After many exchanges, Bai Ge generally understood this civilization.

The civilization is actually unified, but culturally it still retains multiple languages.

Because of the cherishing of culture and art, even the customs of the conquered people have been largely preserved, making their culture unusually prosperous and mixed.

It is undeniable that the artistic attainments of this civilization far exceed that of the earth, and they have a history of civilization for 10,000 years, and in that magnificent history, they have evolved a wonderful process that is completely different from that of the earthlings.

They have countless words corresponding to allusions, countless classic and unique rhetorical devices, and they even have countless works to express every phenomenon of nature.

When the basic problem of survival is solved with the progress of the productive forces, when a certain degree of peace comes because of global unification, when the bottleneck of science and technology appears, it is impossible to step into a broader world.

Art has become the national pursuit of this era.

The entire Sirius galaxy, except here, has no other planets.

At the same time, because the mass of this planet is twice that of the Earth, the difficulties in the early stage of space technology are magnified several times.

When the first man-made unmanned exploration spacecraft rushed out of the galaxy, when the first artificial satellite with near-stellar orbit was successfully launched, when they determined that there were no other planets in the entire galaxy to explore.

The desire to explore space has been greatly diminished.

The reason is very simple, their space industry has taken more than 500 years equivalent to the earth, but nothing has been achieved.

If you want to sail across galaxies, it is even more unattainable, and you have to work hard for at least thousands of years.

Even if one day travels one hundredth of the speed of light, it would take 800 years to travel to the nearest galaxy.

They are tired of this long and unrewarding effort, and although the technology is still slowly developing, in fact the excitement has subsided considerably.

Only having the mentality of 'one day can do it, but it's still too early' to study, has made these generations more devoted to the field of literature and art.

Although it has created a civilization with extremely high artistic achievements, it has also caused great internal friction of civilization, and it is also meaningless internal friction.

The Earth Project is a typical internal friction project, which consumes a lot of manpower, material resources and time, and its biggest role is to be like a landmark, and it can be found very conspicuously at the first glance of the planet from space.

"Just because of the difficulty of aerospace technology, you give up on yourself?" Bai Ge said.

Bell said: "It can't be said that it is self-defeating, in this era, it is indeed impossible to carry out interstellar voyages, no matter how hard they try, it is the same." ”

"For a long time, civilization has no external enemies, they feel that there is no need to develop technology as desperately, anyway, life has been worry-free, rather than spending their limited lives in the bottomless space field, more people are willing to dedicate themselves to art, at least when creating such and such great projects, when creating such and such great music, when creating such and such great works, they can get inner self-satisfaction, and the vanity of being amazed by people in a warm artistic atmosphere. ”

"As living conditions get better and better, it's normal to pursue art and entertainment. The same is true of the earth. From ancient times to the present, in the absence of life pressure, entertainment and literature and art will be extremely prosperous. ”

Bai Ge understands that desire and hope come one level at a time.

The lowest is survival, and now there are no foreign enemies, no sense of urgency, and no pressure in life. The pursuit of higher desires and desires has become inevitable.

"So, is the global multi-country competition pattern beneficial?" Bai Ge said.

"Yes, although many countries will wear each other in, it will not be meaningless internal friction, at least science and technology are advancing steadily. The way of taking turns to be the hegemon can ensure the overall progress of civilization. If it is in a unified environment too early, it is equivalent to entering a closed environment at the same time, and civilization will inevitably fall into a long period of self-sinking......"

"If this drunken dream of death reaches the extreme, it will even self-destruct. ”

Bai Ge suddenly realized that compared with this civilization, the earth was in a pattern of competition between multiple countries, and from a historical dialectical point of view, it was advantageous.

And if this civilization goes on for a long time, it will be a matter of time before it destroys itself.

For example, when the values of all members gradually tend to pursue the ultimate art, they will unanimously decide to create a super-brilliant work of art, or artistic behavior.

For this reason, they will even sacrifice their lives and forget about death, because this is a higher pursuit, a higher desire and hope greater than survival.

Therefore, the ultimate art may be the most exquisite death.

If you don't die once, there will be a second time, and there will always be one time that is equal to suicide.

"You unified too soon. Bai Ge said to the mercury man.

As for the mysterious alien civilization, most mercury people are puzzled.

What is so bad about reunification? We can concentrate resources, concentrate talents, and unite the greatest forces.

However, there are still a few people of insight among the mercury people who have experienced the current predicament of civilization and said: "Unification is the tide of the times, and art is the poison on which life depends." ”

"There is a saying in our civilization: don't pursue the bubble that has not yet come, and discover beauty in time to make limited life wonderful. ”

Although civilization is basically obsessed with art, there are certainly sober people.

But even such sober people still choose the present, not the future.

They treat the possible future interstellar voyage as an ethereal bubble, at least for a thousand years.

No one will live for the great take-off of an entire civilization in a thousand years.

Living in the present is the choice of this era, and they can't be blamed.

The mercury man said, "Actually, before we found you, we thought we were alone. Although there are countless works of art that depict various pictures of cosmic civilization, the silence makes us feel hopeless. ”

"Thank you to the universe for allowing you to be here, you are a great civilization worthy of admiration, you have achieved the freedom of navigation of the universe, and you have achieved the qualifications to appreciate the wider world......"

"It may seem to you that our present era is immature, but I don't believe that your civilization has not experienced an era of sinking?"

"Your presence gives us confidence, and I believe that in the future, our civilization will also be able to swim in the sea of stars. ”

Bai Ge raised his eyebrows.

They feel that they are very civilized, and although their technology is weaker than Bai Ge, they still have to reflect the dignity of civilization.

Since Bai Ge's civilization can do it, then their civilization will definitely be able to do it too.

However, this is obviously better than singing, and Bai Ge's heart has no fluctuations.

Because he is also testing the other party's center of power, where the mercury people unwittingly reveal their true thoughts.

"They are willing to communicate and have no malicious behavior, which is certainly not the evil civilization we imagined. ”

"Yes, we are so fortunate that this civilization is far more technologically advanced than us, and perhaps we can use this to help us step into the interstellar voyage stage. ”

"I'm so excited, don't reveal our intentions yet, be dignified! Don't be underestimated! But let the other party feel our kindness as much as possible, and be as satisfied as possible, if we can get interstellar navigation technology, we can also explore the universe......"

"Yes, then we can witness more beauty and create more great achievements......"

Although they were talking in a room shielded from electromagnetic waves, they were still exposed to Bai Ge at a glance.

So he said that he would definitely be able to achieve interstellar navigation technology, but in fact, he still hoped that he could get it directly from Bai Ge.

Even based on a certain lofty mentality, he insisted on going around the bend.

"Great guest, I believe that the cultures of different civilizations can collide with the most beautiful sparks...... Everything about us can be transmitted to you without reservation, and we have the utmost sincerity to build a deeper basis for communication. "Mercury is humane.

Bai Ge replied, "Do you want to exchange techniques?"

"If you don't want it, we won't force it. Even if it's just a cultural exchange, we're more than happy to do it. The mercury man said.

Although they said so, they were actually very nervous.

Even if it is a civilization that pursues art, it is also a dream of interstellar navigation technology, and it says no, but in fact it wants it very much.

Bai Ge smiled: "In fact, not long ago, we also made a technological transaction with a civilization, and there is nothing wrong with this. ”

Mercury was overjoyed, but he was reserved again: "You are really a great civilization, in fact, we firmly believe that we can also overcome the bottleneck of science and technology and step into the universe stage." We can have a cultural exchange first, we have already sent the essence of our own culture, and you can also let us appreciate your culture, and mutual understanding in culture will enhance the basis of our cooperation......"

Bai Ge listened to the mercury man's nonsense, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared.

At this time, Goethe and others had already begun to look at the various works of art sent by the mercury man, and to be honest, they were extremely stunning and beautiful.

Although many of them are overly refined and obscure, it can be seen that this civilization really has a super strong cultural heritage.

The first time I came into contact with a different literary style, the psychological impact on Goethe and others was very obvious. It is as if Westerners have discovered those unimagined, exotic and stunning murals in Dunhuang for the first time.

However, Bai Ge does not intend to give back to the earth's artworks.

I saw him say: "You may not understand our art, so you don't have to communicate." ”

Soon, after the mercury man got this answer, many people showed a sense of superiority on their faces.

"Ha, this civilized art seems to be very unconfident......"

"Real art can transcend races, and we may not be able to understand their art, which means that their art has not yet reached the realm of crossing races, and it is still at a very superficial stage......

"They didn't send any of them, maybe the aliens don't have their own art at all, maybe it's a civilization that specializes in science. ”

"Actually, if you look at their ship, you can understand that the design is too mediocre. ”

Hearing the secret discussion of the mercury people from the surveillance, Bai Ge had a defeated expression on his face, and he couldn't help but be angry.

I saw him suddenly send a message: "Your cultural and artistic attainments are indeed very high. However, there is no public moral order in the universe, and it only takes a moment to destroy you, as long as I want. ”

The mercury man was very excited when he heard the first half of the sentence, but he was immediately stopped by the sudden harsh words.

"We are the most peace-loving civilization," they said, "and we have no ill will towards you, and we have a long and beautiful culture...... Please don't say such terrible things again, I believe you are also a very civilized race. ”

Bai Ge said: "I repeat, there is no public moral order in the universe, when do you think that survival is a low-hanging fruit?"

"When did you suddenly have the illusion that other civilizations must give you the right to live?"

......