Chapter 106: HCC and a New Era

“Friends, compatriots. The Doomsday Crisis has ended.”

“We have returned to the surface.”

“The apocalyptic threat caused by Asteroid 2801 never managed to destroy Human Civilization. Human Civilization was reborn amidst the apocalypse.”

“After the apocalypse, a new era, a brand new age, is about to unfold before us.”

Although in this era,

Academician Qin Yu might be the most familiar person to people.

As the pioneer of the Intelligent Era, the father of Helium-3 Fusion, and the leader in developing the DT03 Electric Propulsion System,

and the head of the Negentropy Research Institute.

People always felt more at ease whenever they saw Qin Yu.

It seemed as if even the biggest problem ceased to be a problem as long as Academician Qin Yu was there.

He always led all of Human Civilization through hardships and out of difficult situations.

The trust the Negentropy Research Institute placed in Academician Qin Yu was somewhat blind, and was this not true for even more people in a wider scope?

However, despite this impression, Qin Yu rarely appeared in public.

And every time Academician Qin Yu appeared, it meant something important was happening.

The last time was still over a decade ago, when people returned to the surface from the Underground Refuge Cities for the very first time.

This time, it followed the conclusion of the Negentropy Research Institute’s discussion on the future development of Human Civilization.

As the head of the Negentropy Research Institute, Academician Qin Yu’s next words would deeply affect the future of Human Civilization.

In the cities,

people stopped and watched the live broadcast displayed on screens throughout the city.

Inside smart vehicles, people sitting in their seats focused on the images lighting up on their car’s screen.

Inside buildings, people held their smart devices and paused whatever else they were doing or discussing.

“Just as we hoped, after the crisis, our civilization will continue to develop and grow stronger.”

Qin Yu faced the camera. His words weren’t particularly impassioned.

He simply stated facts.

“The disaster did not destroy Human Civilization. Human Civilization continues to exist in this universe.”

“Until one day, it is utterly destroyed by a completely unstoppable disaster, or, until nothing in the universe poses any threat to our civilization.”

“At this moment, our population has recovered to 3.7 billion. Our overall industrial production capacity has not only returned to its pre-Doomsday Crisis peak but has surpassed that previous peak.”

It was natural that industrial productivity was now higher than before the Doomsday Crisis.

The industrial clusters within the Underground Shelter Cities alone represented a vast portion of Human Civilization’s pre-Crisis production capacity.

Now, those industrial clusters in the Underground Shelter Cities were still operational, and the Smart Industrial Zones in all 225 megacities on the surface were running normally.

Furthermore, technologies not fully rolled out before the Doomsday Crisis, like Helium-3 Fusion technology and room-temperature superconducting materials, were now widely adopted throughout Human Civilization.

While the Doomsday Crisis did deliver a heavy blow to Human Civilization,

the civilization that crawled back onto the surface had truly taken on a completely new look, entering a brand new era.

“We have largely shaken off the shadow of the Doomsday Crisis and emerged stronger.”

“Here, now, after the Doomsday Crisis has formally ended,”

“I hereby announce…”

Qin Yu looked into the camera, as if directly facing everyone watching the live broadcast,

and began to announce the first important matter to be disclosed during this broadcast.

It could also be called the most important decision to be announced in the entire broadcast.

“We will establish a new HCC.”

“This new HCC is formed by all of us together.”

“From this moment on, we, representing the whole of Human Civilization in this universe, will continue our development among the stars.”

Qin Yu paused briefly after announcing this.

The formal name of the newly established HCC remained the Human Civilization Coalition.

But it was entirely different from the loose, symbolic entity formed by various nations in the past.

This HCC was now completely formed by the survivors who had lived in the Underground Shelter Cities, all unified under one single banner.

Or, more precisely, it was actually the former Huaxia Nation that had become the HCC.

Now, with the establishment of the new HCC,

it meant Human Civilization had finally become a unified whole.

In the past,

while considering various internal threats to Human Civilization arising from apocalyptic scenarios,

Qin Yu had even thought about fabricating an ‘alien’ threat to accelerate the unification process,

using external pressure to speed things up.

He never imagined that achieving Human Civilization’s complete unification

would ultimately happen in such a dramatic, somewhat overly brutal, and ‘direct’ way.

Now, the establishment of the new HCC

was essentially a formality, decided the moment the world’s survivors resided solely within the Underground Shelter Cities.

Thus,

the new Human Civilization Coalition was founded.

Within Human Civilization, only one entity remained: the HCC.

From then on, the HCC was Human Civilization, and Human Civilization was the HCC.

Regarding this announcement from Qin Yu,

people didn’t show much surprise.

They had expected it to happen.

In reality, the founding of the new HCC didn’t really change things.

It simply shifted the perspective of grand narratives to the scale of the entire human civilization.

People were still the same people, civilization was still the same civilization.

However,

watching this live broadcast, people felt the pulse of history more vividly than ever before.

Everyone clearly sensed they were witnessing a pivotal, historic moment in Human Civilization.

It was hard not to feel excited.

After announcing the establishment of the HCC,

Qin Yu faced the camera and paused once more.

He then announced something else.

“Beyond founding the new HCC, there was something else I needed to announce here.”

“Before, we promised we would hold an official memorial for all those lost in the Doomsday Crisis after we returned to the surface.”

“So, as the first resolution following the HCC’s establishment,”

“I declare here that over the next week, the entire HCC will hold an official mourning event for all the victims of the Doomsday Crisis.”

This announcement

stirred many memories in the minds of those watching the live broadcast,

settling a complicated sadness over the crowd.

Right after sharing this news,

Qin Yu ended the live broadcast.

Of course,

all the matters related to founding the new HCC, as decided by the Negentropy Research Institute and those involved,

were far from over after Qin Yu’s announcement on TV.

Many specific details followed almost immediately after the broadcast ended.

Authorized by Huaxin News Agency,

they were released to the public.

Across the entire network,

with this stream of historic decisions rolling out,

the online space grew even livelier.

…

First, was the relationship between the HCC and the Negentropy Research Institute.

Officially, from here on out, the Negentropy Research Institute belonged to the HCC.

But in practice, the HCC’s structure in this era was quite unique.

Overall, the highest level of the HCC was divided into two parts.

One part was the Strong Artificial Intelligence from the ‘Brain Intelligence Project’.

This Strong Artificial Intelligence took charge, carrying out planned production and basic operations across all sectors of society, from primary to tertiary industries.

The other part was actually the Negentropy Research Institute.

Specific research teams from the relevant institutes within the Negentropy Research Institute formulated plans based on data, passed to the Strong Artificial Intelligence for execution.

This might sound a bit odd,

but in this Intelligent Era, the plan for advancing Human Civilization truly had to be crafted based on progress within each field of research.

Setting aside the production managed by the Strong Artificial Intelligence, Human Civilization itself was morphing into a super research institute.

The Negentropy Research Institute was the apex of this super institute. Naturally, it was the Negentropy Research Institute that decided the direction for the entire super institute.

Accordingly,

the Negentropy Research Institute made several decisions and announced them.

“…Message from the Negentropy Research Institute.”

“Effective immediately, the Negentropy Research Institute will establish three new branches alongside its existing institutes: the Institute of Physics and Space, the Institute of Mathematics, and the Institute of Social Philosophy (Social Philosophy Department).”

“Previously affiliated research teams belonging to this scope are officially reassigned to these institutes. All other arrangements remain unchanged.”

As the core of human scientific research, the researchers and teams at the Negentropy Research Institute had never truly been confined to just those previous institutes.

Researchers in these fields had always existed within the Institute; now, they were just formally reorganized.

The last one, the Institute of Social Philosophy (shortened to ‘Social Philosophy Department’ or ‘She Zhe Suo’), seemed different in focus compared to the others at the Negentropy Research Institute.

However, this was also a need of the Negentropy Research Institute—indeed, of Human Civilization itself.

The development of sociology and philosophy was an essential part of advancing civilization.

Within the HCC, some plans implemented by the Strong Artificial Intelligence required input from the Social Philosophy Department’s research teams.

For instance, the plan for Lunar Surface development and construction could be designed by the Energy and Power Research Institute and its relevant teams.

Whereas setting up the previous population growth plan for Human Civilization likely fell under the responsibility of the Social Philosophy Department.

…

Naturally,

even with these new additions, the Negentropy Research Institute still governed only a portion of Human Civilization’s research landscape.

This position reflected its role within Humanity’s emerging societal structure.

Gathering Humanity’s top researchers, the Negentropy Research Institute focused on pioneering major, challenging fields of study.

The numerous routine tasks of smaller research fields were handled by researchers elsewhere in Human Civilization who hadn’t joined the Institute.

For example,

outside the Negentropy Research Institute, there existed a ‘Food Research Institute’.

It focused solely on innovative food research.

Many of the new flavors appearing on Human Civilization’s tables were their creations.

Once their research results were handed over to the Strong Artificial Intelligence, they naturally appeared in automated restaurants across the cities.

Beyond restaurants,

many novel items among the diverse consumer goods produced for Humanity

originated from institutes like the Food Research Institute.

These fields didn’t require the Negentropy Research Institute’s direct involvement, yet they served vital functions.

The Strong Artificial Intelligence managed production through coordinated Intelligent Industrial Clusters. But what to produce still depended on human needs and desires,

especially concerning things rooted in human experience itself.

Food was a prime example. The Strong Artificial Intelligence could theoretically generate endless ‘innovative menus’ instantly.

Yet, like enumerating every possible poem combination (even those containing true beauty) through sheer computing,

assessing the value of such creations ultimately required human judgment – thus necessitating human researchers.

Apart from research reliant on human preference,

there were also countless specialized problems across industrial, engineering, and theoretical domains.

Even with over a million top researchers, the Negentropy Research Institute couldn’t possibly cover every nuance in every field,

especially as Human Civilization continued to advance.

Under these circumstances,

years into the Intelligent Era, Human Civilization had forged a cohesive operational pattern.

Upon completing their education,

the very brightest, most talented researchers joined the Negentropy Research Institute, guiding humanity’s overall advancement.

Those not admitted still could apply for research resources based on their chosen fields and projects.

They could request resources independently or join research institutes subordinate to the Negentropy Research Institute.

Ultimately, all innovations outside the Negentropy Research Institute

either became technological bricks paving civilization’s path, or fed into the Smart Industrial Clusters managed by the Strong Artificial Intelligence, improving living standards and productivity.

The knowledge gained in these specialized fields could also, later, prove useful to the Negentropy Research Institute itself, saving them time on foundational aspects.

By reaching this stage,

Human Civilization achieved a fundamental new division of labor characteristic of the Intelligent Era.

Humanity essentially transformed into two entities:

A super-factory – the Smart Industrial Clusters.

And a super-research hub – Humanity at large, centrally guided by the Negentropy Research Institute.

It marked another step forward.

…

Following the announcements about the Human Coalition’s (HCC) operational structure and the Negentropy Research Institute’s reorganization,

more information flowed across the net.

This detailed what the Human Coalition, indeed what Human Civilization as a whole, planned next.

First was the first act of the new HCC:

The detailed arrangements for mourning those lost in the Doomsday Crisis.

Authorized by Huaxin News Agency:

To mourn the Doomsday Crisis victims, all entertainment across the civilization would be suspended for one week.

A civilization-wide memorial period would occur. People in all Surface Cities and underground settlements could participate personally as they wished.

Then came another major announcement concerning Human Civilization’s future.

Now that Humanity had largely returned to the surface and the Doomsday Crisis was past,

the Negentropy Research Institute intended to significantly expand development and construction efforts on the Lunar Surface.

This was done to secure larger quantities of Helium-3 and other lunar resources, preparing Humanity for future exploitation and colonization of other celestial bodies.

Concurrent with this lunar push, efforts to further deploy Helium-3 Fusion Reactors across civilization would be intensified.

After these came a series of other announcements flooding the network, point after point.

People continued to discuss and reflect on them.

Amid this whole civilization’s buzz and complexity,

Human Civilization strode formally into a new epoch.

People named it either the ‘Human United Era (HUE)’ or simply the ‘New Era’.

It was the ‘Human United Era’ because Humanity had united completely, forging a new Human Coalition.

It was the ‘New Era’ because it signified a fresh start after the Doomsday Crisis.

Human history had bent under that crisis; now, Humanity would embark on a new journey.

And this year,

the year the Negentropy Research Institute declared the founding of the new Human Coalition (HCC),

became Year One of the Human United Era.