EDITOR/BAIHUAHUA
The reason why we see the starry sky is a darkness,
It's because what I see is just the eggshell above my head,
The solar system is like an egg, and humans live in the yolk.
If human beings want to break out of their shells and see the new world outside, they must go through many levels.
If this is the case, we are living on the earth or as a prisoner of the earth.
On August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 passed through that layer of crust, the heliopause.
Become the first spacecraft in human history that is expected to enter the outer solar system.
Voyager 1 in assembly Source: NASA
Today, Voyager 1, launched in 1977, has become the farthest and longest vehicle ever flown by man.
In 2025, her generator will fail, ending its 48-year service to humanity and returning to the universe.
Voyager 1 carries a gold-plated copper record with human language and imagery.
Are humanity ready to face the consequences of the message conveyed to the aliens?
Why did Liu Cixin's "dark forest" law attract the world's attention?
A trip to the borders of the solar system
The above statement is a "solar system shell" hypothesis that has been popular in the astronomical community. Inspired by the great "father of radio" Tesla.
1894 "The Ether of Light, Vibration, the Secret of Electricity" — Nikola Tesla
Musk's electric car is named after him, expressing his admiration for this genius.
If you take a trip to the universe in a spaceship from the future, how many levels will we have to go through before we can get out of the solar system and into outer space?
First stop – egg yolk: four planets
The solar system is indeed like an egg, a globular structure with layers on the inside. In the center is the glowing sun, and in the vicinity are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and four asteroids from near to far.
Our first stop from Earth is Mars, where we can venture out and trample on alien land.
This is a photo taken by the Perseverance rover in 2021. If you were on Mars, what would you do? In our genes, do we have itchy hands when we see loess, and we want to grow vegetables and wheat?
After passing through Mars, we will see a large galaxy of floating debris, which is the asteroid belt.
The sun and the four asteroids are surrounded by a belt of asteroids, about 500,000 of them. They could have developed into the seeds of planets like Mars and Earth.
However, due to the gravitational pull of Jupiter, it failed to take shape, leaving only some fragments, among which we can see with the naked eye is Vesta, the brightest asteroid.
As we crossed the asteroid belt, the first thing we saw was Jupiter, which was immensely large. In that order, there is Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Webb telescope observation of Jupiter
Second stop – Kuiper Belt
These four planets are all gas giants, and unlike our Earth Mars, which is a planet made of rocks and solids, they are all made of some hydrogen and helium.
Jupiter features: Great Red Spot
These four planets will have a beautiful ring around their periphery. It must be a popular photo spot for space travel.
Jupiter photographed by Voyager 1
After visiting the eight major planets of the solar system, we will pass through the Kuiper Belt, an enlarged version of the asteroid belt with many icy microplanets.
Every four planets are wrapped around an asteroid belt, and the center of the solar system can be said to be quite regular. At this point, we've come out of the yolk.
Third stop – egg white: ecliptic discrete disk
Next, we enter the technological boundary of mankind, the ecliptic discrete disk, which is the egg white. All we know is that the asteroids here are all covered in ice, and here the sun's energy is at its end.
Because the sun's magnetic field reaches the boundary, the solar wind seems to be suppressed by the universe and surrounds the outer solar system in the shape of an egg, which is commonly known as an eggshell in the hypothesis.
In astronomical circles, its scientific name is heliopause. Once we have crossed the heliopause, we enter interstellar matter, where there is the boundary of solar gravity and the last line of defense of the solar system.
Stop 4 – Broken Shell: Oort Cloud.
The Oort cloud is a sphere that envelops the entire solar system, full of vibrant comets. The cosmic matter here is much denser.
At this time, we will be out of the solar system, and we will face an unknown universe. We can see some stars in the distance, but what is the gravity like, what is the magnetic field like?
Whether it will have its own set of rules, like the solar system, and we don't know what will happen if our spacecraft gets closer.
Do we want to explore the space outside the solar system? Is the structure of the solar system restricting or protecting us, and is there really a terrible alien civilization?
Should humans enter the Dark Forest?
And the most popular in the world today is the "dark forest" hypothesis, proposed by Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin. This hypothesis compares the universe to a dark primeval forest.
The forests of the earth are full of jackals, tigers, leopards, birds, fish and insects. They eat small fish and devour each other, forming a complete biological chain.
Liu Cixin believes that the universe may be a dark forest, because we humans are too weak to be noticed by alien civilizations.
If we have always wanted to explore, send signals outward. It's tantamount to an eagle seeing a fish leap out of the water, a frog seeing a bug jump in front of him, and humanity will only be devoured by a terrible alien civilization.
There are many people who wonder why these writers and scientists always have the ambition of others to destroy their own prestige, why are alien civilizations necessarily more advanced?
In fact, the first essence of Liu Cixin's assumption is that the instinct of any civilization is to survive. And the matter in the universe does not increase. Therefore, whether it is an advanced or backward civilization, it has to compete for resources.
In fact, whether it is the hypothesis of the "skin and shell of the solar system" or Liu Cixin's law of the dark forest, the idea behind it is to warn mankind that the exploration of the universe must have boundaries.
Since the advent of space science, there have been two ideas: those who advocate exploring boundaries and those who advocate conservatism. The eggshell hypothesis and the dark forest hypothesis are both hypotheses put forward by conservative people.
The entire human society generally advocates the exploration of cosmic civilization. As soon as all countries have strength, they will develop aerospace.
In order to send their astronauts into space, Arab countries did not hesitate to invest 30 billion yuan in China's aerospace industry, which is more than our national budget for an entire year. Why do oil tycoons spend so much money on space, but not just for the sake of face.
Behind aviation is high-tech military exploration, as well as the discovery of new resources and new lands. Columbus discovered the New World. The lands of the earth have been given their own masters, and the universe is the new realm of human desire.
In fact, Liu Cixin's Dark Forest is talking about aliens? We don't know if aliens have civilizations, and we don't know whether they are evil or good.
All we know is what human beings themselves look like. We will definitely grab any resources in the universe that we can use infinitely and occupy the unowned land.
Some people believe that it is precisely because of this that it is necessary to keep exploring and finding a new home, so that human beings can live enough to continue to thrive, which is the symbol of human civilization.
There are also people who are afraid that what if we meet an alien civilization that is as greedy as we are, but more powerful than us? Isn't that a matter of luck?
As far as the level of science and technology of human beings is concerned, there is no need to worry about these problems for the time being, because we cannot go out of the solar system yet. Perhaps this is the test that the universe is putting on us.
When we are capable enough to break out of the shell of the solar system, we will have the ability to enter the dark forest of the universe. I don't know how long this will be in the future.