Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 632 The Wallfacer 1 (2)

"I disagree with what Taylor just said!"

He believes that the public ownership of technology will only disrupt the current international political landscape, thereby triggering greater chaos and instability.

Is this chaos and turmoil under the rule of a united government, or under the hegemony of the M Empire?

The man who stood up and confronted Frederick Taylor was named Manuel Rediaz.

Compared to the former, this one undoubtedly left a better impression on Luo Ji.

As a South American, he had brown skin, a robust and muscular build, a loud voice, and a determined gaze. He was clearly the kind of shrewd, decisive, and highly capable leader.

And indeed, this is the reality. Manuel Rediaz is the current president of Venezuela, and the country he leads is a perfect example of Taylor's theory of the rise of small states.

Under his leadership, Venezuela continued the "Bolivarian Revolution" that Hugo Chávez began in 1999, achieving unexpected and tremendous success in both politics and economics. This led to a rapid increase in the country's strength across all sectors, transforming it into a world-renowned "city on a hill." While other South American countries followed suit, Venezuela also became a thorn in the side of a certain major power.

The key point is that under his leadership, this small South American country surprisingly withstood the pressure from a certain Western power. Relying on its own strength, guerrilla tactics, and efficient, low-cost "basic" weapons, it achieved a brilliant victory in the war of invasion, thwarting the enemy's conspiracy. He himself thus became a hero of the 21st century who defeated the strong with the weak.

Frankly, the fact that he is sitting in the council chamber of the coalition government today is quite surprising in itself.

The argument between the two men was extremely dramatic, making the people present more interested in watching the spectacle than in discussing the matter at hand.

Luo Ji, like most people, was in fact unaffected by either escapism or non-escapism.

After all, in his view, by the time the Trisolarans arrived on Earth, he would be too old to move, or even dead.

As for offspring, in today's society, having children is irresponsible; one should just live a carefree life.

In the meeting hall of the coalition government, the discussion about "escapeism" reached a stalemate amidst the arguments.

While the elite class represented by Frederick Taylor wasn't foolish enough to advocate abandoning the lower classes, their views of considering defeat before victory and their idea of ​​preserving the flame of human civilization still garnered the approval of many leaders in Europe and America.

On the other hand, Manuel Rediaz's advocacy of technology sharing and win-win cooperation has also won over many poor and weak countries in the Third World, giving him the moral high ground.

The formation of the two opposing forces made the atmosphere at the entire coalition government conference tense and volatile.

"That's not good?"

Although he was somewhat cynical, seeing this situation, Luo Ji subconsciously asked Shi Qiang, who was standing next to him.

"So, which side are we on?"

Shi Qiang smiled and said, "We're on our own side!"

His voice carried a hint of arrogance, and sure enough, just as the two sides were deadlocked, the representative of China, representing the neutral camp, stood up and eased the tension.

According to the Chinese representative, regardless of the ideology, all must unite under the collective governance of humanity.

In the face of the impending arrival of extraterrestrials, humanity's only way out is to realize that unity is the only way forward. It's okay to have ideological and strategic disagreements; we should seek common ground while reserving differences and coexist peacefully.

Finally, the Chinese representative proposed a compromise solution based on the viewpoints of both sides.

The first issue is the "escapeism" ideology.

There is a saying in our country that goes, "Peace will survive if we seek it through struggle, but it will perish if we seek it through compromise."

Having backup plans is good, but if you start by having a negative mindset of escapism and defeatism when formulating policies and doing things, the only thing you will get in the end is escape and failure!
We have already consulted with professionals on this matter. With the current technology on Earth, it is an extremely dangerous and difficult thing to actually undertake interstellar escape.

Without an unwavering belief in victory, there would be no possibility of a strategic shift.

The Chinese representative stood on the podium, looking at the crowd below, and spoke with great passion.

In the audience, some representatives from other countries disagreed with China's views, while others seemed thoughtful, especially those who were familiar with modern Chinese history and knew of the great achievements of the Chinese government, who nodded frequently.

Shi Qiang was the one who nodded and clapped, while Luo Ji next to him was completely bewildered.

Shi Qiang couldn't help but offer him a few words of advice.

"Think about the Long March, and then think about the Korean War. If it weren't for the belief in victory and the firm faith, the troops would have fallen apart long ago during the defeats and retreats."

"While the idea of ​​quick victory is undesirable, the idea of ​​quick defeat is equally unacceptable."

The Chinese representative on the stage continued speaking:

"We must understand that there is still some time before the arrival of the Trisolarans, and it is not impossible for humanity to achieve a technological leapfrog development in the future."

For the future of human civilization, for our children and grandchildren, we are willing to devote our entire lives to striving for this sliver of possibility!
Therefore, our opinion is that backup plans should only be backup plans; 'escapeism' is absolutely not worth advocating, and this trend must be suppressed and dealt with discreetly first.

After the Chinese representative finished speaking, there was a brief silence in the meeting room, followed by quiet discussions and exchanges. After a while, representatives from other countries began to express their agreement.

Ultimately, the proposal to suppress the "escapeist" ideology was unanimously approved by the conference, and the discussion on "technology sharing" in this topic still adopted the core principle of "tiered sharing" in China.

This principle does not negate technology sharing, nor does it fully endorse it. It adopts a compromise strategy, implementing a tiered and layered approach to technology sharing.

Under the unified planning and coordination of the coalition government, major powers will transfer basic technologies and industries to third-world countries in batches, while increasing assistance to the third world to promote their rapid development, enabling them to integrate into the global system more quickly and give full play to their human resource advantages.

Correspondingly, major powers should also form high-precision technology alliances. For cutting-edge technologies, such as space elevators, nuclear fusion, and space travel, major powers should choose different directions to lead research and development, conduct technical communication and exchanges with each other, be supervised by a joint government, report progress on time, and allow researchers from smaller countries to participate in a proportional manner, so as to gradually achieve technology transfer and penetration.

In addition to the coalition government, a Planetary Defense Technology Committee (PDTC) needs to be established, composed of the five permanent members of the Security Council plus rotating smaller countries (three seats per term). The committee would vote on technology sharing issues and regulate military technology. While retaining their sovereignty over military technology, all countries would need to sign the Anti-Technology Weapons Proliferation Treaty, which prohibits the use of shared technology for military confrontation.

The topic of "escapeism" persisted for quite some time, and the content of the meeting was certainly not limited to what the Chinese side had said.

For example, all participating countries need to sign the Declaration on the Shared Future of Mankind, promising that "technology will not be used for internal oppression, and that those who flee will not abandon their responsibilities to civilization."

Furthermore, the South American equatorial base has been officially selected as the site for the space elevator project, aiming to drive economic development in South America through the construction of this mega-project.

These were all basically included in the discussions at this meeting.

However, the film only briefly touches on these meetings and discussions.

Even so, the content still greatly shocked all viewers.

We've all seen plenty of science fiction movies, but seeing such realistic political maneuvering in a science fiction film is a first for us.

To be honest, the UN General Assembly segment at the beginning of "The Wallfacer" is far more sophisticated than lowbrow sci-fi blockbusters like "Star Wars" and "Avatar."

In the eyes of these Japanese viewers, it is more like "Legend of the Galactic Heroes," "House of Cards," or "Yes, Prime Minister," but it is more realistic, as the plot is completely based on reality.

The key point is that, for a film, this level of political and ideological realism is already quite daring.

In the past, whether Chinese or Hollywood films, politics had been largely turned into entertainment. Apart from some auteur-driven art films, few commercial films touched on such sensitive issues. This did bring a different experience to Japanese audiences, especially male audiences.

Don't assume that only Chinese men enjoy political discussions; in fact, men and even women abroad also enjoy engaging in lively and insightful discussions about international political situations online.

"The Wallfacer" undoubtedly hit the nail on the head.

However, this is, after all, a commercial film, and related content will not overshadow the main plot. Soon, the main storyline continues to move forward.

After discussing the issue of "escape"ism, the UN meeting moved on to the next topic: the "Wallfacer" program.

“Before we get to the formal agenda, I think it’s necessary to do a brief review of the ‘Wallfacer’ program.”

On the podium, the Secretary-General of the coalition government, Say, stood up again and delivered a speech.

Through her explanation, everyone gained some understanding of the so-called "Wallfacer" program.

The so-called Wallfacer Project was an initial response plan proposed by the former permanent members of the UN Security Council in response to the Trisolaran civilization's high-tech weapon, the Sophon, after emergency consultations during the Trisolaran crisis.

As previously introduced in the movie "The Three-Body Problem," in order to curb the technological development of human civilization on Earth, especially the development of basic physics theories, the Trisolaran civilization expanded four protons into supercomputers called "Sophons" and sent two of them to Earth.

These superintelligent computers, only the size of the most basic particles in the universe, can not only communicate with the Trisolaran leaders, who are light-years away, but also interfere with human particle collision experiments and monitor humanity worldwide.

Furthermore, there is growing evidence that the Trisolarans are sending more sophons to Earth.

Therefore, to the Trisolaran civilization, humanity's enemy, Earth is now a completely transparent world, and humanity has no secrets left.

"The mainstream defense plans that the international community has launched so far, whether in their overall strategic planning or in the smallest technical and military details, are completely exposed to the enemy's view."

The eyes of the Trisolaran civilization are everywhere—in every meeting room, in every filing cabinet, in every computer hard drive and memory. Even the meeting room we are in now could be under the surveillance of the Sophons.

Secretary General Sai's words caused a stir in the meeting room, with many people glancing around warily, as if trying to glean something from the empty air.

"For the time being, every plan, every scheme, every deployment of ours... no matter how big or small, when they appear on Earth, they will simultaneously be displayed at the Trisolaran command headquarters, light-years away. Any form of communication within humanity will lead to leaks."

“That’s not right,” Luo Ji, who was in the audience, subconsciously asked Shi Qiang beside him, “I remember there’s a dream space, right? The Trisolarans’ sophons shouldn’t be able to know what’s happening in the dream, right? Can’t we hold meetings in there?”

Shi Qiang did not answer him, because Secretary-General Sai soon brought up the topic.

"Fortunately, humanity still has secrets, and that secret is the inner world of each of us."

Sophons can understand human language and read printed text and information stored on various computer media at ultra-high speeds, but they cannot read human thoughts.

Therefore, as long as they do not communicate with the outside world, everyone remains an eternal secret to Sophon, which is the basis of the Wallfacer Project.

We also need to thank the Chinese representatives.

The dreamlike virtual space they provide creates a safe haven for us, built upon the collective unconscious of humanity, and erects a firewall.

Furthermore, according to reliable intelligence obtained by the Chinese side from Mike Evans, the head of the ETO organization, the Trisolarans communicate directly using transparent thinking, which makes them unskilled in scheming, disguise, and deception.

Of course, these alone are not enough, so the 'Wallfacer Project' came into being.

After multiple rounds of discussions by the Earth United Government, everyone has reached a consensus to re-establish a new intelligence information security mechanism.

In this mechanism, the third level of confidentiality is the conventional confidentiality measures in the real world, which mainly consist of physical isolation, encrypted communication, or partially closed meetings.

The second level of security is based on the virtual dream space system provided by Huaxia. In the future, meetings involving sensitive decisions will be held in the dream space, but access will be limited to authorized personnel of the joint government through specific means.

Above these two levels of secrecy, there will be a first-level secrecy plan, which will be a completely opaque secret to the Trisolarans.

(End of this chapter)