"How can you think that?" Cen Xiao turned her head and asked. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Bai Yuelu looked at her and shrugged, "Because I have something more important, my family, you." Can scientific discoveries be more important than people? ”

"But even if you don't find out, others will." "Instead of burying your head in the sand and hoping that no one will find the same theory," Cen said. It's better to study it and learn about it. When we study it thoroughly, it won't be so dangerous. Isn't this how human civilization is built on repeated attempts to die? Slotin (note 1), Challenger, 'Vancouver, Vancouver, thisisit (note 2).' ”

"That's right," Bai Yuelu looked at her, "It's just on everyone's body... Self-sacrifice is okay," she sighed and reached out to rub Cen Xiao's knee, "But what if it's someone you love?" What if it's a loved one? I don't know if I can be so righteous and awe-inspiring that I can choose to save the world and not save you. I was just... Not so altruistic yet. ”

"Little deer..."When she said this, Cen Xiao's tone softened. The two of them fell silent again, looking up at the stars that didn't exist in my eyes.

"Don't you feel scared? Thinking that one of these points of light could be the light left by the explosion of the planet B612 tens of thousands of light-years away? She said suddenly.

"Huh?" Bai Yuelu asked suspiciously.

"Planet B612, LePetit Prince, The Little Prince, the masterpiece of French writer Exupéry." The tall and thin light just said a string of things mixed with French.

Sometimes I wonder how much messy knowledge Cen Xiao knows. She must be very smart, and that smart brain is like an encyclopedia hidden in it. But like all smart people, she was just as lonely.

"The planet is only a little bigger, and there lives a lonely little prince and his roses." Cen Xiao said as he gently leaned into Bai Yuelu's arms, "When he is sad, he will watch the sunset." One day he watched the sunset 43 times. ”

"It sounds like a sad story." Bai Yuelu sighed. Cen Xiao suddenly chuckled.

"What's wrong?"

"When I was a kid, I didn't understand that story at all." Cen Xiao shook his head and tilted his head to look at the sky, "I always thought that the little prince had returned to his little planet and was with his beloved roses, and everything was beautiful. "Before, I had only seen in books about the 'starry sky'. I've seen the stars -- just not that many stars, and in the big cities, it's nice to see Venus. ”

"I always thought that the starry sky was like that, with lots and lots of stars coming together. I've seen photographs of the starry sky, it's beautiful, it's really a lot of stars. ”

"The starry sky is so mysterious, I used to think that there is a small world hidden in each one, a little prince."

"That's true." Bai Yuelu nodded, "These are planets, planets hundreds of thousands, millions of light years away. Each one is different, some resemble the Earth, and some are completely different from here. It's really fun. ”

"Yes," Cen Xiao sighed, "but it wasn't until I was a PhD student that I went to MIT." For the first time, I actually saw the stars in the sky, and it was completely different from what I imagined in the photographs. ”

Bai Yuelu just looked at her intently with a sideways face. I guess for a child who grew up under this starry sky, she may not be able to understand Cen Xiao's exclamation, she is just trying to listen.

"Did you know that stars come in different colors?" Cen Xiao suddenly asked.

Bai Yuelu nodded, "Some are a little greener, and some are whiter." Look there," she said, pointing to a corner of the sky, "and it's a little greener." ”

"yes." Cen Xiao was immersed in memories: "The first time I camped in the mountains, when I looked up and saw the stars in the sky. I thought they were airplanes. She suddenly laughed, as if mocking her own ignorance.

"I thought they were airplanes because they were all moving, moving fast, like fighter jets flying in formation." She said, "I was shocked, and I thought that the American army was going out in the dark." ”

"It should be the clouds." Bai Yuelu smiled, "It looks like the stars are running away." ”

"It's the clouds." Cen Xiao nodded, "That was the first time I really saw with my eyes that the clouds were so close to us and the stars were so far away from us. ”

"You can see the clouds drifting away as fast as the wind blows, and you can see them floating two-thirds of the way up in the sky, lower than some planes." "I didn't see it until I left the bustling city where I was born." ”

"And after those clouds, there are the stars. That was the first time I really felt that the stars were so far away, so far away, so far away, that they were huge objects in the distance. ”

She withdrew her gaze from the distant sky, turned her head, and said to Bai Yuelu in that hesitant voice, "Think about it, we know that those planets are so different from ours, so what about the visitors from there?" What kind of signal are we receiving? Is it just a message to humanity, or is it a real, living thing? ”

"I don't know, but didn't you say it would react to some of your actions? So can it be said that it is a living creature? ”

Cen Xiao shook his head, "It depends on how you define the concept of 'living thing'. If only by relying on the ability to respond to humans, then computers can be counted as silicon-based organisms, just as we are carbon-based organisms. ”

"Who says AI won't wipe out humanity one day." Bai Yuelu smiled, "Hawking has given a warning. ”

Cen Xiao chuckled, "Anyway, this thing of ours can't pass the Turing test." ”

"But how can something from an alien be required to think according to the human mind?" Bai Yuelu shook his head, "We can't even say what thinking is for it. Then he added, "If it really has the ability to think." ”

"Anyway, it seems that what we're getting now is just a few fragmentary signals." Cen Xiao comforted her and said, "Anyway, let's run a few algorithms first and see what this is." If there is a problem, we can only act on the opportunity. ”

"I'm just a little worried. If this thing can transmit information through electromagnetic waves," Bai Yuelu tilted his head, as if thinking hard, "If it is alive, will it escape along any path of electromagnetic wave propagation?" I know we've replaced the shortwave communicator in case it escapes from the observatory. But the phone signal, wifi... Anything is possible. ”

“… We may need to talk to the people above. ”