Chapter 1397 I Am Full of Confidence in the Future

The day of the press conference.

Conference Hall 1 of Jinling Space Launch Center was crowded with people.

Reporters of different skin colors stood here, almost filling up the originally fairly spacious conference hall.

In order to leave enough space for the interviewers, all the cameras, whether automatic or manual, were uniformly arranged on both sides of the conference hall, vacating the middle of the conference hall.

"Such a big scene, do you think Academician Lu can handle it?"

Standing next to Director Li, the young man in formal attire looked around with a slightly surprised expression, and muttered to himself.

As the Secretary of the Office of the Director of the Bureau of Science and Industry, he was originally the spokesperson for this press conference. But since Lu Zhou agreed to attend by himself, he became a substitute.

Director Li laughed when he heard what his secretary said.

"Can you handle it or not? Are you kidding me? I'm afraid that guy has seen more big scenes than me, and he has seen many more lively scenes than this. Let's not worry about this small scene. "

The hour hand of the clock on the wall reached the hour.

Under everyone's expectation, Lu Zhou in formal attire walked onto the stage.

Facing the eyes of the audience staring at him, Lu Zhou cleared his throat with his usual expression, and spoke in a steady voice.

"Good afternoon everyone, I'm Lu Zhou, the chief designer of the Manned Fire Office."

"Originally in our arrangement, the second batch of researchers going to the Mars scientific research base will set off with the supplies to Mars at the end of the year, but because we found a suspected There are traces of extraterrestrial civilizations, so the original launch plan has been revised, and the personnel and equipment for the second batch of fire landing plan have been reconfigured."

"The following is the adjusted road map of the manned fire landing plan, and the specific work arrangement of the 'Second Contact'... Please see the big screen below."

He gave a general introduction to the entire manned fire plan in concise terms. When Lu Zhou showed the PPT, he gave the reporters enough time to take pictures.

Soon, the PPT screening ended.

Lu Zhou nodded to the staff next to him, indicating that the first round of questions can begin.

Considering the content that needs to be announced, the information disclosure atmosphere of the press conference is divided into two parts. The first half is for the specific details of the plan, and the second half is for the "human delegation" that made second contact with extraterrestrial civilizations The list of representatives will be announced, and at the same time, a brief introduction will be given to the identities of the representatives.

In order to facilitate the reporters to concentrate on asking questions, the questioning session was also divided into two parts.

"Hello, Academician Lu Zhou, I am a reporter from Renren Daily, and I would like to ask what are the highlights of this manned fire plan."

The first to get the opportunity to ask questions, the reporter of "Renren Daily" held out the microphone in her hand.

Smiling and nodding to her, Lu Zhou said.

"There are two things worth paying attention to, I think."

"One is transportation, and the other is life."

"In terms of transportation, the all-terrain rover we deployed on Mars this time has strengthened the communication module, and made many special designs for the dust storm environment on Mars. In terms of life, this trip to Mars is different. It’s just scientific research personnel, and there are additional functional colony cabins.”

"Through these independent colony cabins and the pipelines connecting the core colony cabin and the functional colony cabin, we will expand the scientific research base on the surface of Mars, and in the future we will be able to accommodate more scholars to carry out scientific research activities on Mars .”

Immediately after the reporter from Renren Daily finished asking questions, another foreign reporter stood up again.

"Hello, I'm a reporter for The Washington Post. We noticed that you used the word 'suspected' when referring to the term TIT. I would like to ask if this means that there is no The disputes that have been clarified, or about that extraterrestrial civilization... Is there any other new discovery in the manned fire office?"

Lu Zhou: "Using the word suspected is just out of my personal caution, please don't make other interpretations."

As the questioning session continued, the reporters from all sides raised questions one after another, and Lu Zhou answered them one by one.

Overall, the atmosphere of the press conference was pretty good.

Although some questions were a bit tricky, they were all within reasonable limits, like questions that normal people would ask. However, when it came to the reporters of the New York Times, the atmosphere at the press conference suddenly became weird.

The person who asked the question was a white man.

He handed out the microphone in his hand, and asked a question that had little to do with the manned fire plan itself: "Have you heard of Xu Jing?"

Xu Jing?

Frowning, he felt that he had heard of this name somewhere, but Lu Zhou couldn't remember it for a while, so he looked at him and replied.

"no, what happened?"

"It's nothing, it's just a bit of a surprise, you don't know him." Looking at Lu Zhou in surprise, the reporter continued, "Then let me briefly introduce, she is a reporter who once wrote a column for our newspaper, and now she is He is active in the news circle as a freelance journalist, and is relatively well-known online."

Hearing this, Lu Zhou finally remembered who that person was. Ganqing turned out to be the author of the popular article in Moments.

Smiling lightly, Lu Zhou continued with a playful expression.

"Is there anything you would like to ask for your ex-employee?"

"Of course! But I'm not asking the question out of her status as a former employee, it's just because she's asking the question, and it's something all of us are thinking about."

The white reporter stared at Lu Zhou, and continued speaking quickly.

"...As we all know, Huaguo has achieved excellent results in the field of space, and intends to expand the existing achievements to the distant Mars. However, this space race has brought us nothing but waste of resources and empty honor Other than that, it doesn't seem like much has settled down."

"Ms. Xu pointed out in her article that there are still many people living below the food and clothing line in your country, and many of them have never even made an airplane. Do you think there is a realistic possibility of developing aerospace technology in China? significance--"

Interrupting the reporter's speech, Lu Zhou answered his question in a rhetorical tone.

"Excuse me, have you ever been to Los Angeles?"

Reporter: "...Of course, that's one of the largest cities on the West Coast. Of course I've been there. What's the matter?"

Lu Zhou: "I have been there too, and I was lucky enough to take the subway there once. May I ask if you have considered when sending astronauts into space, there are many homeless people, let alone flying, Even living is a torment."

A look of embarrassment appeared on the reporter's face.

Realizing what Lu Zhou might say next, he quickly changed the subject.

"Of course...our country also has our own problems, and as a reporter I will of course reveal them honestly, but isn't it Hua Guo that we are talking about now?"

"There is no doubt that you are the most influential scholar in Huaguo and even the world, and you have also made remarkable achievements in your field of expertise! But just like the soul torture issued by Ms. Xu in the article, would you consider However, those social problems that your research may bring about, such as poverty and unemployment."

"Or are the three examples mentioned in her article, in your eyes, unworthy of happiness, or even the right to live?"

Facing the sharp eyes of the white reporter in the audience, Lu Zhou could almost predict that this guy probably planned it in advance.

However, even knowing this, Lu Zhou did not have any surprises or nervousness.

It is also a tradition of American journalists to ask some ironic things at the press conference.

Looking at him with a half-smile, Lu Zhou gave his answer in an understatement tone.

"Honestly, I didn't think about it, and I didn't really care."

There was a commotion at the press conference.

Even the interviewed white reporter opened his eyes wide, as if he didn't expect that Lu Zhou would be so direct and walk into the trap he set in the question.

Looking at the commotion at the press conference, he even thought about the headline of tomorrow's "New York Times".

Seeing that the scene was a bit out of control, Director Li was anxious, and while winking wildly at Lu Zhou on the stage, he pulled the secretary next to him, wanting him to go to the rescue and get Academician Lu down.

However, Lu Zhou ignored Director Li's wink as if he didn't see it at all.

After a moment's pause, he continued.

"Like now, you expect me to be a great man."

"Solve all your troubles, prepare steamed buns and bread for you when you feel hungry, cut it into slices and bake it when you are too lazy to do it, it is best to stuff it into your mouth, and watch you eat go down..."

Seeing the deeply approving expression on the reporter's face, Lu Zhou continued to speak unceremoniously.

"But it's impossible."

"Technology is only a tool to create wealth, and only a tool to create wealth."

"Someone else has to study new sociological theories, delve into new ways of production relations and resource allocation, and lay the theoretical foundations for new institutions. Because our social scientists know how to distribute these wealth is the solution best approach to the problem of inequality."

"However, no matter how you divide the cake, if you want to feed everyone, productivity is the prerequisite for everything."

"The development of science and technology will inevitably eliminate outdated production capacity, and jobs will change, but job opportunities will never disappear, but will reappear in another more decent and creative form. And our society, We will protect those who have lost their jobs due to industrial transformation, provide them with free training and unemployment subsidies, and guide them to find their place in this society again.”

"If you can't understand what a more decent job is, you might as well look through your history textbooks and compare North America in the 18th century with North America after the millennium. I believe you can find the answer you want from history. And if you To think that lithium-sulfur batteries, or controlled fusion, or quantum computers and space shuttles, just take jobs away from people and have no meaning in building your utopia, I can only pity you for your stupidity."

"So, why do I say that I don't care about the problems you mentioned."

"One of them is not the direction of my research."

"The second is that I have a lot of confidence that people in the future will solve these problems."

"As for whether I'm brave, it's not up to you or her to question it."

After a pause, Lu Zhou continued.

"This trip to Mars."

"I will lead the team myself."

The moment the voice fell, not only the face of the reporter who asked the question earlier was full of shock.

The entire conference hall No. 1 was blown up by the noise...