On March 3, 2030, it was the Dragon Head-Raising Festival.
"Here is a brief news flash: Our country's globally first practical controllable nuclear fusion reactor has successfully been connected to the grid for power generation!"
"After years of research and experimentation, the world's first practical controllable nuclear fusion technology was officially announced to have successfully achieved grid connection for power generation today, achieving a positive net energy gain in the nuclear fusion reactor, marking a major breakthrough in the global energy field.
It will completely change humanity's dependence on energy and provide a viable solution to the global energy crisis.
Currently, this technology has passed multiple rounds of strict testing and verification, proving its commercial application prospects and safety.
In the next few years, our country will start building the first generation of commercial nuclear fusion power plants and plans to promote this technology globally within a decade.
It is expected that within the next twenty years, commercial controllable nuclear fusion technology will become the dominant force in the future energy field of our country and even the world."
"Didn't they say it would take another 50 years? How has it been broken through already?"
The news suddenly broadcast on the TV screen surprised Song Han greatly.
Commercialization of controllable nuclear fusion!
After years of repeated popular science and the patient introduction in numerous science fiction novels, even Song Han, who was currently engaged in the sports industry, knew its power!
Hearing Song Han's exclamation, Brother Ao beside him smiled and teased:
"They've been saying there are still 50 years to go for 50 years already!
Wasn't there a report in 2028 that Pangu AI calculated a kind of ultra-high temperature superconductor?
With our country's accumulation in the technology of nuclear fusion, the development of a high-temperature superconductor in itself means that the practicality of nuclear fusion has become possible.
After all, speaking of nuclear fusion alone, there was already a case in 1951 during the SL era where the controllable nuclear fusion reaction experiment was successfully ignited!
The gap they had was just the inequality in energy gain.
One was using 100 units of electrical energy to maintain the ignition and operation safety of the controllable nuclear fusion reactor, and only managed to generate 10 units of electricity in return.
The other was using 10 units of energy to generate 100 units of electricity!
The reactor is still the same reactor. Calculated really, there isn't much difference from the one in the SL era in 1951. The difference is just that one can make money and the other can only lose money."
Song Han said in surprise:
"Come to think of it, hasn't the development of controllable nuclear fusion been going on for almost a hundred years?"
"The steam engine appeared in 1785, and the whole world has been 'boiling water' for 250 years. Until now, we're still doing it.
Considering the changes that nuclear fusion technology will bring to humanity, what's a hundred years?"
Hearing this, Song Han looked at the news on the TV and couldn't help but sigh:
"I thought this controllable nuclear fusion technology was the latest technology. I didn't expect it to be so old."
"There's no such thing as the latest technology! All there are are people who keep pressing forward one after another."
Song Han nodded in agreement and said:
"True! Brother Ao! Add 5 kilograms and let's do another set!"
"Ah? Again?"
...
If we divide human eras according to human technology, the Steam Age, the Electrical Age, and the Information Age are all indisputable terms determined by history.
However, when controllable nuclear fusion was truly successfully implemented, everyone's discussions changed.
They no longer delved into the history of the Steam Age, paid no attention to the commercial mysteries of those multinational companies in the Electrical Age, and even the intelligent AI in the Information Age disappeared from people's conversations during this period.
The Fusion Era became a byword for a time.
Today, in 2030, the rapid development of artificial intelligence has brought about earth-shaking changes to social productivity, which was previously limited by human resources.
From the year 2023, the first year of AI, unemployment and employment have been eternal topics during this period. Along with this, the gap between the rich and the poor has been further widened, and the Gini coefficient of the whole world has reached an all-time high.
However, all these things are no longer mentioned in today's social networks. All people talk about is one thing:
The Fusion Era!
Under the condition of infinite energy, what will our future be like?
The same question is asked every day by different people, and they give different answers.
This has even led to a series of inexplicable upheavals in the global financial market. In this rapidly changing era, even capital doesn't know what to do.
Since the live-fire combat exercise in 2026, the conflicts between the two countries have gradually expanded and become more explicit.
Although they are still each other's largest trading partners, the conflicts that break out from time to time, soft confrontations and other issues still repeatedly consume the energy of all countries in the world.
It's nothing more than the top dog and the second-in-command vying for the top position, while the others like the third and fourth place are trembling with fear, trying to avoid being accidentally hurt.
The war in 2026 made the original Country C realize that the era of its sole dominance on this planet has gone forever.
That war also made Country X feel the charm of the technological explosion!
You know, for the same war, decades ago, it would have required hundreds of thousands of Chinese sons and daughters to be buried in a foreign land to achieve the same result.
Different from the East University relying on a complete social system, the originally extremely distorted gap between the rich and the poor and the Gini coefficient were forcibly pressed down to the dividing line of 0.5 by the government through public power and the means of allocation by state-owned enterprises.
At the same time, the Gini coefficient of Party C was as high as 0.9, which means that 90% of the society's wealth is occupied by one entity, while the remaining 10% is shared by 90% of the people.
Under the high Gini coefficient, how to maintain the centralized rule of the government in the chaotic social environment of Party C has become the top issue of Country C.
What's puzzling is that they seem to be used to this chaotic social environment?
Maybe in the eyes of others, as long as the domestic security is chaotic enough, the regime will be stable enough.
In the same year when the nuclear fusion reactor broke through the bottleneck, our country announced that it would establish a production project for converting 10 million tons of nitrogen dioxide into starch per year, as well as a series of starch processing and conversion industries, such as the conversion of starch into protein, lactic acid, acetone, succinic acid, glucose, etc., aiming to explore a new model for future food safety and supply guarantee during the construction process.
At the same time, the implementation demonstration of the space elevator project that was approved, the five-year plan for the Tianmen project, the high-speed rail interconnection plan for counties and cities across the country, etc., are even more eye-catching.
The sharp rise of the domestic currency and the continuous increase in the share of currency internationalization have made Country X seem to have an endless amount of money for a while.
The basic salary has been increased again and again, social welfare has been continuously improved, infrastructure projects of local governments have been launched like crazy. In contrast, the price level has dropped sharply, and the international status of the domestic currency has risen rapidly.
The speed of the increase in proportion is even much greater than the benefits brought by the exercise in 2026.
During this special period when infinite energy combined with intelligent AI has led to the rapid iteration of production, you can clearly feel that everything around you is changing rapidly. It seems that if you're not careful, the era will leave you far behind.
...
"Honey, let's buy a house!
After working for so many years, we've also saved a sum of money. We can buy a small house, and the installment payment in the future won't be too much of a burden."
"A house?"
Song Han frowned as he looked at the two-bedroom apartment he was renting.
Houses in Binhai are not cheap. Even in a more remote area, the price starts at 20,000 yuan per square meter.
With their current savings of hundreds of thousands of yuan after more than twenty years of hard work, they might even need to borrow some money for the down payment of a house.
But how much is the rent for this house? It's only 1,500 yuan!
If they invest the hundreds of thousands of yuan in their hands, the earnings will be enough to pay the rent. Thinking about it this way, buying a house seems to be of no use except to support a "master" for themselves.
"Wife! Recently, controllable nuclear fusion has been on the news. Maybe the housing price will drop in a few days. We have to hold on at this time!
If you don't buy it and I don't buy it, the housing price will definitely drop by 200 yuan tomorrow!
Saving money at this time is much easier than making money by working!"
"Really? Why have I heard that the housing price has gone up recently?"
"Up? Impossible! Absolutely impossible! The housing price has been rising for 50 years already. Where else can it go up?"
In the sales hall of "Kangan Mingyuan".
Song Han looked at the bustling crowd in the hall, his eyes full of doubts about life.
"Just in a couple of days, the housing price has directly doubled? How come?"
"Because of the commercial application of controllable nuclear fusion!"
As if having done her homework in advance, the salesgirl in charge of reception smiled and explained:
"Even if the world has infinite energy, there are still limited scarce resources in society!
For example, the land under our feet!
For example, the house we're going to visit!
..."
After being lectured by the salesgirl for over an hour about the asset multiplication effect brought about by the outbreak of the financial attributes of scarce resources in a society with infinite energy, Song Han gritted his teeth and took out a 30-year loan to buy a small humble abode.
Then, in the second month after buying the property, Song Han was honorably laid off again.
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