SFS Chapter 198 Human Characteristics
Chapter 198 Human Characteristics
"Holy shit, that's fucking huge!"
Shi Qiang stared wide-eyed at the towering tree before him.
"If you read more books, when you see this scene, you will use adjectives like 'intertwined roots' and 'reaching the sky' to describe it, instead of expressing your inner shock with a simple 'fuck it'."
Liu Chang took off his glasses and wiped them with a cloth he carried with him.
"Yes, yes, yes, whatever you cultured people say is right."
Shi Qiang was too lazy to argue with Liu Chang, so he stepped forward and reached out to touch the big tree in front of him.
This is the first functional building constructed by the Tree Civilization.
Following the previous bird's nest incident, the tree people, through continuous exploration, have mastered a giant tree that can continuously provide vitality to the surrounding tree people.
Once its seeds are planted in a designated location, it can continuously radiate the energy it absorbs to the surroundings, essentially acting as an energy converter.
In human terms, this thing is a huge voltage regulator.
Unlike humans, the tree civilization obtains nourishment primarily through photosynthesis, using the light emitted by stars to replenish the energy it consumes.
However, such photosynthesis is obviously much slower, and once it encounters cloudy weather, it can only replenish its energy by consuming organic matter.
Thus, the first great invention of the tree civilization was born: a towering tree that could continuously absorb solar energy. Centered on it, the surrounding tree people could simultaneously feel the energy products of photosynthesis carried out by this tree.
Since Zhang Beihai and his group arrived on Green Star, they have been imparting a great deal of cultural knowledge to the Tree Civilization.
However, Chu Yan still played it safe, giving Shu Wenming only some artistic miniatures of humanity, and had them specially processed.
All humanistic knowledge involving human technology should be kept confidential, and we should try our best not to interfere with the normal scientific and technological development of this civilization.
This is all thanks to Luo Congmin. Long ago, this future president proposed the conjecture of the knowledge sealing principle. However, at that time, mankind did not have a general understanding of dependency theory, so they only knew that knowledge and technology could not be directly and completely instilled into another civilization. It was necessary to proceed step by step and guide the other party.
Because you don't know, I can't tell you, but I can guide you to understand it yourself. As long as you understand it yourself, it has nothing to do with me.
As a result, everyone quickly discovered another characteristic of the tree civilization.
They seem to be very stupid.
It's not that I'm stupid, but it's a hard feeling to describe, like my brain isn't working very well.
They seem to have difficulty deciphering the cues in human language and understanding the deeper meanings in human speech.
To put it bluntly, it's a lack of emotional intelligence; humans have to put their knowledge and technology out in the open.
When Principal Liu learned about this, the first thing that came to his mind was the Trisolarans.
The Tree Civilization, like the Trisolarans, seems to be born without the ability to deceive.
This puzzled him greatly.
The Trisolarans don't know how to deceive because their communication style is too simple and direct, which makes it impossible for them to decipher the deeper meaning of human language before they obtain Yun Tianming.
But what about your "civilization tree"?
Your communication relies entirely on the three main brains, so how come you're inherently prone to being deceived?
To this end, Liu Chang and Shi Qiang returned to the Navigator and discussed the issue with the awakened crew members.
"It seems there are some subtle differences between what we imagined." Liu Chang stretched and leaned back in his chair.
“The Tree Civilization doesn’t deceive, and neither does the Trisolaran Civilization. Does that mean that newly emerging civilizations don’t possess the skill of deception from the beginning, and that it needs to be acquired through learning?” Chu Yan put forward his thoughts.
"That possibility cannot be ruled out," Zhang Beihai said.
Shi Qiang lit a cigarette for himself.
"If we follow this logic, then deception is actually an innate skill unique to human civilization?"
Chu Yan shook his head.
"It doesn't make sense. The reason why humans deceive is because our communication methods are too backward and complicated, not as efficient as the Trisolaran civilization, which is why the skill of deception was born."
"And judging from the results, the Trisolarans were able to easily learn the skill of deception after learning about it."
"As for the Tree Civilization, as a race that can complete the entire civilization decision with just three intelligent beings, their civilization system should be more like the three-seat system established by Chang Weisi of the early Fleet International."
"In other words, even though their political system and communication methods are different from the Trisolaran world, the Tree Civilization also shows that it is not good at deception."
After listening to Chu Yan's analysis, everyone present fell silent.
But not long after, Shi Qiang broke the silence.
"I always felt that we were looking at this matter too superficially."
Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at Shi Qiang, waiting for him to continue.
"There must be some crucial point that we have overlooked. The inability to deceive is just a superficial phenomenon. There must be some very important factor that led to this phenomenon. And a certain characteristic of humans is what distinguishes them from other civilizations and races. Humans are a special and unique existence in this universe!"
Everyone remained silent. After a long while, the holographic projection of Cheng Xing, the fleet's artificial intelligence, finally appeared on the conference table.
"Everyone, resource gathering is complete. It's time for us to leave Green Star. Don't forget you still have missions to complete."
Upon hearing this, Liu Chang frowned slightly.
"Could we postpone the mission? We've discovered something interesting and would like to stay here and study it a little longer."
"veto!"
Cheng Xing directly rejected Principal Liu's suggestion.
"According to the main program settings Lin Xuan gave me, I must complete all task progress within the specified time, and no one has the authority to terminate or pause the task."
"This guy, he's really good at creating drama!" Liu Chang couldn't help but complain about Lin Xuan.
Even now, they still don't understand how many tasks Lin Xuan had assigned to this AI that it had to be forcibly executed.
"In that case, let's split up. You go and continue your missions, just leave me a small warship. I'll be staying on Green Star for a while."
Liu Chang's words immediately startled everyone present.
“Principal Liu, I’m afraid this is not appropriate. We don’t know what the situation is like on Earth yet. Should we rashly split up into teams?” Zhang Beihai seemed somewhat hesitant.
As Lin Xuan's teacher, Liu Chang naturally didn't want to see anything happen to her. Staying with the main group was fine, but if she acted on her own, it would be a big problem if the Trisolarans came after her.
Upon hearing this, Liu Chang waved his hand dismissively.
"Don't worry, everything's fine on Earth. So many years have passed, and the water droplets haven't come to clean us up yet, which speaks volumes. I'll stay here and think of a way to figure this out. You guys go ahead and do your work. Come back to me when this silly AI has finished what it's supposed to do."
"Then I'll stay with you too." Shi Qiang stroked his stubble.
"Having more people around means more protection. If anything happens to you, I can help you collect your body."