Chapter 375 Return

Chapter 375 Return

Chapter 375 Return

After traveling around Southeast Asia for more than two months, Jiang Miao and his wife were finally ready to return to Seris.

Their route to Southeast Asia started from the Lingnan region of their home country. The first stop was the Luzon Islands, followed by a visit to He Youwei at the Hailufeng Hospital branch in Borneo, and then they went to the Spice Islands, Irian Island, the Solomon Islands, the Great Barrier Reef, New Zealand, and Australia.

Then go from southeast Australia to Western Australia, then turn to northern Australia, cross the strait to Timor Island, Java Island and Sumatra Island.

At present, the group has crossed the Strait of Malacca and arrived at Sing Tao Island.

Sing Tao is the most developed city in Nanyang.

Even in the era of Asian commonwealth, it has not declined like Hong Kong, but has maintained its leading economic strength.

In fact, many people subconsciously think that Sing Tao is America's dog.

But this is a one-sided anthropomorphization of regional forces.

In fact, the forces in many regions are often complex.

A small force like Sing Tao, which is almost caught in the cracks, can achieve such a developed economy. In fact, it is due to the fact that its founder is able to play both sides. This is also the way for small forces to survive.

The kind of counterattack version of the protagonist where a real man cannot be depressed and under someone else's control for long is simply not suitable for a small force like Sing Tao.

Because Sing Tao's rapid economic development in the past was fundamentally dependent on the global free trade led by America. In that era, for small forces, being a dog for America was a shortcut to eating meat.

But the golden age, one of the hallmarks of global free trade, came to an end in 2028.

This also means the end of an era for Sing Tao.

But Xingdao's transformation was very fast, and he knelt down in front of Seris almost at the speed of light.

The reason is very simple, because they are too close to Seres. After America completely withdrew from the Asia-Pacific region, Sing Tao, as a small force, must find a backer for itself, or to put it bluntly, find a new father.

At this time, Seris is the best choice.

Jiang Miao looked out the window.

The Strait of Malacca is in sight.

On the sparkling sea, there are two silver-gray "dragons" lined up horizontally. They are the first cross-sea bridge in the Strait of Malacca (i.e. Sing Tao East Sea Bridge) and the second cross-sea bridge in the Strait of Malacca (i.e. Sing Tao West Sea Bridge).

These two cross-sea bridges connect Singapore Island, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra Island.

Shuya poured him a glass of coconut water: "What are you looking at?"

"I can only sigh that the ebb and flow of the Malacca Strait has witnessed the rise and fall of so many overlords, from Zheng He's voyages to the West in the Ming Dynasty, to the Sea Coachmen who crossed the oceans, Great Britain's British Empire, Japan's short-lived glory, America's world policeman, to today's Seres. History is really a cycle." Jiang Miao picked up the coconut water and took a sip.

Shuya sat in front of the window: "Who knows what will happen in the future? Maybe we won't see the day when the next overlord changes."

"That's not necessarily true." Jiang Miao whispered softly, his eyes gazing far into the distance at the end of the waves where the sea and the sky meet, as if he wanted to take in everything.

Shuya seemed to be thinking: "Is it the report from the Life Laboratory?"

"Yeah!" Jiang Miao nodded slightly.

This is the Hailufeng Group's own employee hotel, and the confidentiality is very strong. Even the equipment that can read the vibration frequency of the window glass and obtain the conversation content of people inside is useless for this kind of confidential room.

Because the glass of these dozen or so exclusive rooms are equipped with built-in anti-reading devices, which can disrupt external reading through slight vibrations emitted from inside the glass windows.

That's why the two of them are talking about some sensitive topics here.

Of course, this was also because Jiang Miao had conducted a survey of the area around the employee hotel through the identification panel in advance and only checked in after ensuring that there were no problems.

Shuya rubbed the fragrant wood sac with her fingers: "I have read the research report of the Life Laboratory. The combination of brain neuron repair special medicine and non-rejection organs does have great hope of extending human life."

Just as Shuya said.

Combining various current technologies, there is indeed a great possibility of significantly increasing human life expectancy.

After all, organs other than the brain are being artificially replaced at a very fast pace.

In other words, the shortcoming that currently hinders the increase in human life expectancy is those organs that cannot be replaced.

The brain and spine are among the few organs in the human body that cannot be replaced.

Because the human nervous system often represents a person's "will and personality."

This is also the fundamental reason why there is some criticism on the Internet about the new treatment for Alzheimer's patients.

That is, the new therapy may cause Alzheimer's patients to completely become a "new" person after completing the treatment, which will make the patients' relatives feel uneasy, confused and rejected.

But this is also the best technology currently available for treating Alzheimer's disease.

The patient's family can only weigh the pros and cons. As the main body of technology development and application, Hailufeng Group will also remind the patient's family in advance on this point.

However, this defect may be solved in the future.

Because there are already scientific research teams studying the use of brain control technology and eye bioinformation storage to ensure that patients can retain most of their memories after treatment, so that their personalities and thoughts can be as close to the original as possible.

Another option is the prevention option.

Many experts and scholars have suggested that people over the age of 50 should receive regular injections of special drugs to repair brain neurons every year, and at the same time implant artificial lymph secretion machines in the brain to keep the brain young for a long time.

In this way, the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease can be avoided, and there is no need to worry about the brain being formatted.

It was this suggestion that inspired the Life Laboratory.

After all, the maximum lifespan of the brain is around 120 to 150 years.

As long as the secretion of various hormones can be guaranteed and maintained at the level of youth, and various artificial organs can be used to replace aging and necrotic organs, the limit of human life is basically the limit of brain life.

Jiang Miao browsed through the first phase goal of the life laboratory, which is to use various artificial organs and artificial hormone secretion machines to keep the body's hormone secretion levels at the 30-year-old stage.

This not only prolongs life, but also slows down the aging of the skin.

After all, no one wants to live another fifty or sixty years with the appearance of an old man or woman in their eighties or nineties.

If you live another fifty or sixty years with an old appearance, it would be better to die earlier, which would save you so much pain.

Shuya suddenly raised her eyebrows: "By the way, if the human life span can reach 150 years in the future, will there be many ethical problems?" Jiang Miao was stunned for a moment, then smiled and shook his head: "Your concerns may indeed occur, but there is no need to worry too much, because I don't intend to make the reproductive system in the artificial organ have real reproductive function, just use it as a hormone secretion organ."

At this time, Shuya also joked: "That's right. After all, the genes of artificial organs are fixed versions. If they really have the function of producing reproductive cells, I guess many people will feel very uncomfortable."

"Speaking of the genetic issues of artificial organs, after I return, I plan to ask the scientific research division to expand the gene library of artificial organs. At least three gene versions should be stored for each organ."

Shuya knew what Jiang Miao was thinking as soon as she heard it: "Are you worried about the emergence of genetic weapons in the future?"

"Hmm!" Jiang Miao's face showed a trace of seriousness: "Even if there are no genetic weapons, we still have to consider the microorganisms that mutate in nature. If the gene library of artificial organs is too single, once targeted microorganisms appear, it may cause problems for the artificial organs in most people in a short period of time."

"That makes sense. We really need to do a good job of preventing this." As a scientific researcher in the field of microbiology, Shuya naturally knows that for microorganisms, species with a single gene pool can easily suffer a tragedy of being wiped out in a short period of time.

For example, the Gros Michel banana was almost wiped out by the Panama disease, and in the end only a few Gros Michels in Siam were left to survive.

If Jiang Miao had not taken action, humans might only be able to experience the taste of Gros Mike bananas through the old version of banana candy.

This is the case even for a single crop.

As an artificial organ technology that is used on a large scale, it is definitely not a good sign if its gene library is too homogeneous.

Shuya picked up the coconut water and took a big sip: "By the way, when I go back, I plan to study the cultivation technology of edible fungi in the microgravity environment of outer space."

Jiang Miao did not object: "You can just report to the scientific research department. The group will build a space station for scientific research in low-Earth orbit next year. Your project can then be sent into space."

Shuya also expressed her own views: "As for the future of space agriculture, we don't need to worry about Venus, but we need to work hard on other planets and interstellar space."

This is also one of the reasons why Jiang Miao set his sights on Venus without hesitation from the beginning.

After all, the planetary gravity of Venus is highly similar to that of the Earth, which means that the difficulty of carrying out indoor agriculture on Venus is almost the same as that on Earth.

But if we want to develop agriculture on the moon, Mars, or interstellar space, gravity will be a very troublesome problem.

The gravity environment with such a huge difference will not only cause problems such as disordered growth and abnormal development of crops, but other aspects of agricultural production will also be different from those on Earth.

Like a sprinkler.

Just because a sprinkler system can be used normally on Earth doesn’t mean it can be used normally in low-Earth orbit, on the Moon, or on Mars.

Therefore, in addition to Venus, in order to develop agriculture on other planets and in interstellar space, a whole set of agricultural technologies needs to be adjusted. Even in the context of the Platinum Age, it will take more than ten years to accomplish this.

Venus doesn't have this problem.

As long as the construction of Venus' floating city is completed, the agricultural facilities inside will be similar to indoor agriculture on Earth, and efficient production can be guaranteed without major changes.

This played a decisive role in migrating a large number of people to Venus in the early stages of interstellar immigration.

After all, the first element for human survival is oxygen, the second element is water, and the third element is food. Everything else is secondary.

Venus' gravity environment is not only conducive to plant cultivation, but also to the development of the aquaculture industry.

Even if crops can be grown in low-Earth orbit, it will be difficult to maintain large farms.

The microgravity environment alone can make most aquaculture industries extinct.

There is no way. In a microgravity environment, ordinary animals are prone to osteoporosis and their respiratory systems can easily be blocked by their own excrement.

You can't give every white-feathered chicken a special space suit, right?
This is unrealistic, and livestock such as white-feathered chickens would also find it difficult to adapt.

If livestock are raised on Venus, the gravity there is similar to that on Earth, so they can adapt quickly.

Space agriculture is not just about putting the word "space" in front of agriculture and it will become a reality.

It will take at least one generation of efforts to develop a new generation of agriculture.

Jiang Miao's choice of Venus as the core of Hailufeng Group's space development was actually a clever move, as it could ensure the food source for interstellar immigrants in the early stages.

Of course, agriculture on other planets will definitely need to develop in the future. Human beings cannot be limited to the Earth and Venus. Other planets in the solar system and interstellar space are also areas that humans need to conquer.

Once traveling to other planets, it is basically difficult to quickly travel back and forth to the Earth for supplies at the current speed of spacecraft. It is likely that the spacecraft can only be self-sufficient at the destination.

This is also why Jiang Miao thinks SpaceX’s Mars colonization plan is unreliable.

Do you really think you can grow potatoes on Mars?

Don't joke, the low gravity environment on Mars has a huge impact on agricultural production, and water resources are difficult to obtain. If a few astronauts were sent there to carry out the mission, it might be possible.

Once a large number of people migrate to Mars, there will be almost no return. Most of the humans who live in a low-gravity environment for a long time will develop low-gravity disease, not to mention the fatal impact of the low-gravity environment on reproduction.

Perhaps insects can adapt to the gravity of the Martian environment within a dozen years due to their high iteration rate. However, humans, who have a relatively long lifespan, cannot adapt to Mars and complete genetic evolution within a dozen years.

For humans at this stage, migrating to Mars is almost a fantasy.

It would be better to build a ring-shaped space city in outer space and use the centrifugal force generated by rotation to simulate the earth's gravity.

This concept is actually easier to achieve and safer under the technological conditions of the Platinum Age.

As long as humans cannot quickly adapt to the side effects of gravity on different planets, they will not be able to survive for a long time on a planet with too great a difference in gravity.

Unless someone wants to gamble their lives, and gamble with millions of people, and through the long-term survival of millions of people on Mars, and the cruel survival of the fittest from generation to generation, it is possible to produce Martians who can adapt to the gravity of Mars after hundreds of years.

But what’s the point?
Once this adaptation is completed, it means that Martians and Earthlings will completely become two species, with huge differences in their physiology, culture, and genes.

Is there really anyone willing to go to Mars and gamble their life?

This is tens of thousands of times more risky than traveling from Europe to America back then, and it's almost like being a guinea pig.

Gravity is the biggest factor limiting humans' ability to fly in the stars.

Jiang Miao stood up and stretched.

"Let's go!"

The two had packed their luggage and used the group's secret channels to arrive at the airship airport in the north of Star Island quietly.

The chartered passenger airship slowly took off and flew towards the mainland of Seris.

(End of this chapter)