Super Copy of Great Power Technology

"That's impossible. We've been classmates for years, and I know Xiaoshuang quite well. She's not the kind of woman who's promiscuous. Besides, there's the virtual world now, right? Even if the two of us are separated by oceans or even stars, as long as we wear brain-computer interfaces and enter the virtual world, we can go shopping together, play games together, and enjoy life together. With the current level of realism in the virtual world, there's not much difference between being together in the virtual world and living together in reality."

The construction of virtual worlds and the implementation of brain-computer interface technology involve massive information exchange, requiring extremely high transmission bandwidth, even exceeding the capacity of existing fiber optic internet. To solve the communication problem, Ruida Technology integrates a miniature neutrino communication module into each brain-computer interface it sells. This, combined with dozens of neutrino communication satellites orbiting in near-Earth orbit, enables global low-latency, high-bandwidth, and full-coverage communication.

Neutrino communication travels at near the speed of light, meaning that within Earth's orbit, the latency would be no more than 200 milliseconds. Such low latency is imperceptible to the average person playing virtual games. However, this is only true within Earth and its surrounding airspace. Expanding the range to the inner solar system, the latency increases to minutes or even hours, making real-time communication difficult, let alone logging into a virtual world – the latency would be unbearable.

Fortunately, the Ruida Group possesses a powerful weapon: quantum communication technology developed based on the theory of quantum entanglement. Communication devices designed using this technology can transmit information in real time, regardless of distance or environment, even across hundreds of light-years. The communication bandwidth is also large enough to easily access virtual worlds. To meet the communication needs of distant interstellar space, quantum communication devices are now installed on interstellar ships produced by Ruida Aerospace and national space agencies. With these devices, astronauts exploring the edge of the solar system or even traversing interstellar channels to reach the Proxima Centauri system can maintain real-time communication with headquarters on Earth, surf the internet, conduct live broadcasts, and even use brain-computer interfaces to access virtual worlds.

In the past, before satellite communication was widely developed, ocean-going seafarers typically worked six months on and rested for six months. This wasn't because they didn't want to work longer hours to earn more money, nor because they were physically unable to adapt to long hours at sea; rather, it was due to psychological issues. Working on a ship was incredibly lonely, with cramped living spaces and a very limited social circle. With only a dozen or twenty people on board, working in three shifts, they only saw a few people each day, making it difficult to even find someone to chat with. Coupled with a lack of entertainment facilities, no cell phone signal, and minimal interaction, prolonged working hours easily led to psychological problems. To prevent seafarers from developing psychological issues from working long hours at sea, the practice of working six months on and resting for six months was adopted by ocean-going companies and became a customary practice.

The interior space of a spacecraft is also confined, the journey is long, and the number of astronauts on board is limited. Loneliness is a constant concern, and the risk of developing mental health issues remains significant. This is why, in the past, astronaut selection criteria included not only professional skills and physical fitness but also strong mental fortitude. Now, with quantum communication technology, these astronauts are essentially liberated from information isolation. During long interstellar journeys, they can talk to their families, watch videos online, and even log into virtual worlds to shop, eat, and play games with family and friends, thus alleviating loneliness, releasing psychological stress, and significantly reducing the likelihood of developing mental illness.

Technology changes lives, and innovation leads the future. The development of communication technology is constantly bridging the distance between people and broadening their horizons. In the era of fiber optic internet, the entire Earth was called a global village. Now, in the era of quantum communication and brain-computer interfaces, distant interstellar space is no longer an obstacle; the era of solar villages, galactic villages, and even cosmic villages is on the horizon. The ancient Chinese aspiration of "A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near" has, in a sense, become a reality.

For the next few months, nothing particularly noteworthy happened. Qiao Ruida continued his routine work and life, and the Ruida Group continued its rapid development, especially in the virtual world and aerospace sectors. After several months of development, the virtual world achieved nationwide coverage in China, with over one billion registered users. It could be said that, except for children under sixteen and some elderly people, almost all Chinese people had become users of brain-computer interfaces. The promotion and sales of the virtual world overseas were equally unstoppable, with registered users exceeding 1.5 billion and active users surpassing 500 million, truly developing into humanity's second home.

The outer space was equally bustling. Two enormous space docks were operating at full capacity, working day and night to produce and roll out spacecraft of varying sizes and shapes for test voyages. Lunar mines had expanded to over a hundred, and the minerals mined had broadened from a single source of helium-3 to dozens of other types, including titanium, iron, rare earth elements, water ice, and gemstones. Spaceships transporting various ores shuttled between Earth and the Moon daily. Besides the lunar direction, dozens to hundreds of fully loaded spacecraft arrived near Earth daily from other directions, docking at spaceports to unload their cargo or directly entering the atmosphere to return to Earth. These ships belonged to various space mining companies, whose targets were asteroids in the asteroid belt—farther away than the Moon and with higher mining costs. However, the asteroid belt contained numerous asteroids of varying sizes and compositions. With proper exploration and a bit of luck, some high-value targets could always be found. If you're even luckier, you could find asteroids rich in gold, platinum, various precious metals, or some kind of precious gemstone, drag them back to Earth, and become rich overnight, achieving financial freedom.

Since their completion, the two space docks have become the largest man-made structures in space. Due to their immense size and relatively close proximity to the ground, they are easily visible to the naked eye by people in the Asia-Pacific region, day or night, provided the weather is clear and visibility isn't too poor; they have practically become celestial landmarks. However, in the past two months, a third large man-made structure has appeared in the sky, and it is rapidly growing, even gradually surpassing the size of the space docks. (End of Chapter)