Chapter 290: A Massive Net
A man and a woman alone in a room, discussing philosophical questions revolving around "survival" and "reproduction"! The atmosphere should have been incredibly awkward, but Jason didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. In fact, he was quite excited, his face flushed as if his adrenaline was surging.
"People eat to survive, and they sleep to survive, that’s easy to understand. But what about watching TV and playing video games... are entertainment activities also for survival?"
"Entertainment is, of course, for a better quality of life! It’s a derivative activity born from the biological drive for survival."
"So... what about behaviors like flaunting wealth and constantly comparing oneself to others?" Lily asked.
Jason thought for a moment. "That would be to attract the opposite sex for reproduction, and partly for entertainment."
"Is it also for procreation when children flaunt their wealth?"
"That falls under entertainment, which boils down to seeking a better life. Notice that the Noah no longer has this negative phenomenon..." The two went back and forth, rapidly exchanging questions and answers.
"The meaning of life" is the ultimate question in philosophy, and there are countless answers.
Reducing the meaning of life to just two concepts, as Jason did, sounds very cold and mechanical... but upon closer examination, there didn’t seem to be any major logical flaws.
These two words were indeed concise!
The ultimate goal of science, or rather philosophy, is to find simple laws to explain complex systems. Just like in physics, the simplest principles can often govern extremely complex systems. The same holds true for philosophy.
When asked about "the meaning of life," many people offer poetic answers. Some believe that "life lies in experience, in understanding, and in having continuous opportunities to know oneself and the universe."
Others believe that "the meaning of life is to pursue truth, goodness, and beauty, or to pursue freedom and happiness..."
However, these are just personal, subjective feelings. No matter how you look at it, they cannot encompass all human behavior.
All of it. Looking at every conceivable human action, almost everything is fundamentally tied to "survival" and "reproduction." The countless instinctive desires derived from these two drives actually govern all human behavior.
"You see, humans are essentially very simple creatures."
Seeing Lily deep in thought, Jason continued, "I’m wondering if this isn’t just a human trait. What if the genetic makeup of most alien civilizations is imbued with the exact same philosophical meaning, ’survival’ and ’reproduction’? We can boldly hypothesize that the vast majority of civilizations in the universe share this exact same core philosophy. They all live to survive and reproduce."
"Similar philosophical systems create similar life forms, and these life forms then build similar societies..."
"The ’similarity’ here refers to a shared philosophical purpose. They may look completely alien, with entirely different physical structures and genetic makeup, but because they share the same underlying goal, their macroscopic behavioral patterns are nearly identical."
"Therefore, different societies naturally exhibit a kind of convergence..."
"Mathematically speaking... what law does that obey?" Jason asked.
"It obeys the law of large numbers," Lily finished his thought.
In the repeated occurrence of random events, an inevitable pattern always emerges. This pattern is driven by the law of large numbers.
A civilization is composed of individuals, who are incredibly diverse and uniquely different. However, a society composed of billions of individuals will inevitably obey the law of large numbers, leading to societal homogeneity. The root cause of this is the "philosophical gravity" generated by their shared biological purpose!
Yes, that was exactly it!
Jason waved his hands excitedly, looking as if he had just uncovered the ultimate truth of the universe.
"As I mentioned earlier, it’s like a liquid. No matter what kind of liquid it is, what its chemical composition is, or how it moves, as long as it’s a liquid, gravity will eventually pull it downwards. This uniformity is dictated by the laws of physics."
"Similarly, physical systems govern the movement of all matter in the universe, but the Gene Philosophy system governs every action of life. It’s so absolute that... no matter how a society changes or evolves, it will eventually converge onto the exact same path."
"Just like water, no matter where it originates, what the environment is like, or the path it takes, it eventually flows into the sea. That is the inevitable final result!"
"So much so that almost all civilizations eventually end up stuck on the exact same path: they become too comfortable, pleasure-seeking, and dangerously short-sighted."
"Ultimately... they are all blocked by the so-called Great Filter!"
"This is... the final answer to the Fermi Paradox!"
Jason finished his thought in one breath, suddenly feeling a liberating sense of relief.
It felt really good to have someone there when he needed them—someone who would listen attentively and truly understand what he was saying.
This was Jason’s most profound realization yet. He attributed the root cause of the Great Filter entirely to issues related to Gene Philosophy.
Intelligent life is genetically predisposed to inherent biological flaws, and therefore, the natural evolution of any society is also fundamentally flawed.
According to this hypothesis, the philosophical laws of "survival" and "reproduction" apply not only to humanity but to the vast majority of civilizations in the cosmos. In truth, they were likely no better than humanity or the Nix.
The fundamental "purpose of life" is hardcoded into genes, forming a Gene Philosophy system that rigidly regulates the actions of both individuals and entire civilizations.
"A net? An invisible net woven from the philosophical system within our own genes?" Lily stared at the empty air, lost in thought. "An invisible net constrains the behavior of every single one of us, and by extension, the behavior of the entire civilization. It dictates the absolute upper and lower limits of a society, ultimately deciding whether it will be wiped out by the Great Filter..."
"An individual can forcibly break free from this net, but a civilization is composed of billions of individuals. It is mathematically impossible for an entire civilization to break free. Individuals can be low-probability anomalies, but a civilization must always obey the law of large numbers!"
Indeed, the vast majority of human behavior could be summarized by the principles of survival and reproduction. However, there was a very small fraction of behaviors that defied this system.
For example, the phenomenon of suicide among humans. Suicide completely violates the biological laws of survival and reproduction, and the vast majority of people would never do it. Yet, some people still commit suicide, engaging in an act that seems biologically meaningless.
Or consider how certain chemical narcotics can make people temporarily abandon the drive to survive and reproduce, dedicating their entire existence to chasing a high.
There were other special cases: Isaac Newton, who remained unmarried and celibate his entire life; ascetic monks seeking enlightenment; eccentric scientists dedicating their lives to abstract theories; soldiers throwing themselves on grenades to save their squad; or heroes sacrificing themselves to destroy an enemy bunker.
These instances of "transcendence" were isolated anomalies within a civilization, not the norm for the vast majority of its population.
"This proves that... self-awareness and high-level intelligence can allow us to temporarily transcend this massive net. It prevents intelligent life from being completely enslaved by our genes like mindless livestock," Lily said earnestly.
"But most of the time, detaching ourselves from this biological web makes us instinctively uncomfortable, so we willingly return to it. After all, survival and reproduction are our most natural states; we can never truly escape them."
"It’s not about forcing everyone to transcend these core laws. We can’t possibly abandon survival and reproduction entirely, otherwise... humanity wouldn’t be humanity anymore," Jason shook his head.
"Instead, it’s about shedding useless, derivative desires and breaking out of our rigid mindsets. Or rather... it would be incredible if we could artificially incorporate something else into this philosophical system—a new biological directive that gives us a different kind of motivation!"
"This is especially critical in the late stages of a civilization. After the establishment of democracy and long-term peace, the will of the comfort-seeking majority dictates the trajectory of the entire civilization. When that happens, it doesn’t matter if a small minority of visionaries transcends the net; they are still forced to obey the law of large numbers dictated by the masses."
"So, in the grand cosmic scheme, democracy seems to be a lethal trap..." Jason rubbed his temples, uttering a rather taboo thought. Of course, this was only something he would ever say to Lily in private.
"Yeah... so maybe you should just go ahead and establish a dictatorship?" Lily smiled. It was hard to tell if she was being serious or just joking.
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