The hexagonal screen group at the top of the podium and the stage lights only lit up for a moment, and then slowly dimmed again.
Only the dome was left, and a bright searchlight suddenly turned on, shining on the empty podium.
In the edge area beyond the reach of searchlights, everyone seemed to see a man walking down the aisle, slowly walking towards the podium.
Then, a solemn piano sound resounded melodiously in the venue as the man appeared.
The originally noisy venue fell completely silent. The audience consciously closed their mouths and looked towards the podium with curious and expectant expressions.
The screen at the top of the podium slowly lit up, and at the same time, several drones responsible for filming also landed from the dark dome and were suspended in mid-air. What was shown on the screen was exactly the scene they captured.
At this time, on the six screens at the top of the podium, the man finally walked out of the darkness, walked into the searchlight, and entered everyone's sight.
It was a Central Asian man whose age was unclear.
The man had an ordinary slicked back hair and wore a featureless black suit. He looked young and ordinary. The only thing that could be remembered was the man's eyes.
They were a pair of piercing eyes, but with an inexplicable light. His original youthful appearance made it impossible to tell his true age because of these eyes.
If you don't look at the eyes, this man seems to be only in his twenties, but after seeing his eyes, you will think that the man is in his early thirties, or even over forty.
It was a pair of eyes that could see through everything, sharp and vicissitudes of life.
"Darwin's Theory of Evolution tells us that we evolved from forest apes."
Without any prelude, self-introduction or venue warm-up, the man suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse and low.
"But, what is evolution?"
The man raised his hand and gestured lightly with his thumb and index finger, "Modern science tells us that evolution is actually the change of genes."
"Many people think that evolution is a change from simple to complex, from low-level to high-level 'evolution'. This is actually wrong. What it means is that the parts of the gene that are suitable for the environment are retained, and the parts that are not suitable for the environment are retained. Being eliminated, there is no distinction between higher and lower genes.”
The man smiled slightly and said, "In our Zhongzhou District, we once translated "Theory of Evolution" as "Theory of Evolution", which was actually not wrong at the time. The only difference between these two words is probably that the former is disordered. Evolution, the latter is an orderly evolution, but modern mainstream science more recognizes disorderly evolution."
"It's like our ancestors have always lived in Africa, but our relatives have left Africa more than two million years ago. The accumulation of genetic mutations and variations under the selection of different environments, ancient humans have embarked on different paths. path of evolution."
"Our relatives out of Africa became Denisovans, Neanderthals and other genera of Homo. They had bigger brains and stronger strength than us, and once dominated the entire world."
"It wasn't until 70,000 years ago that our ancestors, Homo sapiens, left Africa. About 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens began to interact with Neanderthals and Denisovans."
"Then, what happened?"
The man spread his hands and showed a proud look, "We ate them. We killed all species of Homo. From the fossil remains, we can see that other species of Homo were once our food."
“Not only that, it only took us 30,000 years to wipe out 75% of the large creatures on the earth. The mass extinction of species before humans was usually based on millions or even tens of millions of years. , we have increased this speed thousands of times!”
When he said this, the expressions of many people in the audience gradually changed, and there was a burst of chatter.
"Here, what I want to ask is, do those extinct creatures not conform to the theory of evolution?"
The man's voice gradually became louder, "Could it be that those Neanderthals, who were smarter and stronger than us, weren't genetically better able to adapt to the environment than ours?"
"No, it's not!"
A sneer appeared on the man's lips, "They just can't adapt to us."
As these words were spoken, the audience in the audience burst into low cheers again.
Ignoring the expressions on the faces of everyone in the audience, the man continued to speak, "Some people may think that it goes against the spirit of science that I have been using theories such as the Theory of Evolution that have not yet been finalized and may be overturned as examples, but everyone You can rest assured that whether "The Theory of Evolution" is true or false has nothing to do with the topic I am talking about this time, because what I am going to talk about is a new theory... "
"Do you still remember what was the first sign that humans developed civilization?"
Following the man's question, countless people in the audience suddenly shouted, "Fire!"
"Yes, it's fire."
The man suddenly reached into his pocket, took out a box of matches, pulled out one, and lightly struck the matchbox. Hearing a swish sound, the match slowly lit...
But then, the man stretched out his other hand and pinched it gently with two fingers. Suddenly, the burning flame was extinguished.
The huge screen above the man's head gave a close-up of the man's movements. The man threw away the match lightly, raised his head and said casually:
"Lawrence of Arabia liked to put out burning matches with his fingers. His colleague William Porter asked him what his secret was to put out the fire without hurting himself. Lawrence smiled and said: The secret is... don't care. pain."
Hearing this, the audience burst into chuckles.
The man continued, "Fire is the symbol of human civilization, allowing human beings to distinguish themselves from other creatures and completely establish a foothold on the earth. Then in 4000 BC, we invented the wheel; in 800 BC, we invented the sundial; In the 9th century AD, gunpowder; in the 19th century, steam engines, railways, electric lights, and the theory of relativity; in the 20th century, cars, television, nuclear bombs, the Internet, and quantum mechanics; in the 21st century, biotechnology, nanotechnology, nuclear fusion, and M theory!”
These words were spoken like a flurry of words, and the man kept pacing on the podium, "We humans, our genes have hardly evolved over the past 30,000 years, but we have subverted the entire world. What does this rely on? Could it be that Are they those illusory gods?”
As these words were spoken, the expressions of some religious people in the audience suddenly changed.
"Actually, it's quite a bit."
But the next second, the man started asking and answering himself, and at the same time he changed his words, "How were the Neanderthals exterminated? In the North American science fiction drama "Westworld", Professor Ford said to the robot Bernard, 'Neanderthals' The Anders were eaten by us', and Harari, the author of "A Brief History of Humanity", believes that 'imagination' is the fundamental reason why our ancestors can survive... "
"Over the past tens of thousands of years, Homo sapiens have evolved from Africa and gradually become more 'imaginative'. This ability has enabled our ancestors to face the harsh environment, as well as racial cohesion and cultural transmission with unprecedented capabilities. Motivation, and created 'imaginary' stories to entrust their spirits, such as 'gods', 'witches', 'totems', etc."
"So, religion is actually not useless."
The man spread his hands and said decisively, "But in the final analysis, we still rely on science and technology! Science can help us understand the world, and technology can help us change the world!"
"Technology can even help us participate in evolution..."
After a pause, the man continued, "No, it is no longer evolution at the technological level. This is real 'evolution', because we can control the direction of our evolution, and we can evolve more perfectly! And in the final analysis, We want to achieve a longer lifespan, this is the ultimate meaning of evolution!"
"As we all know, our Blackwatch company has developed an 'aging reversal treatment' project that uses stem cells to delay aging, and has also developed three types of cancer specific drugs. In the final analysis, this is an evolution, a process of The evolution of scientific and technological means, and this conference is our attempt at another path of human evolution... "
"This is the new theory I elaborated - "Technological Interference in Evolution". We humans can completely embark on an evolutionary path that transcends nature in our own way, because... "
The man paused, looked around the audience, and finally said with shining eyes:
"We are gods!"