Bringing the Railway to Daming

Hearing Zhu Xiong Ying's words, Liu Kuan couldn't help but smile and said, "If things really develop as His Highness the Crown Prince said, that would be a good thing. But rather than saying that science fiction master is overly worried about the development of human technology, it would be more accurate to say that he is well aware of the dark side of human nature, such as selfishness."

"Therefore, once a technology like knowledge transmission emerges, even if a country strives to popularize it among the entire population, the technology itself will be categorized."

"Most likely, what is being popularized among the general public is just the most basic 'knowledge indoctrination,' while the real elite class and the wealthy can obtain a higher level of 'knowledge indoctrination' through power and wealth."

"If this trend continues, sooner or later, there is a high probability that humanity will gradually split apart due to the widening gap in wealth and wisdom."

"It's like how, since the Han Dynasty, every dynasty has known that land annexation would lead to widespread suffering, and eventually the poor would have nowhere to stand, leaving them no choice but to rise up in rebellion, overthrow the ruling dynasty, and redistribute the land through war."

"The court at that time would most likely have chosen to suppress or even crack down on local tyrants and landlords. However, whether they were members of the royal family, nobles, or officials, they would almost all become new large landlords for the sake of their own families."

"The influence of selfish desires on people is not something you can control, especially since the negative effects of some things may not become apparent for decades or even centuries, so people at the time may not even consider it."

After hearing Liu Kuan's words, everyone fell into deep thought.

Tang He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, a hint of unease creeping into his eyes.

After the Ming Dynasty introduced a series of policies allowing princes to establish fiefdoms overseas, the Ming imperial family's land ownership was actually much less than in history.

Even for those princes who were unwilling to establish fiefdoms overseas, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer bestowed upon them the lavish land rewards he had given the previous princes; he only granted them 1,000 mu of land. Even their prescribed stipends were reduced and instead paid from a special treasury dedicated to the imperial clan.

Of course, the most important thing is the policy that after three generations, the titles of nobility began to be passed down in succession, and that the sons of the princes' branches were no longer granted titles or supported by the court.

Moreover, the Zhu Ming imperial family has only reached the fourth generation, which means that the Zhu family is not very large. The total amount of land granted to the princes and the total amount of salaries paid are not much and are not particularly noticeable.

As for officials, under the strict laws of the Ming Dynasty and the repeated rectification of officialdom, it is still far from the formation of official families and bureaucratic groups like in later generations. Many officials come from humble backgrounds or even commoner families, and are not from wealthy landowner families.

In contrast, their noble group, with its larger total number of members and more land holdings over the years, along with numerous relatives and friends who have amassed wealth through their power, now appears far more prominent than the royal family and officials.

Therefore, Tang He worried that Zhu Yuanzhang might suppress the nobles as a result.

Unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang showed no particular expression at this moment, and he had no idea whether Zhu Yuanzhang had this intention.

But he had already made a secret decision: when he returned, he would warn his children and grandchildren to refrain from acquiring land—although there was still a lot of land in the Ming Dynasty and it wasn't very valuable, it wouldn't be good if it attracted the attention of the Zhu family.

As for investing and doing business, it should be done more discreetly, not openly, and certainly not involved in illegal businesses, so as not to give the Zhu family an opportunity to suppress you.

Of course, now that he is very old, whether his children and grandchildren will listen to him is another matter entirely.

He could only do his best and leave the rest to fate.

While Tang He was contemplating the future of his family, Xu Da, who was not much of a talker, also raised a question.

"Lord Jiangning, the video just now said that the final producers of that planet have replaced nannies, servants, drivers, and even women with robots, so that the poor no longer need to serve or work for them."

"But there is one thing I don't understand—after the final producer has driven away all the poor, or rather, when the poor are so poor that they have little money, to whom should he sell his grain and goods?"

"Furthermore, even if he doesn't need anyone to work or serve him, doesn't he still need to communicate with other people?"

Liu Kuan was slightly surprised, because Xu Da's two questions were clearly more complex and profound than those raised by the others before.

He then said, "Actually, I had also thought about the first question raised by the Duke of Wei. It has been discussed on the internet in later generations, and two possibilities have been proposed."

"Firstly, once the end consumer's wisdom and mastery of technology reach a certain level, he no longer needs to acquire more wealth through selling; he can directly create the many necessities he needs through technology."

"To be specific, a normal rich person cannot produce all products, so he needs to make money by selling all his products, thereby expanding his wealth and purchasing what he needs."

"But the Producer can produce everything he needs in his own factory, so why would he need to earn money to buy and sell what he owns? Besides, at that time, the 20 billion poor people on the brother planet could only eke out a living in their own cycle system and no longer had any production capacity."

"Secondly, the novel and video subtly suggest that this ultimate producer wanted to expand his wealth even faster, which is why he sent 20 billion poor people of his own kind to Earth to take over the planet."

"Although the video says that the ultimate producers are sending these 20 billion poor people from the brother planet to Earth for free, there will most likely be some other conditions attached. Besides, after these 20 billion poor people take over Earth, wouldn't the ultimate producers just have an extra planet's market?"

"He could easily use his superior intelligence and technology to dump his superior products on Earth and continue to make money off his newly wealthy people."

“When these people of his kind become poor again, and their numbers increase from 20 billion to 40 billion or even more, he can simply repeat the same trick and send them to another habitable planet to create more wealth for him.”

"If this cycle continues, the wealth of the ultimate producer will continue to increase rapidly, and the wisdom and technology he possesses will also continue to improve. Perhaps one day, he will become the ultimate producer of a universe." Liu Kuan paused here.

The mere thought of that scene had already left everyone utterly shocked and terrified.

After regaining his senses, Zhu Biao couldn't help but say, "If what my brother-in-law said is true, then the emergence of the endowment is too terrifying, especially in a world with highly advanced technology."

Even Old Zhu couldn't help but nod and say, "This kind of existence is indeed terrifying—once it appears, its wealth, wisdom, and other aspects will grow like a snowball."

"Unless it encounters another civilization with superior intelligence and technology, or another civilization that produces a similar end-product, it will probably never perish."

Zhu Xiong Ying, however, offered a different perspective: "Grandfather and Father, are you overthinking this? Don't those with the highest property rights have descendants? If they do have descendants, are they considered poor or like them, those with the highest property rights?"

"If he has many descendants, and each of them receives a share of his property, would he still be considered a permanent inheritor? Furthermore, could his descendants be born with the same intelligence as him?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and shook his head. "Xiong Ying, you are still too young and naive. Liu Kuan, what do you think of what Xiong Ying said?"

Liu Kuan thought for a moment and said, "Actually, what His Highness the Crown Prince said touches on the second question raised by the Duke of Wei earlier, namely, do those who have completed their term of inheritance not need to communicate with others?"

"As mentioned in the previous video, when intelligence reaches a certain level, it creates communication barriers with ordinary people. To give an extreme example, it's like how humans can only have simple communication with monkeys, cats, and dogs, but cannot communicate at all with insects with lower intelligence, such as ants."

"In addition, there is something else that was not mentioned in the video, but it is very likely that it exists at the same time. That is, while using 'knowledge infusion' technology to improve intelligence, it may also use other technologies to change their bodies, just like the gene editing technology I mentioned before."

"Therefore, the true final prolific person may not only be unable to communicate with ordinary people due to their extremely high intelligence; their physical structure may also be completely different from that of ordinary people, perhaps even more so than the difference between humans and dogs, to the point that they are unable to reproduce with ordinary women."

"Furthermore, as his physical condition improves, his lifespan may also continue to increase. Ordinary people can live to be sixty or seventy years old, so they need to start thinking about things like marriage and having children as early as possible."

“A prolific progenitor may live for ten thousand, one hundred thousand, or even longer, so he may not consider reproduction before he dies. Therefore, prolific progenitors are mostly childless.”

"Even if he had children, he was unlikely to divide his property among them, thus affecting his status as the ultimate heir—again, for the same reason, he lived a long life and there was no need to divide his property."

Zhu Xiong Ying opened her mouth as if to say: "Then is he still human?"
But he didn't say those words aloud, because he immediately thought of what Liu Kuan had said before: that the final progenitors had transcended ordinary people and even had reproductive isolation, meaning they were no longer considered original humans.

So why should the final producter be required to have all the desires, joys, sorrows and emotions that are inherent in human beings?

This also answers Xu Da's second question: when pursuits and emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness are different, even if the final productr wants to communicate and empathize with ordinary people, they can no longer do so.

Just as ants cannot comprehend human emotions, ordinary people probably cannot understand the emotions possessed by endowments.

At this moment, Zhu Zi, the Prince of Tan, who had a relatively low profile among the princes, couldn't help but say, "According to what you're saying, Teacher, this final producer is even more extraordinary than the immortals who ascend to immortality in fantasy novels."

Liu Kuan smiled upon hearing this, "That's not true. Immortals still have the character for 'person' in their name, while those who have completed their lives have already transcended the realm of humanity and cannot be considered human anymore."

The crowd fell silent for a moment, deeply moved.

After a while, Zhu Yuanzhang came to his senses and realized that they had been discussing this issue for too long.

Although there are many things in it that are worth his consideration, that can serve as a warning to the Ming Dynasty, and even provide a reference for the long-term development of the Ming Dynasty, they are ultimately too far removed from the current level of development of the Ming Dynasty—after all, it would take the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years to develop to the level of technology of later generations.

In governing a country, it is impossible not to consider long-term issues, but if one considers too long-term issues, one will make the mistake of worrying unnecessarily.

Seeing that some people still wanted to ask questions, he waved his hand and said, "Alright, you can discuss the various issues involved in 'Supporting Humanity' after you leave. Liu Kuan, play the second video."

"Yes."

Liu Kuan responded and picked up the tablet to bring up the second video he had prepared.

He also felt that discussing too many science fiction issues was not very meaningful, because if science fiction is too far removed from reality, it is no different from fantasy.

After Liu Kuan put the tablet back in place, everyone saw the title of the second video through the video cover.

What race do Europeans perceive the Chinese to be?

There is also a text subtitle above:
Assuming Europeans have never seen Chinese people before, what kind of people would they think we were when they first saw us? (End of Chapter)