Chapter 33: Let History Decide
Chapter 33: Let History Decide
“I am seventy years old. Compared to current life expectancy, I am not an old man, but I already have two sons, one daughter, and grown-up grandchildren. Over the next few decades until I die, I have no thought of having another child. Logically, this issue you are arguing about has little to do with me.”
“But I still want to say, widely using the Human Reproduction Device is fine. We have no reason to let female comrades keep suffering from childbirth pain. But if we hand all children born from the Human Reproduction Device over to Collective Social Rearing, isn’t that like asking us all to have no descendants?”
“Can’t we have our own children anymore? Family is the basic structure of our society. If there are no children, does this social structure still exist?”
“What will we do when we are old? Rely only on society? I don’t expect my children to always be filial in front of me, but when big things happen, I should be able to find someone to talk to. Besides family, who can I trust? Children raised by Collective Social Rearing—do they have a family bond with me?”
“This is my own situation. If you expand this to the whole population, children raised socially have no ties to the previous generation. Can they take on the social duty of caring for the older people?”
“Brother, I support you! It’s said humans have two big instincts: survival and reproduction. I want a child as a continuation of my life. Is there a problem with that?”
“I don’t really care. I am only in my twenties now and can live another one hundred and sixty years. That’s long enough. No children? So what.”
“Save it. I think your view is why all children from the Human Reproduction Device should be raised by society. A child is an individual person, not a continuation of your life, not your property!”
“To the person above, if they are independent and unrelated to us, that means we have no responsibility for the next generation. Why should they take up our resources to grow up? Why not all of us enjoy all resources now? Then when we die, Human Civilization ends with us. Anyway, what happens later is none of our business.”
On the internet, the arguments were loud and messy.
These arguments spread from within Huaxia Nation to the whole world.
But unlike the two opposing sides in Huaxia Nation,
places like Moon Nation that seemed to value individualism more were even more against Collective Social Rearing. Objections were way louder than support.
They felt this method took away their right to create the next generation.
Because of their public’s common distrust of those in charge, they also strongly opposed using the Human Reproduction Device, which applies Artificial Womb Technology.
They thought the Human Reproduction Device would surely be misused by some agencies in their country and become a tool for bad people with evil plans to control the world.
…
While the arguments over how to use the Human Reproduction Device went on online and in real life,
the higher-ups naturally asked for the opinion of Qin Yu, the creator of the Human Reproduction Device.
The Senior Leader who had met Qin Yu a few times came back to Research Institute 011.
After he personally visited the Human Reproduction Device that finished its test earlier, he talked about this issue with Qin Yu face to face.
“Maybe asking my thoughts on this isn’t a good choice. On this matter, I definitely have a bias. As the maker of the Human Reproduction Device, I naturally want it to be used as widely as possible, to change the world the most.”
Qin Yu gave this answer when the Senior Leader brought up the topic.
In truth, the reason for Qin Yu’s bias went beyond what he said.
He wasn’t too concerned with most ups and downs of whether to do Collective Social Rearing for the next generation.
What he cared about was putting the right to human reproduction in the hands of Human Civilization as a whole.
This made it easier for his original goal in making the Human Reproduction Device—to keep human population stable at a good number.
“That’s okay. We all have biases when facing choices. Otherwise, we wouldn’t argue about it so long. Please share your view, Professor Qin.”
The Senior Leader waved his hand and started listening closely.
“Professor Qin, you made the Human Reproduction Device, and you’re the top expert in the Field of Life Sciences. I heard you first studied philosophy in college. This issue is both a biology question and a philosophy question. I think your opinion is very important for our final decision.”
Qin Yu looked at the Senior Leader and gave an answer.
“Do both together. Carry out Collective Social Rearing and also traditional family rearing at the same time.”
Hearing Qin Yu’s words, the Senior Leader was not in a rush to speak and showed little reaction. He just waited for more explanation.
“Some people think children raised by Collective Social Rearing are better. Others think children raised in traditional families are better. So let these next generations, each generation after that, fight it out or compete. Whoever wins shows which way is better as fact. That also helps Human Civilization grow.”
Qin Yu’s words were actually harsh.
As mentioned before, if both ways existed and held about the same share, it would likely lead to some pretty tough battles.
Qin Yu’s point was simple: let them fight.
Conveniently, on this issue, whoever wins is right.
“Let history decide this.”
After speaking, Qin Yu stayed quiet.
The Senior Leader also did not speak for a long time, like he was deep in thought.
Qin Yu raised his head and looked to the side.
For Qin Yu, Human Civilization fighting among itself really bothered him a bit.
But he thought, sometimes this couldn’t be avoided.
To make Human Civilization tougher, not having any hardships was impossible.
And if Human Civilization went the wrong way,
worst case, he could find a way to ‘restart civilization.’
“…Professor Qin Yu, we will carefully consider your view.”
“Another thing we might need your opinion on. Recently, the other two groups outside Huaxia Nation sent signals again that they want to trade for the Human Reproduction Device technology. From a professional angle, do you think we can do this trade?”
After thinking, the Senior Leader nodded and asked this other question.
“Personally, I don’t recommend it. We sold the 2611 Longevity Injection because Life Extension Technology has natural downsides for society. But the Human Reproduction Device, in a way, fixes a downside from the 2611 Longevity Injection. We don’t need to sell the Human Reproduction Device.”
Qin Yu gave a no on this question.
Outside now, the debate over the Human Reproduction Device was mostly because Huaxia Nation wanted to use it for more.
But looking just at the Human Reproduction Device, Artificial Womb Technology itself,
it was still a good piece of tech.
It could greatly help with the slow population growth problem from Life Extension Technology spreading,
and serve as a backup tech for future extreme situations.
“Thank you for sharing your views on these matters, Professor Qin.”
He stood up, reached out his hand to Qin Yu, and shook it again.
“Do you or Research Institute 011 have any needs recently? If Professor Qin Yu has new ideas to study and explore later, we will support it fully.”
“You can mention anything.”
After settling serious talk, the Senior Leader said this to Qin Yu with a smile.
Not to mention, the payoff from research Qin Yu led was really huge.
So far, Qin Yu’s two game-changing projects in the Field of Life Sciences both succeeded.
Results from both projects changed the whole world a lot.
Now, if Qin Yu asked for a lot of money to study some far-out science problem,
the higher-ups might only think if the money he asked for was enough.
“Nothing is decided yet. When it is, I will surely ask the higher-ups to approve it.”
Qin Yu said this and ended the talk with the Senior Leader.
…
No one knew how much this talk between Qin Yu and the Senior Leader mattered.
But soon after the Senior Leader left Research Institute 011,
the higher-ups made a final decision on using the Human Reproduction Device.
And it matched Qin Yu’s idea from earlier.
Indeed, both methods existed side by side: Collective Social Rearing using the Human Reproduction Device and the traditional family upbringing approach.
But the specific way they coexisted was also quite something.
The Huaxia Nation currently had a total population of 1.5 billion people.
Based on the calculation that everyone could later receive the 2611 Longevity Injection at a suitable age, achieving an average lifespan of 180 years,
it still required an annual birth of over 8.3 million people just to maintain a stable population without growth or decline.
However, in the three years following the widespread adoption of the 2611 Longevity Injection,
birth rates had plummeted dramatically worldwide.
Within the Huaxia Nation, only a little over 4 million babies were born last year.
If this birth rate continued, the total population would roughly halve every thirty years.
This was why the advent of the Human Reproduction Device was seen as a crucial antidote to the side effects of the 2611 Longevity Injection’s popularity.
The decision announced by the authorities now was this:
to maintain an annual planned population increase of 9 million people, ensuring a slow overall population growth.
If, in any given year, the number of births fell short, the deficit would simply be filled by mass-producing babies using the Human Reproduction Device.
This portion, added to meet the required annual population growth, would be raised through Collective Social Rearing.
After all, if people weren’t willing to give birth, clearly there wouldn’t be enough families willing to adopt all the children produced by the Human Reproduction Device.
So, this was really the only option.
After this announcement,
debates continued both online and offline. Many expressed worry about the intense conflicts that might arise when these two groups of children grew up.
Yet, no better alternative existed, and people couldn’t find fault with the official approach.
The need for many births was an undeniable, objective requirement.
The millions of children born in the Human Reproduction Device, without parents, also needed care.
There was no other way; it just had to be done.
Of course, accompanying this announcement were detailed implementation rules.
For instance, the Huaxia Nation would establish a specialized agency responsible for raising and managing these collectively reared children.
This agency was named the Social Upbringing Bureau, its full title being the Socialized Rearing Security Bureau.
Though technically just a “bureau,” it held significant authority.
It would merge all domestic orphanages and early education institutions to raise the infants planned and produced by the Human Reproduction Device.
Simultaneously, they put out a massive call for recruitment nationwide.
The goal was to use professionally trained personnel to raise these planned infants to adulthood.
According to the plan, these children would be born at Social Upbringing bases across the country and spend their infancy under the care of specialized personnel tasked with nurturing and feeding them.
Like children raised in traditional families, they would then have the right to education and the obligation to receive it,
eventually becoming adults who entered society.
Additionally, the authorities clearly stated that a defined allocation of societal resources would be designated annually for the Social Upbringing Bureau’s operations and the children’s upbringing.
“Our public kindergarten was going to shut down, but now we’re being taken over by the Social Upbringing Bureau? Great! Regardless of if you all support it, I certainly do.”
“I have just one question. Logically speaking, kids raised by the Social Upbringing Bureau are probably more likely to choose not to have children themselves. Won’t that mean there’ll be more and more kids raised by the Bureau in the future?”
“I kind of feel like kids raised by the Bureau are essentially orphans. Does that mean they definitely won’t want their own kids?”
“Orphans? If over half the kids in society are ‘orphans,’ does that word even have meaning anymore?”
The noisy debates online and in real life were likely to persist for a long time,
continuing until the so-called ‘New Humans’ and ‘Old Humans’ truly established which group prevailed.
For now, however, the matter was definitely put to rest, at least temporarily.
No one offered overly strong or fierce opposition to the authorities’ decision.
Outside the Huaxia Nation,
after their request to trade for Human Reproduction Device technology was rejected by the Huaxia Nation,
the other two factions within the HCC (Human Coalition) didn’t persist.
For them, while it was obvious the Human Reproduction Device technology was a vital tool needed in the era following the 2611 Longevity Injection’s widespread use,
this technology differed fundamentally from the injection itself.
Its effects on society weren’t as immediate, and the current populace didn’t feel an urgent need for it.
After all, even if the population kept shrinking, functional extinction was a distant problem, too far off to impact those alive today.
Moreover, for various reasons,
a significant number of people in these other two HCC factions strongly resisted adopting the Human Reproduction Device technology on a large scale and implementing a plan similar to Huaxia’s.
Therefore, factions beyond the Huaxia Nation basically adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
…
That same year,
as the final decision mandated the large-scale use of the Human Reproduction Device,
the second phase of experiments on the device effectively began.
To ensure the device’s safety,
this phase naturally wouldn’t involve producing just one child.
Researchers at Research Institute 011 became busy. Before the mass production line for the Human Reproduction Device was ready,
they used existing laboratory methods to create more devices and nutrient solutions for this second phase of testing.
This particular task, however,
didn’t require Qin Yu, the head of Research Institute 011, to personally oversee or worry too much.
To Qin Yu, the Human Reproduction Device was essentially a completed piece of technology.
Subsequent experiments could be safely handed off to other researchers and teams within Research Institute 011 for further development.
Qin Yu focused more on contemplating what to do next.