475: The final chapter, (Planet of the Dead)

The Planet of the Dead, mentioned in the text, will be introduced in detail here.

The Planet of the Dead is equivalent to current cloud services and big data centers, but instead of storing data, it stores consciousness backups.

503 years after the emergence of consciousness backups, the Space Administration opened a paid consciousness upload service, where individuals could gain a limited lifespan in the virtual world after submitting all their personal assets.

This setting is inspired by an American drama called 'Upload'; those interested can watch it.

The specific idea is as follows: the Space Administration still implements a free digital immortality program for those who have made significant contributions to technology.

Key personnel, such as Meng Xian, Bai Yan, Lin Yao, and Shen Yi, were granted the right to immortality.

After their biological bodies die, these individuals will undergo direct nano-modification; once nano-modification technology matures, it can simulate all human sensations.

However, those who have already died cannot participate in important decisions concerning the Space City.

This also ensures that the human collective continuously receives fresh blood; the primary value of these immortal key figures lies in their experience, and their main role is to mentor apprentices, which can be seen in Lu Tianming's attitude towards the Space City.

Other forms of digital life are housed within the Planet of the Dead, where they can control real-world mining robots in the virtual world, thereby earning wages to extend their lifespan.

In other words, ordinary people who wish to achieve digital immortality will still have to work after they die.

After thousands of years of development, the human population, with extremely abundant material resources, can double every 20 to 30 years.

What was the author's consideration?

The author believes that if a group's population becomes too large, its living environment will deteriorate, which, when reflected in modern society, leads to extreme internal competition.

Therefore, over 10 billion people on Blue Star is already the limit, and the number of robots serving humans could be two to three times that amount.

The text also mentions that there are over 10 billion people on Earth and over 20 billion in the Space City.

There are also tens of thousands of fleets dispatched, with each fleet containing approximately 3,000 to 5,000 people, and a complete ecological simulation within the fleet; everyone can calculate the exact population at the end if they have time.

Based on such a population base, medical technology at that time must have advanced by leaps and bounds, so I set the average life expectancy at around 130 years.

The number of digital lives on the Planet of the Dead is approximately 50 to 60 billion, and just powering the Planet of the Dead, each digital life consumes about 4 to 5 times the energy of a physical body daily.

The computational power consumed by digital lives operating in the virtual world is extremely terrifying.

If calculated at 4 to 5 times, with a quantity of 50 to 60 billion, plus the construction of the virtual world, everyone can calculate that the current total global electricity generation would likely struggle to support the energy consumption of this Planet of the Dead.

Perhaps in novels, you don't have that concept and always feel that certain things will be very simple.

In fact, if you delve into it, you will find that every technology I write about involves too many things behind it.

The concept of the Planet of the Dead, overall, is a beautiful vision, and I hope it can appear in the future, as the author has personally experienced the pain and longing of losing loved ones.