Chapter 422: Origin?
The sight of the cat gazing up at the starry sky, weeping in sorrow, truly shook Chen Nuo.
He could understand the deep, undissolvable sorrow and helplessness in the Gray Cat’s eyes.
Originally, in Chen Nuo’s understanding, he always thought this cat was as timid as a mouse...
Hmm? A cat as timid as a mouse? That always felt sowhat off...
Alright, he had previously thought that its withdrawal from the competition—or as it put it, "forfeiting"—was due to its cowardice.
It was only tonight, as the Gray Cat finished speaking, that Chen Nuo suddenly understood...
Aside from cowardice—which may or may not have been true—there could also be "despair" and "hopeless frustration."
"...So, you think you won’t succeed?" Chen Nuo lowered his voice.
"I don’t know." The Gray Cat shook its head. "I hope to succeed, but..."
After this "but," the Gray Cat closed its mouth and said no more.
"Alright, then let’s change the question... What if you do succeed? I an, *if*."
The Gray Cat still answered very frankly, "Don’t know."
Then it added, "We also don’t know what Four-Dinsional Life looks like or how it exists. So, how would I know? If success cos... that kind of thing is just impossible to imagine."
That’s right. Lower-dinsional life cannot comprehend and imagine the existence of higher-dinsional life forms.
"Then talk about what you already know, or what you’ve speculated," Chen Nuo said, shaking his head. "You’ve been busy for so long, through countless years and infinite strife. It can’t be that there’s been no progress until now, right?"
"Just as you said, your kind of Spiritual Life Form has already reached the pinnacle of three-dinsional life."
"Then you must at least know so things that we don’t."
The Gray Cat raised its paw towards the sky as if gesturing, then said, "I just asked you, what is life?"
"I answered, but you said it wasn’t accurate."
"Of course, it’s not accurate. Three-dinsional life can only define three-dinsional life. However... it’s not like we can’t speculate at all; there are always so avenues for imagination."
"For example, haven’t you humans always made many theoretical speculations about four-dinsional space?"
Chen Nuo did know sothing about that—speculations and hypotheses regarding four-dinsional space.
In fact, thanks to countless science fiction works from 20 years later, especially during the eight years of self-imposed isolation at sea, Chen Yanluo, who was bored out of his mind, had read all sorts of things to pass the ti.
Simply put, the human conjecture about four-dinsional space is to add another dinsion on top of the existing three-dinsional world.
A one-dinsional world is a line.
A two-dinsional world is a plane, aning length and width, forming a plane—length and width are the two axes of the two-dinsional world.
The three-dinsional world, then, has length, width, and height, forming a volutric solid world; thus, the three axes of the three-dinsional world are length, width, and height.
The so-called four-dinsional world is about finding the fourth axis based on the three-dinsional world.
As for what the fourth axis is, mainstream speculation and hypothetical theory suggest it is: Ti.
Ti!
A thought struck Chen Nuo, and he ventured, "The fourth axis of four-dinsional space is... Ti?"
"It might be, or it might not be." The Gray Cat shook its head.
"What do you an?"
Chen Nuo frowned, unable to understand.
Regarding the concept of four-dinsional space, Chen Nuo wasn’t entirely clueless; after all, many science fiction works discuss similar theories.
Ti is the fourth axis of four-dinsional space.
Simply put: using Ti as the axis, stacking nurous three-dinsional spaces on top of each other—that’s what is called four-dinsional space.
But...
Next, the Gray Cat spoke with a smile.
"The so-called ’Ti,’ by your human definition concerning the material universe, is the manifestation of all material movent, change, continuity, and order. In other words, it’s an abstract concept, but it can be observed and perceived."
"But this ’observation’ and ’perception’ is also flawed."
"That is to say, this ’perception’ and ’observation’ are also based on the material world, conducted under the theoretical frawork of the ’three-dinsional world.’"
"The problem is... just as when I asked you for the definition of life, you told a great deal, but it’s only the definition of life in the three-dinsional world."
"So, is Ti really the fourth axis?"
"The definition of Ti is: the continuity and regularity of material movent and change..."
"We live in a three-dinsional world, so our matter moves and changes. Thus, we define this movent and change with the concept of ’Ti’."
"But the question is, does four-dinsional space really involve material movent and change?"
"Or, to put it another way, is the movent and change of material truly eternal?"
"You humans have gradually discovered many things; for example, the asurent of Ti is not absolute but variable."
"For another example, ’Ti’ is derived from perception and observation."
"Furthermore, if there’s no perception and observation, the definition of Ti almost becos a Pure abstraction; it could be said to ’not exist.’"
"Therefore, we had previously been convinced of treating Ti as the fourth axis of four-dinsional space."
"But... as we venture further, we increasingly find that it may not be entirely so."
Seeing Chen Nuo frowning, the Gray Cat suddenly changed its approach. "Let’s discuss an interesting, albeit very idealistic, claim concocted by one of your human philosophers."
"What is it?"
"You are a living being, right?"
"Of course."
"Good. So, let’s assu you died."
"Then, two phenona occur."
"To the world, you are destroyed."
"But to you, it is actually the world that is destroyed."
"Understand?"
"The so-called ’world,’ if seen from your perspective—the nation, family, society... your friends, relatives, your emotions, feelings..."
"This mountain is very high, that sea is very wide, this cake is very sweet, that orange is very sour, this liquor is very spicy, that tea is very bitter..."
"These constitute the ’world’ as defined from your perspective."
"From an individual’s point of view, the so-called ’world’—or rather, our ’three-dinsional world’—is an existence that you perceive and observe."
"Understand?"
"To you, a normal person, your world is illuminated."
"But for soone born blind, their world is dark."
"No matter how you describe or explain it to them, you can never make them understand what ’light’ is; you can never make them understand what ’brightness’ ans."
"So, the so-called ’world’ is actually based on the perception of individual lives; the things you perceive form the ’world’ you define."
"And once you die..."
"Chen Nuo, say at this mont, you suddenly died."
"Then to you, it’s not that you have died."
"Rather, your ’world’ has been destroyed. Your children, your woman, your friends, your family, your career, your nation, everything you know in this world... the mont you die, they perish, they’re destroyed."
"...But it still exists; that is objective." Chen Nuo frowned. "Even if I die, the world still exists."
"But to you, this ’individual,’ you are destroyed because you died. You can no longer perceive or observe, so your world is destroyed." The Gray Cat smiled at this point. "From this definition... actually, the world perceived by each living individual is different."
"People born blind, deaf and mute, or color-blind..."
"Broadly speaking, you and these people exist in the sa world."
"But specifically... from each of your personal perspectives, the world is different."
"So... Ti is not the fourth axis of four-dinsional space?" Chen Nuo asked.
"No... based on our conjecture, Ti is very likely the fourth axis," the Gray Cat answered again.
Chen Nuo’s eyes widened.
"But this Ti is not *that* Ti."
"The Ti we’ve defined is the conclusion and definition made by three-dinsional life in the three-dinsional world. This is based on our range of observation and perception abilities concerning the changes and movents of three-dinsional materials in the three-dinsional world."
"In other words, the ’Ti’ we now speak of is, more accurately, ’Ti in three-dinsional space.’"
Chen Nuo mostly understood what the Gray Cat ant.
The ’life’ defined by human beings, to be precise, isn’t the definition of life, but the definition of ’life in three-dinsional space.’
Because we ourselves are three-dinsional life, we can only perceive and observe three-dinsional life; therefore, we can only define three-dinsional life.
Likewise, the ’Ti’ defined by human beings, to put it precisely, isn’t the definition of Ti, but only the definition of ’Ti in three-dinsional space’! Because we, as three-dinsional life, can only perceive and observe Ti in three-dinsional space! We can also only define the Ti in three-dinsional space.
Perhaps... the ’Ti’ in four-dinsional space and our definition of ’Ti’ are different!
Chen Nuo pondered for a mont.
The definition of Ti for humans, three-dinsional life, is the regularity and continuity of the changes and movents of ’material.’
But... if the definition of ’material’ in four-dinsional space differs from that in three-dinsional space, then the so-called Ti would naturally have a different definition.
Chen Nuo could largely grasp this.
A line represents one dinsion.
A plane represents two dinsions.
Then let’s not talk about one dinsion for now.
The material of a two-dinsional world (a plane world) is definitely different from the material of a three-dinsional world.
Then, the material of the three-dinsional world is most likely also different from the material of four-dinsional space.
Since the material itself is different, the concept of ’Ti,’ which is derived from observing the material of the three-dinsional world,
is very likely inapplicable to four-dinsional space.
Then, what defines the Ti in four-dinsional space?
The continuity and regularity of the movent and changes of material...
Chen Nuo murmured to himself.
If the material is different, then how can Ti be defined?
With what can it be defined? What else is common to both three-dinsional and four-dinsional space yet can also accommodate the criteria of movent, change... continuity, regularity?
Then, Chen Nuo suddenly took a deep breath and looked towards the Gray Cat.
The Gray Cat smiled. "Guessed it?"
The Gray Cat nodded. "Actually, this... is just our speculation, not necessarily accurate. After all, we haven’t succeeded either; we’ve never reached the finish line, and no one knows what lies beyond that door."
Chen Nuo’s expression beca serious. "So... the fourth axis of four-dinsional space is indeed Ti."
"But this ’Ti’ is different from the ’Ti’ we defined."
"The concept of Ti we use, with ’material’ as the observation target, isn’t applicable to four-dinsional space."
"According to your conjecture..."
"The definition of ’Ti’ that ets the standards of four-dinsional space isn’t asured by ’material.’"
"But by..."
"Life!"
Every individual life perceives the world differently.
Theoretically speaking, countless lives equate to countless worlds and countless three-dinsional spaces.
Stacking these countless three-dinsional spaces, using life’s Ti as an axis, creates what is called four-dinsional space.
This was the aning the Gray Cat wanted to express.
This ’life Ti’ isn’t about how many years or days a life can live...
It’s a different aning.
"To put it simply, it’s about the birth and extinction of individual lives. That is, the ’movent’ and ’change’ in the definition of Ti."
"Every life has a birth and an extinction; this constitutes continuity and regularity."
"This is the ’Ti’ asured by life."
"The ’Ti’ of four-dinsional space."
The Gray Cat shook its head. "Coming up with this speculation and hypothesis was the guess of our kind of Spiritual Life Forms. As before, we don’t know if it’s right or wrong..."
"It could be correct."
"But the greater possibility is that it’s wrong. If it is wrong, then the ultimate result is that we put all our effort into running in this direction—searching, evolving."
"In the end, we may find that what awaits us isn’t the finish line of successful evolution, nor the door that leads us out of three dinsions to reach four dinsions."
"It might be a dead end, an iron wall."
"But... regardless, with everything we currently possess—all the power we hold, the position we stand in—what we can see, summarize, and speculate... that’s all there is."
Yes, it’s a hypothesis.
But considering the height of the ecological niche occupied by the Mother civilization and the Seeds, they are clearly already above humanity.
To use their own words, they are at the peak of three-dinsional life.
Then, perhaps, their speculations are closer to the real answer than current human hypotheses?
"So, here cos the question."
"If the fourth axis of four-dinsional space truly is Ti."
"If the definition of Ti in four-dinsional space is asured not by ’material’ but by ’life.’"
"Then..."
"Back to my initial question."
"Chen Nuo..."
"What is life?"
"Or let put it another way."
"Where does life co from?"
Chen Nuo was speechless.
Where does life co from?
This question...
He suddenly rembered a saying.
Humans are born of their human mothers; demons are born of their demon mothers.
What’s your mother’s surna?
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Author’s Note:
Firstly, I, Pang Wu, studied liberal arts, so all these concepts are bits and pieces I’ve encountered while reading and researching, then mixed with my own imagination. To put it bluntly, it’s less scientific than pseudoscience! To my brothers and sisters who are actual science students, especially those in physics and theoretical physics, please don’t laugh at ; this is rely a novelist’s imagination.
Secondly, I know these last two Chapters have been heavy on conceptual explanations. However, in a novel spanning over two million words, so Chapters are inevitably needed to lay out the worldview and fundantal settings of the story. I’ll try my best to simplify these explanations while still making them as clear as possible. Such Chapters are necessary.
Thirdly, this book isn’t science fiction. As a "pseudoscientist among pseudoscientists," I’m not capable of writing hard sci-fi. I’m rely borrowing so concepts to help build a logical frawork for the setting.
That’s all.
Tomorrow is the New Year, so I’d like to wish everyone a prosperous Year of the Tiger in advance—may you all be full of vigor and vitality!
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