The stars, but they become the gray wind

"Wouldn't it be great to use the surplus productivity created by artificial intelligence and robots that can achieve exponential self-replication and growth to provide mankind with a better material life? What's the use of relying solely on the young labor force provided by population growth? Can't we do something more advanced?" The red-haired cat girl analyzed the information that represented the emergence of countless social contradictions on the earth in this universe at this stage, and shook her head helplessly. It seemed that the things that humans on this earth needed to improve and change were not just a few things, but a mountain of problems.

"Forget it. The development patterns and structures of intelligent life and civilizations that evolved naturally without any interference are just so frustrating. Let's just wait and see how long humanity can, with a certain degree of interference from us, sort out the pile of shit that has accumulated over thousands of years in its civilization."

.........

Note: The Dyson Cloud covers the entire area between the Earth and Mars orbits, which is approximately L*10^-4.

Even if each of you could manage a huge factory cluster equivalent to the current production capacity of the earth, it would still require 10^11 people.

If everyone is only responsible for a large-scale national industrial system, you will need tens of trillions of engineers. If you want to build stellar celestial projects such as the Dyson Cloud, you can only either use completely artificial intelligence and unmanned construction plans, or accept the scenario of a huge number of carbon-based monkeys like quicksand flooding the entire solar system. If a Type II civilization still needs carbon-based monkeys like humans to participate in the production and construction of society, then you are simply a shame among interstellar civilizations.

I think the solution of relying on a completely unmanned von Neumann self-replicator is more reliable. Anyway, the Dyson cloud will take hundreds or thousands of years to repair.

Now you have a von Neumann self-replicating machine that can replicate itself. How many times can it replicate itself within a certain period of time? Under current technology, the OMPT of a 25-ton 8mm x 0.5mm steel pipe production machine or steel plate press is only 2 days.

More complex ones like nuts will not take more than a month, and even more complex ones like chip production only account for a very small mass fraction of the machine. The environment on the asteroid is worse than the surface of the earth, but it is estimated that it will not last much longer, because building a Dyson cloud means at least K1, so the initial output is relatively ample, possibly reaching the TW level. If you directly plug this number into a simple exponent, then you will most likely get an extremely outrageous proliferation rate and conclusion, that is, this thing can swallow the asteroid belt in two years.

Of course, since the reality cannot be so simple, we can assume that some influencing factors are introduced to slow down its replication and proliferation progress, such as the time it takes to move the new factory to another target asteroid, the time required to debug the equipment, and the time spent on repairing faults.

If it is slowed down to a very slow speed, for example, replicating itself once every five years, it can still grow from 1TW to a Dyson cloud of one thousandth of its size in more than 150 years. If you take a larger value, such as a self-replication cycle of one year... then the stellar ecliptic plane will be blocked by the Dyson cloud that covers the sky for more than 30 years.

Because in the final analysis, the von Neumann self-replicator is 1+1=2, then 2+2=4, 4+4=8. This model will grow exponentially indefinitely, of course, provided that there are no obvious inhibitory factors in the asteroid belt to prevent its exponential growth.

Chapter 195 The launch of the Dyson Cloud Project of the Theia Civilization

Despite numerous difficulties, the proposal to build a mass accelerator on the moon was eventually approved. Although the project only received half of the originally expected investment, it was enough for the lunar mass accelerator project to complete the feasibility study and preliminary design as well as the first phase of construction.

The project was eventually used as one of the supporting infrastructures for mining the Goldilocks star on Mars. Since human materials technology is still immature, there are still insurmountable technical barriers to building a skyhook on Mars or Earth. Therefore, countries around the world do not actually have high expectations for this mass accelerator, but are more concerned about the new generation of Unity spacecraft used for Earth-Mars orbital transfer and transportation. However, this allows the expert team and technicians involved in the mass accelerator construction plan to have considerable freedom to use their imagination and design solutions to solve a series of technical and engineering problems.

…………

Margo is well aware that she is an engineer, not a philosopher or sociologist. She has only a little exposure to philosophy and sociology. She also believes that she is not qualified to criticize and evaluate the society of an alien civilization whose civilization history is at least ten times that of human beings, or even the human society.

However, one thing that may be very accurate about humans is that human society is still at a very low stage at this stage. Due to the inferior nature brought about by human beings as biological instincts, they are simply unable to unite in order to compete for interests and avoid communication problems. To solve this problem, perhaps humans must achieve unprecedented evolution at the biological genetic and moral levels, and use technological means to eliminate and improve their natural defects.

The alien civilization society in front of him proved to him that the higher-level interstellar civilization society may have completely gotten rid of the low-level development model of survival of the fittest and competition for interests of Earth life, and has become a brand-new social form that has never been heard of in human history.

But Margo still had a small doubt, which was a message she got from the glass eel with whom she had an in-depth discussion. That is, even if the intelligent life evolved naturally, and tried every means to use artificial technology to transform itself at the acquired level, its evolution speed and the enhancement of the intelligent life itself would be far behind AS1.

The insane iteration speed of superintelligence has been personally verified by the glass eels themselves. During the construction of their stellar celestial project, in order to cope with the huge amount of computing required for the construction and operation of the stellar celestial project, super artificial intelligence began to be used on an unprecedented scale. Although the glass eels knew that super artificial intelligence would iterate at an extremely fast speed, as the scale and construction progress of the stellar celestial project increased, the ASI super artificial intelligence of the glass eel civilization, which had an explosive increase in energy and basic computing power, still exceeded the expectations of all glass eels.

At the same time, mature and stable transformation technology began to be widely promoted. Glass eels completely merged with the nanomachines in their bodies and became a pure mechanical synthetic life composed of nanomachine aggregates. However, the glass eels soon discovered a small problem. Admittedly, the mature transformation technology brought a leap forward for each glass eel individual. They became superhuman beings in their own eyes, with endless lifespans, cognitive and learning abilities thousands and tens of thousands of times beyond their original levels, and almost immortal bodies that could adapt to any extreme environment. At the beginning, they optimistically believed that as long as they completed the large-scale transformation of the entire civilization, they would be able to compete with those being transformed in terms of ability and evolution. The super artificial intelligence designed by yourself for building stellar celestial engineering is making progress together, or at least can keep up with the other party's iterative evolution. But soon, the glass eels found that the reality was a bit different from your expectations. Even if the whole civilization has completed the transformation and ascension, the gap between the glass eels and the super artificial intelligence you created is still as big as a chasm. The iterative evolution of the other party is so fast that you can't even see the taillights of the car. Even if the glass eels after completing the transformation and ascension already possess wisdom, thinking ability, and information processing capabilities that are more powerful than some advanced agi general artificial intelligence, it is still a drop in the bucket in front of the super intelligence created by yourself with the huge computing power provided by stellar celestial engineering.

Regarding this issue, the glass eels finally accepted the fact with a relatively optimistic attitude. As naturally evolved material life, they have an insurmountable upper limit gap with super artificial intelligence, a form of intelligence that relies entirely on information. If the glass eels must pursue the super artificial intelligence with a higher upper limit than themselves at all costs, then it is possible that the glass eel civilization will become a civilization similar to the Gestalt hive consciousness in a very short time and completely lose its original humanity. This is obviously extremely detrimental to the continuation and development of the glass eel civilization. In addition, the glass eels themselves have no intention of doing so. The super artificial intelligence that has taken over the entire glass eel society at that time has no malicious intent. Therefore, the glass eels accepted this civilization structure with extremely rich material and spiritual life provided by ASI.

At that time, under the premise of this immense material and spiritual fulfillment, glass eel society also saw the rise of a trend known as nihilistic optimism. This philosophy advocated that perhaps the universe itself had no meaning, and that maintaining optimism and pursuing self-realization was the true meaning of life. During this period, after decades of effort, the [Liyangxing Network] stellar-class astronomical project, far surpassing the pinnacle of glass eel civilization in the old days, was finally completed. The neutron star stellar-class astronomical project provided a nearly limitless energy supply, encompassing the entire solar system, with a length of dozens of astronomical units sufficient to unify the four fundamental forces. A tail-wave particle accelerator was subsequently built. With this array of facilities and technologies in place, the glass eels truly possessed the ability to travel between stars. Relying on the stellar-class astronomical project, a hybrid propulsion system of laser sails and antimatter engines accelerated interstellar spacecraft to speeds exceeding 0.85 times the speed of light. The von Neumann self-replicators carried on board would automatically complete infrastructure construction in the newly arrived star system, dismantling the local material to construct new stellar-class astronomical projects.

"This is the history before our civilization." The glass eel stopped talking here. During the communication between the two sides, the glass eel deliberately avoided talking about "that adult" and the Sky Star civilization. After all, for the current Earth civilization, the existence of the Sky Star civilization itself is too beyond common sense. It is better to wait until the right time to talk about their information.

"This... is indeed quite... shocking."

Margo found that he didn't know how to evaluate the other party's history of civilization development and technological level that was beyond human imagination. The history the other party talked about was obviously the process of their development from Type I civilization to Type II civilization. Judging from the technological level behind this spaceship that Margo believed, today's glass eels could definitely not be just a Kardashev Type II civilization. Judging from the existing information about this spaceship, they most likely possessed some kind of superluminal movement technology, which was obviously not on the same level as the sub-light spaceship described by the other party, which was driven by antimatter and laser sails and could reach 0.85c. Therefore, Margo judged that the other party must be describing a period of history of his own civilization a long time ago, and their technological level must have been greatly improved compared to that time, so that they could come to the solar system. At least in the other party's description, Margo did not hear words such as warp speed or wormhole related to superluminal technology or theory.

As for the ship he was on, Margo did not find that it had any nozzles or other structures with similar functions like the working fluid engines that humans conventionally understand, which gain propulsion by ejecting working fluid backwards. At least in Margo's understanding, in the current human physics and engineering system, there is no working fluid engine that can accelerate a spacecraft to more than half the speed of light in just 1.5 seconds.

To a professional engineer like Margo, the propulsion method of this spacecraft was a mystery. Margo now felt as if he had stumbled upon that stone tablet in 2001: A Space Odyssey, where no matter how humans measured it, the exact 1:4:9 ratio was a naked mockery of humanity's presumptuousness.

It is true that Margo is an engineer, but he has been living on this spaceship for some time. The other party has provided him with an extremely comfortable living environment. The living area he is in is obviously specially prepared for humans, with all kinds of facilities. There are even a lot of various potted plants in his room. Of course, the plants inside are all from the earth. The glass eel claims that this is to ensure the physical and mental health of the residents.

Although Magao is an engineer and a practical technical talent in fields such as aerospace orbital mechanics, it cannot be said that he has never dabbled in fields such as quantum mechanics, superstring theory, and high-energy particle physics. It can only be said that he knows nothing about them. When Magao was in college and joined the space agency, these scientific fields had not developed at all, and were just beginning, completely at the stage of "blind men groping in the dark".

The propulsion method of this spacecraft and the various equipment and technologies that Margo saw in it obviously used basic theories beyond the current human cognitive system of physics. For these things, such as the molecular printer that Margo used almost every day, its specific technical principles and manufacturing methods were a complete black box to Margo himself. Every time he used it, Margo had the illusion that he was using a replicator on the set of Star Trek.

——Liulinxishanbaba

In the Tiandajiangjun six star systems, a continuous cluster of automated factories and supercomputer server arrays the size of several cities are running on this gas giant satellite with a diameter of more than 4000 kilometers. The von Neumann self-replicator controlled by the general strong artificial intelligence for the management of the Theia civilization society has entered its second self-replication cycle. It is constantly mining all the useful resources on the planet, and smelting, processing, and manufacturing them into more mining machinery, automated production lines, high-precision industrial machine tools, large transport vehicles, and so on.

With the help of abundant energy provided by several large deuterium-deuterium fusion reaction power plants, the general strong artificial intelligence for the management of Theia society has completed a replication of all its own industrial equipment and facilities, and built a larger-scale server array cluster to improve computing power. The first replication cycle of 1+1=2 has been completed. On the massive satellite of this gas giant planet, the von Neumann self-replicator of the Theia civilization is about to enter the second self-replication cycle of 2+2=4.

In the equatorial region, two mass accelerators have been completed. The completed and operational mass accelerators have begun to periodically launch solar sails and photovoltaic films into orbit. The planetary orbital solar power station, which is still in the early stage of the Dyson cloud, has begun to collect the endless heat and light energy emitted by the central stars of the galaxy almost every minute after its deployment in space, and convert it into electrical energy, which is transmitted to the ground in the form of lasers, accelerating the energy storage and self-replication efficiency of the von Neumann self-replicator on the surface.

The Theia civilization's current technological level was incapable of condensing its entire energy and industrial system into a single-atom or even quark-sized von Neumann self-replicator like those of the Glass Eels or Sky Stars. Therefore, their von Neumann self-replicators could only utilize this bulky and cumbersome operating structure. The total weight of the first self-replicating unit alone, encompassing a series of industrial mother machines, exceeded hundreds of millions of tons, requiring the transportation of an entire fleet of torch ships. Although this early von Neumann self-replicator industrial system seemed rather crude to the Sky Stars and the Glass Eels, it already meant that all necessary production and management activities of the entire civilization could be independent of the maintenance of unstable natural intelligent life forms. With this premise, the civilization would have the foundation for constructing planetary-scale or even stellar-scale celestial projects. Of course, this was only the foundation. For stellar-scale celestial projects, the planning and coordination capabilities of strong or super artificial intelligence were also extremely critical. If something went wrong during this process, it was very likely to lead to failure.

The Sky Star and Glass Eel civilizations have very high standards for defining super intelligence. Only artificial intelligence with output power and energy consumption equivalent to the level of an entire planet can be called an ASI super artificial intelligence that meets the standards. According to the standards of both parties, the current artificial intelligence of the Theia civilization can only be regarded as an AGI general strong artificial intelligence with a relatively high level of computing power.

Before Zao Chiqi's spacecraft left, it left a von Neumann self-replicator for building a star gate on an asteroid in the Kuiper belt at the edge of the Tiandajiangjun 6a star system. Just like a replica of the actions of Kalisi and others in the solar system, the von Neumann self-replicator in covert action mode hollowed out the interior of the asteroid without the Theia civilization noticing or knowing it. Before leaving, Zao Chiqi set a not-so-long countdown. After the countdown, the hollowed-out asteroid will automatically move to the vicinity of the gas giant planet on the periphery of Tiandajiangjun 6a and complete the construction of the star gate, providing the Theia civilization with an opportunity to walk on two legs at the same time - that is, to perfect and build stellar-level celestial projects in its own galaxy while exploring and developing other star systems.

For most civilizations in the two universes, it is quite difficult to conduct interstellar navigation before completing stellar-level celestial engineering. Without the sufficient energy and materials provided by stellar-level celestial engineering, it is impossible to mass-produce antimatter fuel sufficient for spacecraft to conduct long-distance interstellar navigation. Even if the fusion torch ship reaches the theoretical performance limit, it can only maintain the limitation of low sub-light speed navigation below 0.2c, making interstellar navigation extremely difficult and unrealistic relying solely on fusion torch ships.

Only by relying on stellar-level astronomical engineering to possess the ability to mass-produce antimatter and the ultra-long-distance laser sail propulsion provided by the Dyson cloud laser, can the spacecraft break through the theoretical limit of physics and reach the high sub-light speed stage of more than 0.5c, and the entire civilization can grasp the relatively safe and efficient interstellar navigation. According to the calculations of the glass eel and sky star civilization during this period, through antimatter propulsion, the spacecraft can reach more than 0.7 times the speed of light, and as an auxiliary of the antimatter engine, the laser sail can even further accelerate the spacecraft to more than 0.9 times the speed of light as long as the acceleration distance is sufficient. Before delivering the big gift package of inertia-free engine and superluminal technology, the interstellar navigation envisioned and planned by the glass eels was to rely on the Dyson cloud lasers in various stellar celestial projects to provide power for the interstellar hybrid drive of antimatter and laser sails, accelerating the spacecraft to more than 0.9 times the speed of light, and sailing between different star systems. If there is a Dyson cloud laser at the destination, then the Dyson cloud laser at the destination will be used to slow down to save fuel. If the target star system has not been developed or lacks stellar-level celestial projects that can produce Dyson cloud lasers, then the spacecraft will need to carry more antimatter fuel to slow down when approaching the target star system.

This project is still in progress even after obtaining the inertia-free engine and superluminal gift package delivered by Sky Star. In addition to providing deceleration power for interstellar spacecraft, the Dyson Cloud Laser is also a multifunctional energy and industrial production facility. It can even be used directly as a cheap weapon when necessary. Even the Dyson Cloud Laser with an energy output of only about 1% of the star in the lowest power mode is enough to burn an entire Earth-sized terrestrial planet into glass or directly destroy the entire planet in an instant. For any Type II civilization with a stellar-level output power, this is an extremely cheap and cost-effective means of star destruction. It only takes a few seconds of output from the entire Dyson Cloud Laser to easily destroy a planet. This cheap means of star destruction is not only for the Glass Eel and Sky Star before obtaining superluminal technology. During the millions of years that the Black Fog controlled the Large Magellanic Cluster, almost all quasi-Type I or Type I civilizations in the Large Magellanic Cluster were completely wiped out by one or more Dyson Cloud lasers. The moment they realized they were under attack, destruction was upon them.

…………

In the Large Magellanic Cloud on the other side of the universe, in the area formerly controlled by the black fog, countless supernovae shone above the starry sky in this area. In the process of clearing the black fog, in order to eliminate this tumor, the Sky Star and Glass Eel Civilizations directly adopted the simplest and crudest, but also the most efficient method in interstellar warfare - superluminal long-range strikes. More than 17% of the stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud were destroyed. Except for a small number of them that directly collapsed into massive black holes after being hit because of their large mass, most of the stars turned into exploding supernovae. Now, in this star field of the Large Magellanic Cloud that was once controlled by the black fog, gamma-ray bursts created by billions of supernovae swept across the entire star area. Affected by the supernova cluster in this star field, the entire Large Magellanic Cloud has now become an absolute death place. Almost no form of natural life can be born and evolve in such an environment.

Giant colony ships dedicated to the construction of composite stellar celestial body projects from Sky Star and Glass Eel, as well as a large number of unmanned fleets, are building stellar celestial body projects on a few celestial bodies that have gradually cooled into neutron stars and white dwarfs after supernova explosions, in order to reduce the negative impact of these extreme celestial bodies on the surrounding cosmic environment, and to build star gates in each completely destroyed star system to prevent any possible unexpected situations.

Because too many stars were destroyed at once in the operation to clear the black fog, even if Sky Star and Glass Eel both tried their best, it would take a considerable amount of time to completely eliminate the impact of the large number of supernova explosions and restore the Large Magellanic Cloud to an environment that could support the birth and survival of life.

However, such a large number of supernovae concentrated in the same star field also brought some unexpected benefits, such as the almost inexhaustible energy in these galaxies and the rare superheavy elements that can only be produced in supernova explosions. Countless von Neumann self-replicators were deployed into these galaxies, and 100% of these superheavy elements were collected and utilized with maximum efficiency. These rare superheavy elements that made the Earth and Theia civilization drool were invested by Sky Star and Glass Eel at a bargain price as part of the numerous stellar celestial body projects in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

On an unknown coast somewhere on Earth, a figure with long purple hair sprinkled a wisp of silver sand-like substance into the sea water and the surrounding atmosphere.

"What are you doing?" Yuki asked.

"Don't worry, what I'm spreading are the adjusted dormant parts. It's just a little backup plan. Do you remember what the consequences would be if we deliberately let this thing get out of control?"

"If this thing is deliberately allowed to go completely out of control, within 48 hours it would be enough to restore the Earth's ecosystem and everything on the Earth's surface back to its pre-Cambrian state."

"You don't mean that?"

"It's highly unlikely that we'll need it. After all, this thing, like all the other weapons on our ship, has excessive planet-destroying power, and this is one of the least destructive."

"If it were to target a specific target... for example... some organic life on Earth's surface or a specific type of matter, then it would only decompose and devour that specific matter."

"Like people?"

"Don't think I'm that evil, okay? Why can't it be some weapon of mass destruction created by humans to harm themselves?"

"After all, the size of quark-scale self-replication units allows them to pass through any material barrier unimpeded, even the most sturdy and impenetrable underground fortress, and then attach themselves to those designated objects."

"With just a flick of our fingers, or a snap of our fingers, the objects and substances we designate will be decomposed by the von Neumann self-replicator and turned into a pile of harmless powder and elementary particles."

“Sometimes, a little intervention is necessary.”

"That makes sense. Let's just consider it a reminder to the humans on this planet."

Chapter 196: Answers to the Truth of the Universe (6000 words)

Although people initially panicked about the alien spacecraft that is still hovering in Earth's orbit, there was no movement in the few months after its arrival, except for the time when two alien individuals publicly took away a former NASA director who had a history of rebellion and escape. It just hovered quietly in orbit, looking down at the human civilization below.

"Perhaps... they really are, as Kuznetsov speculated in his diary, part of a Kardashev III civilization passing through the solar system?"

"But if that's the case, how do we explain the motivations behind their current behavior?"

"To a Kardashev Type III civilization, a Type 0.75 civilization is not much different from an insect or even a bacterium. Even if we put it in a nice way, we may be just a smarter wild animal to them."

"No... you're actually mistaken in thinking that way. Think about it, even bacteria and insects are worth observing and studying for humans, aren't they?"

"On the bright side, assuming we are just a group of wild animals in the eyes of the other party, then assuming the other party's identity, whether it is a hunter or a ranger, it is still necessary to observe and confirm the behavior of wild animals at close range."

"Even lab rats and monkeys need to be kept in a controlled environment for close and uninterrupted observation and research, right?"

"You mean to say... we are now each other's... uh... subjects of observation and research?"

"It's possible. After all, this is just my guess. How can I possibly know what the other party is thinking?"

"The worst-case scenario is that we are the bacteria and microorganisms in the petri dish, and the other party is the experimenters of a higher civilization, responsible for closely observing the development of the microorganisms in the petri dish."

"The better scenario is that we are animals in a laboratory or wild environment, and the other party may be a ranger, who will inevitably come into direct contact with us while observing us."

"Of course, I don't think it's accurate to speculate about higher-level alien civilizations in this way. It's more likely that we simply can't understand the motivations behind their actions."

"Any sufficiently advanced science and technology is indistinguishable from magic, and so are their behavior patterns. Trying to predict the future of a group of intelligent beings who are like gods to us is itself an act of folly."

…………

“It’s a very enjoyable experience to watch the Dyson sphere I built rise from the horizon along with the star it is surrounded by.”

On the ridge of Korolev Crater, when the sun just rose from the horizon of Mars, some blue-green lines briefly appeared on the surface of the translucent octahedron from outer space. Then, his familiar soft female voice came from the radio built into Kelly's helmet.

"Oh... I think it's really spectacular. If possible, could you tell me in detail what kind of scene it is?"

"Just like it's common in your civilization to search for the most suitable spot to watch the sunrise, we also enjoy watching Dyson spheres rise from the horizon at dawn. Furthermore, watching stellar objects of varying sizes and appearances emerge from below the horizon on different planets is a unique 'emotion' in our civilization. How would you describe it in human terms?"

"After all, most of us live in space. In space habitats, the concept of sunrise and sunset often doesn't exist. If you want to see such a view, you need to go to the surface of those planets specifically to see it."

"So... your survival doesn't depend on the planet itself?" Kelly asked indirectly.

"Only civilizations at a relatively low stage of development need to rely on the planet's environment for survival. Compared to a planetary environment that is inherently unstable and prone to catastrophic changes over long periods of time, I prefer to stay in an artificial space habitat of my own construction. For most of us, a planet is just a backyard we rarely visit."

"Then what do you think about the idea of ​​humans terraforming the environment on Mars?"

"For humanity, this is a first attempt of commemorative and historical value, but for us, it can only be called mediocre."

"It sounds like you and your compatriots have transformed many planets with your own hands?"

"We've transformed tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of planets. A significant number of these, before transformation, were even more hostile than Venus in your solar system. However, after our transformation, the natural environments on these planets make even the most suitable places for human survival on Earth pale in comparison."

"They are all truly Gaia planets, perfectly generating and modifying their natural environments according to the needs of intelligent species. Any form of life, whether carbon-based, silicon-based, or any other type of life, can survive on those planets without any preparation."

"It sounds a little unbelievable. Your compatriots like to live on a planet like that?"

"No, those Gaia planets are just backyards for us, mostly for viewing. Few individuals are willing to live in those backyards for a long time, even if they appear to be perfect."

"Only at this moment will we realize that we have long been a space race, and that our past lives on planets have no special meaning to us."

"Carrie Baldwin, you've made a small mistake here. Don't use the rules and concepts of the pre-Singularity era to judge the post-Singularity era. Just as a goldfish cannot understand human civilization, you probably can't understand the scale and technology of our civilization."

"If you can choose a more correct path for the continuation of your civilization, then perhaps one day you will be able to watch the Dyson sphere rise from the horizon of your home planet, just like us."

"Your star rises and sets over billions of years on the horizon of your home planet. If you can one day add something to this process, it will prove that you are indeed no longer at the low stage of civilization."

"So...what about the war?" Kelly suddenly asked.

“For humans, war is an extension of politics, but if the society that constitutes politics itself is about to cease to exist, then the act of war will have no meaning for us.”

"But... this doesn't mean we won't use force where necessary. For example, if we leave those entities, which are no different from paper clip machines, unchecked, they will eventually consume all the available matter and energy in the universe, plunging it into a disordered, high-entropy state. Although mass and energy are conserved in the universe, if the entire universe enters a completely disordered, high-entropy state due to the mistakes of a certain civilization, the consequences will be catastrophic."

"A paper clip machine? Are you talking about a von Neumann self-replicating machine or something like that?"

"There's nothing wrong with that thing itself. The problem lies in the initial goal set by its creator. We've seen the disastrous consequences of initial goal setting gone wrong before. Therefore, we have to perform a disinfection to prevent that out-of-control creation from becoming a tumor for the entire universe."

"disinfect?"

"That's right. Disinfection. Erasing all stars affected by that out-of-control creation is the only way to ensure that this tumor, which is still in its early stages of development, is completely removed. If it is allowed to develop, when the tumor continues to spread, it will be too late to remove it."

"Oh, you have the ability to destroy stars... That's right, if you really are a Kardashev Type III civilization, how could you not have the ability to destroy stars?"

"Could you please tell me about that out-of-control creation?"

"There's nothing much to say to us. It's just a super AI with a completely wrong initial command configuration. However, after millions of years of continuous iteration and evolution, this super AI has become one with an energy output that also reaches the Kardashev III level according to your standards."

"Its creators intended to use it to solve problems and allow their civilization to develop to a higher stage and a larger scale. However, its understanding of this went in a seriously distorted direction, ultimately leading to the widespread extinction of other forms of intelligent life and civilizations. It even threatened us, forcing us to carry out a large-scale disinfection."

"If you insist on following your understanding, it can indeed be classified as some form of interstellar war."

"However, this interstellar war model is completely different from what you imagine. A true interstellar war doesn't involve fleet-to-fleet duels or back-and-forth battles. It doesn't involve two civilizations engaging in prolonged battles with neither side claiming the upper hand. A true interstellar war often decides victory or defeat in a split second. The losing side won't even have a chance to react before being instantly annihilated along with their entire galaxy."

"Ms. Kelly, in a war between human civilizations, even if the technological gap between one side and the other is only about 8 to 10 years, the war will become a near one-sided crushing defeat."

"And wars between interstellar civilizations often aren't even wars at all. They're merely disinfection measures before wounds become infected or tumors spread. The side that's technologically and scale-weakened won't stand a chance of resistance. The outcome is determined before the battle even begins. The moment the attack arrives, the weaker side is annihilated from the universe. If they're lucky, they won't even feel the slightest bit of pain, becoming dust in the universe along with their own star system."

"However, with the current level of human technology, we are not qualified to participate in these things at all."

“Is this what the universe really looks like?”

"Not necessarily. Interactions between civilizations in the universe are pitifully rare, and the instances where they would resort to force are equally rare and negligible. Throughout the lifespan of a civilization, different civilizations will most likely never interact. All life and civilizations are separated by the speed of light and the chasms between star systems. Without even contact, let alone knowledge of each other's existence, how could conflict and war arise?"

"Then... if the vast majority of civilizations in the universe are limited by the speed of light, then how did you get to the solar system? Even at the speed of light, the distance from the center of the Milky Way to the solar system is still a long way, right?"

"I'm just saying that the vast majority of civilizations in this universe are limited to traveling below the speed of light. That doesn't mean the speed of light is unsurpassable. However, if you want to surpass this insurmountable threshold, you have to pay a price."

"What price?"

"In this universe, there are no so-called laws regarding temporal protection mechanisms. Time machines enabled by superluminal speeds do exist."

"So... Hawking and Professor Miguel Alcubierre are right?"

"Warp drive does form a closed timelike curve?"

"Unfortunately, at least in this universe."

"On the eleven-dimensional space-time membrane where this universe resides, there are indeed other universes whose fundamental laws have temporal protection mechanisms in place, allowing for superluminal travel without violating the law of causality. However, our universe does not have a temporal protection mechanism. Any superluminal travel technology would be equivalent to building a time machine."

"Otherwise, do you think we would be able to find your location and existence so accurately, Ms. Kelly?"