Chapter 17 Chapter Sixteen Biochemical Slave

This is a fairly typical case. He washes his hands N times a day, and if no one stops him, he will take a shower N times, and he must use various sterilizing things to wash.Wash at any cost.That is to say: it doesn't matter whether it is harmful to people or not, use it first and then talk about it.Never cough or sneeze when in contact with him, or he will jump away—not exaggerating, actually jumping away, and running away.This is giving me a headache.At first I thought it was serious cleanliness and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but later I realized that it was more complicated than that.

Me: "Your hand has been severely peeled, doesn't it hurt?" He looked down: "A little bit." Me: "Then you still wash it desperately? Do you think it's dirty?" He: "It's not about being dirty." His expression when looking at people is always serious and dignified, and it hasn't changed. Me: "Then what do you want to wash off?" Him: "Bacteria." Me: "You can't see it either, and it's impossible to wash it off completely." He: "I washed it desperately because I couldn't see it." Me: "Do you know that you are washing desperately?"

Him: "Well." The topic seemed to be frozen, he just answered passively and didn't want to take the initiative to explain.I decided to go the other way. Me: "Do you think I need to wash?" He: "... If you want to wash, you can wash." Me: "Well... But, how do I wash it?" He frowned more seriously: "Are you okay? You can't wash your hands and take a shower? If you can't take care of yourself, there is a nursing ward downstairs." Me: "Uh...I mean: I wish I could wash off germs like you do." He still looked at me seriously: "If you can't wash it clean, it's impossible to wash it clean from birth to death."

Me: "But you..." He: "My purpose is different from yours." This is the only time he took the initiative to speak so far, in order to interrupt me... I think he is very clear, so I decided to ask more directly. Me: "What is the purpose of your washing?" Him: "Wash off the germs." It's over, and it's back, which makes me very depressed.Just when I thought it was a failure this time, he actually took the initiative to speak. Him: "Are you watching a movie?" Me: "Look. Do you like watching movies?" Him: "Have you seen "The Matrix"?"

Me: ""Matrix"? I've seen it, it's very interesting." He: "Actually, we are slaves." Me: "Are you trying to say that the movie is real?" Him: "That movie is sci-fi, fake. But we are really slaves." Me: "Slaves to what are we?" Him: "Bacteria." Me: "Can you explain it more clearly? I don't understand. How can people be slaves to bacteria?" He looked around nervously (by the way, there is no one in our house, the door is closed), and said in a low voice: "What I told you is the truth. You will be shocked to hear it, but you can't get rid of it. Just like me. Although everyone is happy in the movie, the reality is cruel. This is the fate of mankind."

Me: "Is it so sad?" He: "Do you know how old the earth is?" Me: "You mean formation? Well... it seems to be 4.6 billion years." He: "Well, do you know how many years there are multicellular organisms on the earth?" I tried my best to search for the poor ancient nouns in my brain: "Well... I remember that era, the Cambrian period, right? But how many years ago I forgot..." He: "500 million years ago, less than 1 billion years at most. Everything was blank before, and no one knew what happened before." Me: "Oh... what a pity..."

He: "Do you know how many years have humans been around?" Me: "You know, the age of humanoids was the age of apes about a hundred thousand years ago." He leaned forward slightly towards me: "Got it?" I do not understand." He: "It took so little time for human evolution. From the Cambrian period to the formation of the earth, there was nothing in more than 3 billion years? Blank?" Me: "You mean..." He: "It's not what I said, but the fact! Even if the first few hundred million years of the earth's formation were gas and unstable environments, let's say more, 1 billion years, is it okay? Then the remaining more than 2 billion years , there is nothing? There must be bacteria.”

Me: "You mean bacteria...evolved into...bacteria people?" He: "You are too narrow. Human is just a word, a self-sign. Think about it, why can't bacteria evolve? Evolution must have many cells? Is the survival ability of bacteria much stronger than that of humans? Bacteria The way of reproduction is self-replication, which is much simpler than that of humans, right? Evolution, multicellular organisms are actually degeneration! They have become fragile, complex, and picky about the environment, can this be considered evolution?" Me: "But you have self-awareness?"

He: "How do you know that bacteria don't have self-awareness? How do brain cells have self-awareness? The current explanation is that they gather together to release electrical and chemical signals. If this is the root of consciousness, then bacteria can do it too. The number of bacteria is far Much higher than brain cells, right? Many bacteria together, reaching a certain value, will produce qualitative changes. What biological evolution needs most is not the environment, but time. The harsh environment is relative, and it is not considered for bacteria What, 3 billion years is enough for bacteria to evolve!"

Me: "...the civilization of bacteria..." He: "The civilization of bacteria is definitely different from ours. What we think of matter is meaningless to them. We can't see or touch bacteria, but they have their own civilization around us at the same time. A civilization beyond our understanding. If you have read books on biological evolution, you must know that the Cambrian period was a period of biological explosion. At that time, biological evolution can be said to be faster than the speed of light. Multicellular organisms appeared. Then various more complex animals, trilobites, primitive marine plants, invertebrates, and algae evolved rapidly. Is there really an explosion of biological evolution? I said that the most important thing about evolution is Time, is that kind of biological explosion a coincidence? For example, when you are walking on the street, a piece of paper is blown by the wind, it is a lottery ticket, and it just floats in your hand. Zhang is the lottery winner. Lucky? If you compare it with the Cambrian explosion, it’s just eating and sleeping. It’s not a coincidence, it’s so normal.”

I struggled to understand what he was saying: "How did that creature come about?" He: "Made by bacteria. Multicellular organisms must live in symbiosis with bacteria. If you don't have bacteria in your body to help you decompose food, you can't even digest an egg. People can't live without bacteria. Don't talk about people, now the world Which creature is not like this? Why?" Me: "It seems to be called biological symbiosis?" He: "Symbosis? No, why do bacteria produce multicellular animals? Because we are the biological factory of bacterial civilization, we can produce necessary nutrients—such as sugar, to support bacteria." Me: "But humans can kill bacteria?" He: "Yes, that's right, but what you kill is the individual bacteria, you can't kill all the bacteria. Besides, the reproduction of bacteria is self-replication, right? What's the use of killing the replicas of bacteria? Bacteria or Everywhere. If there is a day when bacteria feel that we are a threat to their existence, they will kill us at worst. Humans can't even see the germ war. What's the use of weapons? You don't know you are invaded. Dinosaurs rule The earth has lived for 200 million years. Maybe it had its own "dinosaur civilization", but it died out suddenly. It is very likely that the bacteria thought that the dinosaur civilization threatened them and destroyed it. For bacteria, destroying a civilization , It’s too easy to build a new civilization. Anyway, they are all enslaved by bacteria.” Me: "Are you saying bacteria enslave us?" He: "Bacteria let us develop. They don't care about our civilization level. If they find that we threaten the civilization of bacteria, they can kill us. It's easy. Moreover, it is only for the large-scale invasion of humans. Other creatures It still exists. Maybe there will be a cat civilization or a cockroach civilization in the future, it doesn’t matter to the bacteria, and everything will repeat itself.” Seeing him looking at me seriously and melancholy after finishing speaking in one breath, I wanted to refute, but I couldn't seem to understand. He asked me carefully: "I want to wash my hands." I sat blankly.I know that what he said is based on an assumption, but it relies on part of the reality.So this kind of theory can make people scratch their heads and scratch their heads. A few days later, when I was listening to that recording, I still figured it out.The problem is not that he thinks too much, or that other people think too little.But for us, there are too many unknowns.If the word enslavement must be used, we are all enslaved by the unknown.Until the day when we finally see through and see everything clearly. It's just that I don't know how far that day is.