Лю Цысинь - Supernova Era

Huahua said, “You liked to fantasize when you were little. But you don’t anymore.”

Xiaomeng gently shook her head. “Sometimes, you’ve got to grow up quick…. But last night I dreamed my mom took me to chase the rainbow again! We caught it, and then climbed up. I climbed to the top of that multicolored bridge and saw the stars twinkling just next to me. I grabbed one. It was cold as ice, and chimed like a music box.”

Huahua said with feeling, “The time before the supernova really does seem like a dream.”

“Yes,” Xiaomeng said. “I just want to dream myself back to the time of the adults, and to be a kid again. I’m having more and more dreams like that.”

“Dreaming about the past and not the future is where you’re making a mistake,” Specs said, coming over with a big cup of coffee. The past few days he had rarely spoken, and hadn’t taken part in the conversations with the country’s children in Digital Domain. Most of his time he had spent alone, deep in thought.

Xiaomeng sighed. “Are there any dreams for the future?”

Specs said, “This is the biggest difference between me and you. You see the supernova as a catastrophe, and so you’re doing everything you can to get through it, hoping the children will grow up as fast as possible. But I think this is a huge opportunity for humanity. It could mean huge breakthroughs, and advancement for civilization.”

Huahua pointed out at the city slumbering in the blue glow of the Rose Nebula. “Look at the children’s world. Is there any hope of that?”

Specs took a sip of coffee, and said, “We missed an opportunity.”

Xiaomeng and Huahua looked at each other, and then Xiaomeng said, “You’ve thought of something again. Out with it!”

“I thought of it at the New World Assembly. Do you remember what I said about the basic motivator of the children’s world? When we went back to the assembly platform after visiting the children’s virtual country, and faced those two hundred million faces, I suddenly realized what that motivation is.”

“What?”

“Play.”

Xiaomeng and Huahua thought about this in silence.

“First we have to figure out the definition of play. It’s an activity unique to children, distinct from the entertainment of adults. Entertainment was only a supplement to the main body of life in the adults’ society, but play can be the entirety of life for children. It’s quite possible that a children’s world might be a play-based world.”

Xiaomeng said, “But how’s that related to the breakthroughs and advancement for civilization? Will play be able to produce those?”

“How do you imagine human civilization advances?” Specs shot back. “Through hard work?”

“It doesn’t?”

“Ants and bees are industrious, but how advanced is their civilization? Humanity’s dim-witted ancestors cleared the earth with crude stone shovels, and then when they found that tiring, learned how to refine bronze and iron. When they found that tiring, they wondered whether they could find anything to do the work in their stead, and so they invented steam engines, electricity, and nuclear energy. Then even thinking became tiresome, so they looked for something to do it for them, and thus computers were invented…. Civilization progresses not due to humans’ hard work, but because of their laziness. One look at the natural world will show you that humans are the laziest of all creatures.”

Huahua nodded. “That’s an extreme characterization, but there’s truth in it. The course of history is a complicated thing, and we shouldn’t simplify it too much.”

Xiaomeng said, “I still don’t agree that civilization can advance without hard work. Do you really believe that it’s the right thing for the children to sleep all day?”

“Haven’t they worked?” Specs asked. “You probably still remember that virtual reality movie that the US put out just before the supernova, a huge Warner Brothers production with a budget of over a hundred million dollars. Everyone said it was the biggest computer-generated virtual model ever. But you all saw the virtual country the kids made. I asked Big Quantum to run the calculations, and it comes out to three thousand times the size of that movie.”

Huahua nodded again. “That’s right! The virtual world was humongous, and every grain of sand and blade of grass was rendered to perfection. Back in computer class it took me a whole day to model an egg. Imagine the work it took to make that virtual country!”

Specs said, “You all think that kids are lazy, that they don’t work hard, but have you ever thought about how after a day of tough work, they’re still at the computer close to midnight working just as hard on building their virtual country? I’ve heard that lots of them even died right in front of their computers.”

Xiaomeng said, “So have we found the cause of our troubles?”

“It’s simple, really. The adults’ society was an economic one. People labored to obtain economic compensation. The child society is a play society. People labor to receive play compensation. But right now, that compensation is practically zero.”

Huahua and Xiaomeng started nodding. Xiaomeng said, “I don’t entirely agree with your theory; for instance, economic compensation is essential in the child society as well, but I see a bit of light shining through the murk that’s clogged my mind for days.”

Specs continued, “For society as a whole, when the principles of play replace the principles of economics in determining the operation of society, it might produce tremendous innovation, releasing the human potential that was constrained under the former economic principles. For example, in the adults’ time, the majority of people couldn’t rationalize paying two-thirds of their life savings for a trip to space, but in the children’s world, most people would, under play principles. This would propel space travel to a pace of development equal to that of information technology in the adults’ time. Play principles are more innovative and pioneering than economic principles; play means traveling far, it means constantly finding out new mysteries of the world. Play will develop toward a high level, just as economics in the adults’ time promoted scientific development, but this will be a far greater driving force, and will ultimately lead human civilization to an explosive leap, meeting or exceeding the critical velocity for survival in this cold universe.”

Huahua said thoughtfully, “This means that even after the children’s world becomes an adult world, play principles must continue on.”

“It’s not an impossibility. The children’s world will create a brand-new culture, and when our world grows into an adults’ world, it will not be a facsimile of the Common Era.”

“Wonderful! Totally brilliant. Now, you just said that you had this idea at the New World Assembly?”

“That’s right.”

“Why didn’t you tell us before?”

“Is there any point to telling you now?”

Huahua pointed a finger at Specs and said in exasperation, “You really are a giant of thought and a dwarf of action! You’ve always been that way! What’s the point of an idea if you don’t act on it?”

Specs shook his head without any change of expression. “How should I act? We can’t simply accept their crazy five-year plan, can we?”

“Why not?”

Specs and Xiaomeng looked at Huahua as if he were a total stranger.

“Is that five-year plan nothing more than an unreal dream to you?”

“It’s less real than a dream. If humanity ever had a plan entirely divorced from reality, this is it,” Specs said.

“But it’s the highest expression of your idea: a play-driven world.”