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Bai Zhongqi was fiddling with the crimson gemstone his Agent had brought back from Taoran Star when he got the "Compulsory Conscription Law" endorsed jointly by the Star Alliance government and the Universe Army.
He set down the stone, picked up the glass tablet, and reviewed the summary of the Compulsory Conscription Law. He took a deep breath and sighed, "Releasing this is likely to provoke quite a storm."
Zero, lying beside Bai Zhongqi, was vying with his cat-eared fox for a fluffy toy. The tiny cat-eared fox was surprisingly strong, its strength comparable to an elephant, and Zero showed his teeth while playing with it, obviously enjoying himself.
"Then why not just reject it? After all, we’ve estimated that dealing with the three great enslavers won’t be that difficult, and the production of bionic humans is also quite impressive now."
The Star Alliance now has a large number of factories continuously producing bionic humans, and even more terrifying is the fact that every few days a new bionic human factory is completed. These bionic human factories use Atomic Substance Construction equipment, but they only produce bionic humans. Nowadays, there is no fixed number of how many bionic humans the Star Alliance produces daily because the production number is always changing, always increasing.
In the three years since Iridium Star’s crossing, the Star Alliance had produced up to twenty million bionic humans, applied in all walks of life. Bai Zhongqi currently has five million bionic humans serving in the Universe Army, and without them, the vast fleet of the Universe Army would be unable to operate.
Bai Zhongqi had long been concerned about the increasingly serious phenomenon of unemployment within the Star Alliance. He said, "Atomic Substance Construction and bionic humans, these two technologies, can be said to be the core technologies of Iridium Star. They have not only propelled the rise of both the United Empire of Iridium Star and the Star Alliance but may also lead the Star Alliance into a hell of civilizational evolution. The United Empire, due to various restrictions and the mindset of Iridium Star people, has not allowed bionic humans to have a strong impact on society. However, on Earth, people take for granted that exploitation is an appropriate way of life. In ancient times, people exploited and were exploited, and in the intergalactic era, with robots and bionic humans, everyone says just manufacture several billion bionic humans and robots, then everyone can lie at home without a care and play."
Zero could sense Bai Zhongqi’s awareness of potential perils, and she said, "The invention of bionic humans and robots is to relieve humanity from simple, repetitive, and low-value labor. However, once people are freed from these low-value labor tasks, they may also lose the will to engage in any labor, including intellectual and creative work, and without these, civilization loses its driving force for progress."
Bai Zhongqi nodded and replied, "Exactly. Although the Star Alliance still has a large number of Iridium Star technologies and knowledge to digest, which I reckon could normally take a quarter of a century, if we don’t solve some of the social issues within the Star Alliance, we could enter a prolonged stagnation in development, which is frightening for any civilization."
The development of civilization is a path where one either progresses or regresses. When a civilization’s productivity and ability to understand the universe no longer improve, it’s not merely marking time; the inherent contradictions may intensify. Even with an abundance of resources, competition and distribution issues may arise and eventually lead to self-destruction.
The Star Alliance presently looks flourishing, seemingly bright all over, but there are also some underlying risks that Bai Zhongqi must consider with vigilance.
"So, do we pass the ’Compulsory Conscription Law’?’
Bai Zhongqi said, "Pass it, why not? It’s just that we can only recruit a limited number of people for now. If we could solve the unemployment issue, I would be willing to be more aggressive. As for any opposition that arises, we’ve faced dissent before, for more than just a day or two. Populism won’t be responsible for the people’s future, but I must be responsible for them."
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Zero giggled with stunning charm, "This sense of responsibility you have for your people is indeed a noble sentiment."
And that was true; Bai Zhongqi’s power did not come from the people, and it had nothing to do with them. His power came from the Supreme Command.
Bai Zhongqi pressed the green approval button on the glass tablet, which would trigger the following process: the Star Alliance government would receive his permission, then the Star Alliance government and the Universe Army would introduce this proposal to the Star Alliance Congress. The bionic human congressmen, who made up more than half of the Star Alliance Congress, would vote in favor, ensuring that the law would pass.
As for how the congressmen from various countries voted, it was now inconsequential.
The composition of the Star Alliance Congress had always been criticized by those on Earth used to neoliberal democratic regimes. Not just Westerners but even many from Country C were dissatisfied with such a structure. The fact about bionic human congressmen was only known to the upper echelons of the Star Alliance; it was a secret not disclosed to the public, who generally believed that these congressmen were Iridium Star people and staunch supporters of the Chancellor.
There were ongoing calls on Earth for broad reforms in the Star Alliance Congress, demanding the power of the Star Alliance be returned to Earth’s people, with a mix of personnel based on population ratios and national origins to achieve "true democracy."
Of course, these discussions and initiatives had been ongoing, but they had no real impact on the normal operation of the Star Alliance, and Bai Zhongqi simply laughed it off.
Bai Zhongqi had once watched a political talk show that presented opposing viewpoints on the power structure of the Star Alliance. One side strongly advocated for enacting Earth’s original democratic politics, insisting not only that the Star Alliance Prime Minister should be elected by popular vote but also that the Star Alliance Congress should be entirely elected by Earth’s citizens.
At that time, another side, the scholar who opposed this so-called Earth-style democracy, pointed out sharply, "The democratic system that operated on Earth for only a few centuries showed various signs of decay by the end of the old era, not to mention the manipulation issues by groups like the United Heart Society. Now that we are exposed to various organizational methods of interstellar civilizations, it’s absurd to stubbornly stick to our problematic and outdated system."
Another guest ridiculed, "Most of the material wealth enjoyed on Earth now was not created by Earth’s nations but by Iridium Star people. The policies that supply Star Alliance citizens—their food, clothing, housing, and transportation—are not created by the citizens themselves, but bestowed upon us by our Chancellor using the Supreme Command. Those of you advocating for ’true democracy’ are essentially, under the guise of common ownership, trying to take possession of wealth created and loaned by others. According to your values and logic, almost everything used by the Star Alliance citizens comes from the Chancellor, his private property, sacred and inviolable. You expect to transform someone else’s property into your own legally through what you call democracy—it’s simply delusional and deranged."