Human choice

The sky cast the last sunset, and the endless motorcade extended to the horizon. Busy people have no time to enjoy the last ray of light before this cold winter, and no one knows what awaits them. Humans will experience the longest winter in history and bid farewell to the sun for the first time.

People came to the shelter from all directions one after another, and the dignified gendarmes and police officers were methodically directing the flow of people to move forward slowly. The "refuge" is 500 meters underground, and there are tens of thousands of such shelters in the world, which can accommodate nearly 654.38 billion human families. All this stems from a terrible discovery made by physicists five years ago: five years later, in the year 2080, there will be an unprecedented magnetic storm in the sun, and the radiation of this magnetic storm will completely destroy the earth's ecosystem. Humans have no choice but to hide in the depths of the earth. The rulers of the earth realize that they must stop all wars and face this most terrible enemy together. Humans put all their energy into self-help, and thousands of underground cities have been built as shelters. Now, the last group of asylum seekers have come here, waiting for 10 years of asylum. Human science and technology have not reached the point where they can survive without solar energy. In order to keep as many people alive as possible, we can only choose to hibernate for 10 years. Among them, human beings will wake up every five years to check and maintain the life support system. In order to enable human beings to return to the surface to rebuild the ecosystem and survive after the magnetic storm impact 10 years, the DNA of all species on the earth is kept in supercomputers, waiting for the arrival of another creation. This 500-meter-thick solid crust will become the cabin of Noah's Ark in 2 1 century.

On the eve of the big magnetic storm, 165438+20801October 8, people buried deep underground have cut off all contact with the surface detection equipment, and the cables connected with the ground have been completely blown, otherwise they will lead terrible electric radiation waves to sleeping people like lightning rods. Greenwich mean time 12, there will be 10 billion people in different parts of the world entering the first stage of hibernation at the same time, waiting for five years to wake up at the same time.

"Shen Hong, is this really the case?"

"Yes, I launched that spaceship." Behind thick glasses, a trace of excitement passed through tired eyes.

"Why did you do that? You are not only the richest man in the world, but also the greatest physicist since Einstein. But you, you want to destroy mankind. "

"But to tell you the truth, Einstein can tell me that it is indeed his pleasure, because I can complete the experiment that he can never complete. Uncover the ultimate mystery of the universe. Why don't you ask me why I'm telling you this Old classmates. " The young world's richest man straightened up slightly, unable to conceal his excitement.

"What is it?" Yan Bin's tone became tense.

"Remember that paper we wrote in middle school?"

"Don't, don't you really do this to verify? You have never given up the anthropomorphic principle of verification. " Yan Bin couldn't help but gasp.

"Yes, from that day on, there was only one goal left in my life. Becoming the richest man in the world is only a means to achieve this goal. " Shen Hong said quietly.

Yan Bin couldn't help taking two steps back, as if he were a stranger to his best friend and boss.

"Chaos is the true nature of the universe, and the universe is dominated by that mysterious probability. Why does the universe we see have cause and effect and determination? That's because human beings, as observers, are influencing these probabilities and making the universe near us move in the direction of human influence. In other words, the probability of the universe returning to the singularity in the next moment is not less than the probability of maintaining the status quo, but human observation makes the probability of returning to the singularity collapse in the next moment. The evolution of the universe around us in this way is actually determined by the choice of our observers. This is the anthropic principle. " Yan Bin said word for word.

"It seems that you remember the paper we wrote together. Why didn't we persist in our pursuit at that time? " Shen ...

"You said that the universe is completely out of order, but even the existence of entropy reduction can't be found. Isn't this the order of the evolution of the universe? "

"This just verified the anthropic principle. In places where humans can observe, due to the influence of human observers, the probability of entropy reduction has collapsed, while in unknown places, we are unknown. "

"It's a contradiction, but ..."

"It's a pity that we can't verify it, can we?" Shen Hong smiled helplessly. "But it is possible in theory. As long as we stop observing these observations, the shackles of the universe will be lifted and the universe will be free again. A spaceship full of atomic reactors, a precise impact, a perfect solar electromagnetic storm. Observers will have to hide deep underground and accept the choice of probability during hibernation. Even if the animals on the ground still have a strong observation effect, they will die in the magnetic storm and lose their observation ability. This is my train of thought. To tell the truth, this matter has been buried in my heart for 30 years. It is like a magnet, which attracts me strongly every day. "

"Now you can finally verify it, right? But you may ruin the fate of mankind and the fate of the earth. Tell me, what will happen if this theory holds? "

Shen Hong paused for a moment, and then a few words slowly popped out of his mouth: "In the next universe, even the Milky Way probably doesn't exist."

"How cruel!" Yan Bin sighed deeply.

"Yes, from the inside, I hope to prove it wrong." Shen Hong said with a wry smile.

"But you don't have to risk all mankind."

"You think I'm selfish, don't you? Bury human civilization and become the greatest physicist in human history. If the basic principles of the universe do not allow us to maintain the status quo forever, this day will come. Besides, there is no end to human curiosity about the unknown world. If I don't do it today, someone else will finish our work tomorrow. Moreover, it is too late now. "

"In the final analysis, human beings are just a drop in the vast Milky Way, which may be an act of God!"

"Time is running out, hurry up and say goodbye to your family. Goodbye or farewell, old classmate. " Hold your hands tightly together.

"Good luck to mankind."

Two people said in unison.

The clock points to 1 1: 30 GMT.

In 2080, 165438+ 10: 00 on October 9, the last human was asleep. Magnetic storm radiation reaches the surface, and all living things on the surface lose their lives instantly.

165438+2080 10: 00/0/on October 9th, surface

Magnetic storms have not brought great changes to the face of the earth. The skyscrapers of abandoned cities are still towering, the waves are still beating against the rocks on the shore, and a red sun rises slowly from the sea-sky junction.

five years later

"It seems that we are lucky, Shen Hong." Yan Bin smiled and said to Shen Hong who came out of the life support module later.

"Yes, this mystery is finally solved. After all, the anthropic principle has been proved to be wrong, and mankind can live with peace of mind from now on, and the future of mankind will be beautiful. " Shen Hongsong breathed a sigh of relief. "My mission has also been completed."

Yan Bin has been pondering the meaning of Shen Hong's last sentence. The answer will soon be revealed. The next morning, he saw Shen Hong's wife and daughter crying in front of Shen Hong's body.

In this regard, Yan Bin was not too surprised: "He owes too much to mankind. Even if he is alive, guilt will accompany him all his life, and death is the greatest relief. "

10 days later, Yan Bin was lying in the life support cabin for the second time, waiting to enter the five-year dream. His mind is full of longing for the future of mankind: "In a sense, this is not a bad thing, it brings people together again."

Half asleep, a terrible thought flashed, "Is it because other observers are watching us?" ! ! "

The last person fell asleep, too.

"Mike, you haven't left your lab all day. Your friend Dan is here. Come out quickly, or it will be rude. " Mother opened the door of the laboratory and called Mike, who was staring at the experimental instrument with rapt attention.

"Okay," Mike jumped up. "I invited him. I still have some questions to discuss with him. " Mike gave up the experimental instrument and ran to the living room.

"Mike, you mean you didn't rent a monitor! ? "

"Dan, do you think I'm as stupid as Jimmy and can't afford to rent a monitor for the whole family to watch in turn?"

"But if you leave it behind, you won't be able to finish the experiment assigned by Professor Jackson. The samples it gives us are extremely unstable. Without our intervention, it is likely to develop in other unknown directions. I'm afraid everything we started will be in vain. When we are away, we can only intervene through the monitor. "

"Yes, damn Professor Jackson, he gave us such an unstable sample and told us that he did it to encourage us to create different samples. In fact, everyone knows that his wife is a monitor rental company, and he simply forced us to rent that expensive detector. "

"But you can't really watch musical instruments in person every day. We can't finish the experiment without the detector. If we can't finish the experiment, we can't write our graduation thesis, and we can't get a degree. There is nothing you can do about it. Mike, do you mean you have another way? " Dan asked eagerly.

"Come to my lab. I finally created a 4H-level intelligent microorganism on a dust, which enabled him to interfere with the development of his sample as an observer, so I don't have to worry about it developing at will without my observation. "

"The biological impact of 4H level is too low. Are you sure it is useful?"

"But don't forget, this microorganism has a quantitative advantage. Judging from these days, it works very well. Dust turns around the red host that provides energy for tens of thousands of times. Everything is running as I imagined, whether I am guarding it or not. "

"Come, let's look at the blue dust." Mike skillfully fiddled with the instrument and entered a series of coordinates.

"Impossible, how did it disappear? The third blue dust of the red Lord also went with the red Lord. But I just left for a while. " Mike exclaimed.

"Could it be that those intelligent microbes are hibernating at the same time?"

"Impossible, in order to let them take turns to monitor and sleep, I deliberately let the blue dust rotate along the axis and let the four sides take turns to be irradiated by the red host." Mike said cautiously.

"But didn't you think? Since it is based on such an unstable sample, those microorganisms are also affected by probability, and the probability of being dormant also exists! ! "

"Yes, how can I ignore this. In a word, my experiment of creating the universe failed. How can I write a paper? It seems that I can't get a degree. " Mike said painfully.

"Wait, Mike, why don't you write a paper on the possibility of intelligent life self-intervention sample development? This is an excellent subject. "

"Dear Dan, why didn't I think of that? Yes, its title is "On the Possibility and Risk of Microorganism Self-intervention in the Universe". "