Chapter 361: The New Frontier of Clones

These templated clones have reached the intellectual level of natural humans, and because they are templated, certain knowledge can be directly embedded into a clone’s brain and consciousness.

This technology is a milestone in Kawanohoroharu’s research on consciousness—transferring knowledge and information through external media into the brain’s storage area to create enduring memories.

It is precisely this technology that has enabled the templating of clones.

Only clones of the same category can be produced through templating.

Unlike the clones in the movies, those manufactured by Dream Technology still retain the ability to learn, developing in a way that is not much different from natural humans.

Their sole genetic flaw is lifespan; these clones have a natural lifespan of only 100 years, just as humans did before genetic modulation was achieved.

In this light, there is no fundamental difference between clones and natural humans; on the contrary, the advantages of preloaded knowledge and a shortened development period from embryo to adult make Du Qiu very eager to produce clones.

After all, when preloading knowledge, it is possible to essentially ‘brainwash’ them, ensuring these clones remain even more loyal to him and the company than natural humans.

Even if human nature is inherently changeable, presetting a certain degree of loyalty is far better than relying on postnatal brainwashing.

Thus, since the Ice Age Nine, Du Qiu has ceased cooperating with the nations of Earth—especially his own homeland—in exchanging populations via spacecraft.

Although clones were originally deployed as soldiers on space warships, their undeniable usefulness led to the production of a new template after sufficient trials.

These clones serve as assistant researchers, designed specifically to help natural scientists conduct various experiments, during which these assistants continuously learn and grow.

Du Qiu looks forward to some of these clones eventually becoming great scientists, which would dramatically shorten the training time required for scientific talent.

However, this will require at least ten years of observation and development to validate the concept.

The emergence of these two types of clones has had a significant impact on human society.

Both ethical and moral standards have been upended in unprecedented ways.

Humans can now be created directly instead of reproducing naturally!

A heated debate erupted within Dream Technology over whether clones and natural humans should be allowed to marry, and whether their offspring might develop undesirable mutations.

If clones are barred from marrying natural humans, discrimination could arise, hindering their integration into society.

In the long run, such division is bound to lead to serious societal issues.

To address these concerns, Du Qiu first provided a thorough explanation about the safety of offspring from clone-human marriages—a point that had already been experimentally verified.

The offspring of clones and natural humans not only pose no safety hazards, but also exhibit unique traits, such as changes in the lifespan restrictions originally seen in clones and genetically modulated humans.

Yet, unlike the distinct limitations seen in clones and modulated humans, these offspring resemble the ambiguous longevity of natural humans.

Since these new humans are at most three years old, it is impossible to determine how long they will actually live.

They will continue to age like natural humans—those with good conditions might live past a hundred, while others may only see their eighties.

After ensuring safety and providing explanations, Du Qiu painstakingly established a Clone Act to secure the legal rights and obligations of clones.

Following these measures, clones and natural humans have coexisted harmoniously over the past three years.

Kawanohoroharu’s refined technology for implanting knowledge directly into the brain can now also be applied to natural humans.

This new technology dramatically shortens the time required for natural humans to learn scientific and technical knowledge; one simply needs to transfer the relevant knowledge base into the brain via a consciousness writing device.

Of course, the actual process remains somewhat complex and requires professional operation.

Any error during the procedure can easily render a person into a vegetative state.

Because of this potential risk, combined with the high cost, not everyone is willing to use this technology.

Nonetheless, Du Qiu hopes to see more scientists emerge, so he authorized Unified Bank to launch a special no-interest loan program for acquiring scientific knowledge through this method.

This ensures that even the less wealthy can access the technology, preventing it from becoming an exclusive toy for the rich.

As a super commercial enterprise, while Dream Technology provides basic social welfare for its affiliates, Du Qiu will not allow lazy individuals to become parasites.

Every individual in society undergoes an annual performance assessment; those without any registered creative achievements in their personal chips will see their social credit rating drop by one level.

Continuous declines over the years, eventually hitting rock bottom, will lead to penalties ranging from compulsory labor to being conscripted into special experiments as test subjects—providing a final contribution to humanity’s progress.

In short, Dream Technology’s society emphasizes the necessity of everyone contributing creatively to society, with scientific innovation being the most mainstream and highly rewarded via credit points.

Those who fail to contribute will eventually be truly phased out.

After twelve years of refinement, this system has become increasingly effective. Both the original Dream Technology employees and their families, as well as the new recruits and their families, are satisfied with this creative incentive society.

Those who dissent either face exile or are relegated to test subjects, contributing only minimally to human progress.

With the issue of population control resolved, Du Qiu has devoted all his efforts to dealing with the mysterious enemy guarding his doorstep.

After ten years, Du Qiu has confirmed that the mysterious enemy still lurks within the Tur Fleet and continues to send messages under its name.

These messages have decreased from slightly over once every two years to once every two years recently.

The reason is that Dream Technology’s fleet has advanced to a position over 42,000 astronomical units from the Sun, with more than 21,000 astronomical units separating it from the boundary of the Oort Cloud.

This position is just over 2 light-years from White Spot, which means that if the enemy emits a radio wave, it would take just over two years to be received.

Moreover, this year, when a fleet capable of faster-than-light travel approached the energy vortex of the Civilization Bastion, enemy messages were received in less than a month.

This acceleration is due both to the distance between the parties—now only one light-month apart—and to the significantly reduced delay in the enemy’s transmissions.

“Boss, judging by the current frequency of messages, I suspect the enemy might be capable of detecting that our fleet has reached the vicinity,”

stated Song Yuanting, Deputy Commander of the Space Fleet and Minister of the Defense Department, after reviewing the latest update.

Yet again, this has prompted a Defense Department enemy intelligence meeting.

Before each time we receive a message from the enemy, a meeting is convened to analyze the enemy’s intent and decipher the information they reveal.

Longtar, the Deputy Minister of the Defense Department, remarked, “This time, the enemy’s message carries a threatening tone, demanding that we open the Civilization Bastion immediately, claiming that their energy is nearly depleted.

It is possible that the enemy’s energy really is running low, especially since our fleet has been detected approaching the defense perimeter of the Civilization Bastion.”

Chen Guangnan, serving as the scientific advisor at the meeting, added, “Longtar’s concerns are valid.

Our decade-long research shows that the enemy has launched over 200 Meteor Warships toward the Solar System, all of which have been trapped by the energy vortex of the Civilization Bastion.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Star Ocean immediately projected a real-time image of the Solar System onto the conference room display, sourced directly from the central control room on the Moon.