Chapter 309: Dispute Over the Lightspeed Spaceship_1

Jiang Yu's task greatly exceeded the expectations of Rediaz and He Shanqi. He Shanqi simply voiced the doubts in his heart, "A lightspeed spaceship?"

Rediaz pondered briefly before saying, "I understand now. Just as you said earlier, Type II civilizations can be found everywhere in the universe, while compared to them, the Trisolaran Civilization seems more like a primitive one."

"We are not even a match for such a primitive civilization, so naturally, we need to leave ourselves an escape route: run!"

Jiang Yu nodded with a smile, "That's the principle."

He Shanqi let out a long sigh, "When placed on the cosmic scale, humanity is so feeble!"

Jiang Yu said helplessly, "Humanity's strong sense of self has always come from Earth."

"On Earth, humanity is indeed the king, but just a 'local tyrant' at that."

Seeing that Rediaz did not understand the meaning of "local tyrant," Jiang Yu expressed it using another term.

Jiang Yu and Rediaz usually communicated in English, and since the official language of the Solar System State is Chinese, scholars like He Shanqi no longer learned English after the advent of simultaneous translation devices.

Now, the three of them had to use simultaneous translation devices for their conversation, otherwise He Shanqi wouldn't know what Jiang Yu and Rediaz were saying, and Rediaz wouldn't know what Jiang Yu and He Shanqi were saying.

Jiang Yu didn't know much about Rediaz's homeland, but it seemed that people there probably didn't sleep on heated brick beds, at least Rediaz never had.

He Shanqi, born on Mars, was even more clueless about what a heated brick bed was.

This cultural misunderstanding made the atmosphere in "Blind Zone No.1" a bit more relaxed.

He Shanqi said, "I'm not questioning the Wallfacer's plan, I just find it unfeasible."

Seeing Jiang Yu waiting for him to elaborate, he cleared his throat and continued, "Theoretically speaking, there are three types of lightspeed spaceships.

"The first type involves mastering the mysteries of the time dimension, going 'beyond time,' which to an external observer makes the spaceship appear to operate at the speed of light.

"The second type uses the fourth dimension to 'take shortcuts.' We can imagine drawing a circle on a piece of paper, theoretically, bidimensional beings within that circle would find it difficult to get out.

"However, once the bidimensional beings master the method of entering the third dimension, they can easily jump from inside the circle to the outside through the third dimension.

"The same applies to us in three dimensions. The distance from one point to another in the universe may seem extremely far to us, but this feeling of distance could simply be an illusion created by 'the drawn circle.'

"The distance between these two points might be very close in the fourth dimension; if we could harness the way of using the fourth dimension, then some faraway distances could become just around the corner for us.

"The third type involves using acceleration to achieve lightspeed travel. This method is the only one we currently have a chance of achieving, but it would consume an enormous amount of energy.

"Even collecting all the energy in the Solar System might not be enough for a single lightspeed fleet."

"These three methods, I believe even non-physicists should understand, the first and second methods are currently unattainable, and the third method also poses significant difficulties.

"That's why I say, with our current technology, it is premature to discuss lightspeed spaceships."

Immediately following, Rediaz asked, "Then, if we start researching lightspeed spaceships now, approximately how long would it take to develop one?"

Obviously, he too had realized the importance of lightspeed spaceships; Jiang Yu was certain Rediaz was unaware of things like 'two-dimensional foil.'"

But he was acutely aware that a lightspeed spaceship might be humanity's safest way to escape from an attack by an advanced civilization.

As long as a part of humanity could escape, they would "still have the green hills, not fearing the lack of firewood."

He Shanqi frowned and said, "I estimate it would take about two centuries. The first century would be used to theoretically determine how to create a lightspeed spaceship, that is, to decide on a feasible direction.

"The second century would be to apply the theory to technology, and only after many experiments might we obtain a lightspeed spaceship."

Jiang Yu sighed. The value of Yun Tianming lay precisely here — he had saved humanity the time of fumbling in the quest for a lightspeed spaceship!

Thinking of this, he smiled and said, "What if I give you a direction?"

He Shanqi and Rediaz both looked at Jiang Yu, one with fear and the other with joy.

Jiang Yu asked He Shanqi, "Haven't you considered a curvature spaceship?"

He Shanqi, with a frown, said, "As of now, curvature is only a theoretical concept. No evidence has yet been found in the universe to indicate its existence, let alone utilizing curvature to build a lightspeed spaceship."

"I'm aware of the concept of curvature," said Rediaz, puzzled. "But how could curvature be used to achieve lightspeed?"

He Shanqi gave an example, "For instance, if we draw a line on a piece of paper and mark a point five centimeters away from the centerline on each side, then the distance between the two points is ten centimeters.

"However, if we fold the paper with the centerline as a guide, the distance between the two points becomes almost zero.

"But one thing to note, theoretically, the speed of a curvature spaceship has always been called 'pseudo-lightspeed,' because curvature travel doesn't result in time dilation.

"For example, if we want to travel to the Three-Body Star System which is four light-years away, with a true lightspeed spaceship we would arrive instantly.

"However, a curvature spaceship wouldn't break the dimension of time, and upon arrival at the Three-Body Star System, it would also be four years later there, hence why it's called 'pseudo-lightspeed.'"

"This seems a bit like the second type of lightspeed spaceship you just mentioned," Rediaz said.

He Shanqi shook his head, "It's not the same. A curvature spaceship is about creating the shortest distance between two points, and in a four-dimensional world, the shortest distance is right there; once found, it can be exploited."

Once again, Jiang Yu made a startling statement, "The following conversation is top secret and must not be disclosed to a fourth person!"

Seeing He Shanqi and Rediaz nod seriously, Jiang Yu then said to He Shanqi, "Have you ever thought that the fourth dimension might no longer exist?"

He Shanqi smiled and shook his head, "Whether it's relativity, quantum mechanics, or the nascent string theory, all have proved that the macro universe we live in is four-dimensional.

"It's just that we, as three-dimensional beings, are naturally unable to perceive the existence of the fourth dimension."

Jiang Yu said, "Haven't you always been unable to find a way to utilize the fourth dimension?"

"But in theory, they exist, and many calculations require the constant of the fourth dimension to match our observed results," He Shanqi explained earnestly.

"Moreover, haven't we confirmed the existence of dark matter with the Jupiter Orbital Particle Accelerator? The academic community now generally believes that dark matter is a type of matter from the fourth dimension."

Jiang Yu didn't quite understand all this, but he could only share what he knew, "Dark matter might be the 'remains' of the fourth dimension that fell into the third dimension...

"Er, 'remains' might not be the most accurate term, but that's the idea."