyle. In such repetitive lives, lives become weary, suffer, and life becomes a torment rather than an enjoyable experience.

Imagine achieving eternal life in the 21st century, but it doesn't bring you wealth because everyone else is also immortal.

You would still lead a monotonous life, waking up, washing, eating breakfast, going to work, having lunch, taking a break, working again, going home, playing with your phone or computer, and sleeping. Due to your infinite life, most companies would no longer respect your time rights, making your time less valuable. They could ask you to work overtime without rest, and your salary might not increase or even decrease. Who would want to live forever under these circumstances?

No other life would give you money for no reason, allowing you to enjoy life, because with infinite life, the number of lives increases, and the value of life decreases. You might not even be able to afford a single expensive item.

This is a drawback.

Most lives desire eternal life without worries, but in reality, eternal life would bring more restrictions and make your life more mechanized.

In ancient times, you could live forever without working, picking vegetables, and enjoying a leisurely life.

However, in a technological society, you can't do anything without working. Just one rule can make your life miserable: no money to go online, leaving you staring at a blank wall in your room for 100 days, 1000 days, or even 10,000 days.

Currently, in the Federation, working for a month can provide for a lifetime, but this welfare will disappear if lifespans are extended.

Therefore, Ella and Yan Xia still set a lifespan limit, but it is more relaxed, as eternal life can be achieved in the virtual world as long as you work.

In other words, you must pay a price for eternal life.

In the virtual world, lives work to earn time. Working for 8 hours can earn you 20 hours of time, or even more. When the time runs out, you die and enter the third stage.

This work creates entertainment value in the virtual world, and there is an infinite amount of this type of work.

For example, if I send a virtual character into a martial arts game and make them play the role of a martial artist villain, the cost will be lower than that of a computer-generated character, and the saved cost can be used to increase your time.

Although this [Consciousness Transfer Technology] cannot enhance the Federation's combat capabilities, it can advance the Federation's social form, making its social system more compatible with the current Silkmoth civilization level. The progress of the social system will accelerate the Federation's social operations, ultimately leading to an overall improvement for the Federation.

Therefore, this technology is a win-win deal for the Federation.

With the war between Star City and other star cities, energy consumption will increase, and there will be more transactions.

As the saying goes, "When the cannons roar, gold flows like water."

The Federation intends to redirect this flow of gold towards itself, and Ella will use this war to propel the Federation to the level of a 2.4-level Silkmoth civilization.