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--- readable:db.xl:travelogue.xianzhou [2026/04/18 13:06] – [Artisanship Commission] anadmin
+++ readable:db.xl:travelogue.xianzhou [2026/04/18 13:53] (current) – [Long-Life Species, Part II] anadmin
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-==== Jade Abacuses ====
+==== Jade Abacus ====
+The jade abacus has seen wide usage among both the government and common folks in general.
+I once asked a diviner who used to work for the Divination Commission this question — "What exactly is the Matrix of Prescience Ultima?"
+"It's nothing special, to be honest. Just countless jade abaci linked together to form a matrix," the former diviner replied.
+"It's nothing special, to be honest." This sentence has a showiness that could be considered revolting by outworlders. But my time on the Xianzhou ship allowed me to know that this diviner is telling the truth. Looking at the jade pendants and bracelets the people of the Xianzhou wear, I can tell that their gorgeous jade jewelry is just the civilian version of jade abaci.
+And based on my observations, these jade abaci that are in the form of jewelry have a powerful level of performance that is on par with any other commonly available personal computer.
+I am not an expert in computer science, and so I sent some jade abaci over to a colleague in the Intelligentsia Guild who specializes in that field. Later, they sent me a response: "Todd, all I see are some pieces of jade. Where are those computers you were talking about?" If I knew, then I wouldn't have needed to bother him.
+After doing some investigating, he finally unearthed the secret of the jade abacus. In principle, the jade abacus is a type of crystal computer.
+If you were to take apart a jade abacus and do a close inspection, you would find that there are lines similar to semiconductor chips. This kind of technique is known as "carving" in the Xianzhou. Even though we found the lines carved into the jade contained executable programs, my colleague at the Intelligentsia Guild could not find any signals being transmitted.
+This is what he said:
+"I have seen many liquid-based and even gas-based computers that simply lack the structure that computers are supposed to have. But they are capable of performing powerful computations at scale because liquids and gases have a relatively flexible molecular structure, meaning they can be translocated in any way by design. I haven't discovered any similar physical properties in the structure of this jade ore. It is as if this jade was just a dumb rock that has suddenly been transformed into something heavenly by the forces of nature."
+My colleague was more than eager to continue dissecting the jade's structure, but I had a new stroke of inspiration. Since we cannot find any components that are supplying computing power, then that must mean the jade abacus is incomplete. It needs other elements to become whole.
+With this revelation, I made a wild guess (I just realized that I love using the phrase "wild guess")... The jade abacus itself is a certain type of quantum communication component. There was a force that existed among the tens of millions of jade abaci throughout the Xianzhou Alliance. The question is, what is supplying the computing power to all these jade abaci?[(This sentence is weird. "With what are they supplying the computing power to all these jade abaci?" might also make sense.)]
+Perhaps there are many people who don't know that mammalian brains are one of the universe's most perfect computers. Herta of the Genius Society has a powerful brain with computing abilities that are only limited by the blob of proteins between her ears. She can't advance beyond the constraints of her hardware.
+But if there were a way that millions of brains could be linked together to create a complex and refined communications network like a nervous system that stretched across space, it would allow the intelligence and knowledge of those millions of people to converge together like surging rivers rushing out to sea. These millions of minds linked together would not just mean millions of minds' worth of information stored on this neural network. It would also mean that there is computing power that is at a level equal to the combined power of all these brains. A thought that once was a ripple on a lake would now be an enormous wave, every single drop of which contains hundreds of millions of synapses, releasing electronic currents and transmitting information, observations, memories, calculations...[(Hello, Sumeru and the Akasha terminal. Also quasi-Borg.)]
+Yes. I believe that the Xianzhou utilizes jade abaci to directly link people together. They use this kind of method to observe all of Xianzhou and record every creation. They can even calculate every moment in history. Everything is clear to them. In other words, the jade abacus isn't a kind of crystal computer. Rather, it is a type of bio-quantum computer.
+After my Intelligentsia Guild colleague from the computer science field heard my conjecture, he burst into laughter, like I was some kind of brainless reptile. I just hope that he can ultimately unearth the secrets of this technology... If bio-quantum computers could be applied to the Intelligentsia Guild, then this massive academic association would become a single scholar whose wisdom would be worthy of an audience with the Aeon of Erudition.
+The Intelligentsia Guild has always believed that "All knowledge must flow like currency." This would be the most efficient way to make that happen.
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 ==== Long-Life Species, Part I ====
+Cleo,
+I hope this letter finds you well.
+First and foremost, I hereby declare: **I voluntarily relinquish any right to claim remuneration from Scholar Cleo regarding this article.**
+Now, pretend this is a list complaining about all the setbacks of a foolish old coot like me. Before the trip, you kept asking me why I took on this Luofu mission at my age. Back then, I... I'm sorry, I don't remember what I told you at the time. But I know that I still owe you a sincere apology.
+I know that the academy sent us here to engage in the profitable exchange of information, not to hear us ceaselessly repeat in our reports about the beautiful sights aboard the Xianzhou. But regarding the key issue of longevity, I'm like my predecessors whose only success has been managing to take in those beautiful sights.
+It's been almost 12 standardized months since I came to the Luofu — so one year has passed according to the Xianzhou star calendar. I've partied at the Grand Fair in Starskiff Haven, despite the herniated disc in my back; I've drunk the cultural heritage phenomenon of mung bean soda, as recommended by Amicassadors (and when I say cultural heritage, just imagine what a hundred-year fermentation process it is — it's nothing to the Xianzhou natives!); and I've been to the Alchemy Commission for their acupuncture therapy. I feel as though I'm 20 years younger! Still good for another few whacks from the old lady's turner!
+After all these meaningless activities, I should have, as my failed predecessors should have, posed this crucial question: "How can I, with my osteoporosis, failing memory, skin sagged like an empty beanbag... How can I return to the days of my youth, and live out another thousand years of life — just like you folks here on the Xianzhou do?"
+I never asked it though, Cleo — I never said a word. And that's why I'm sitting here sipping tea and writing up all of these letters of repine.
+All the intelligent beings in the universe want the secret to everlasting youth. Whilst we overwhelm ourselves with the suffering of life, we search inside ourselves and say: When our chance comes, we must take it and extend our lifespans.
+Yet without the help of technology, most intelligent hominids naturally wither and fade within the span of a hundred years. Except for a few races — those human subspecies known as long-life species.
+Blessed by a whimsy Aeon (usually Yaoshi), the lives of some intelligent hominids cross that threshold set for them by death. They possess a long lifespan, and multiply in disastrous quantities. What's more worrying is their natural aggression in plundering resources from various homeworlds, sometimes completely converting entire ecosystems. You must be pretty familiar with these lifeforms: The Denizens of Abundance.
+These Denizens of Abundance have no small volume of literature researched about them by the Intelligentsia Guild (as far as I know, many are utterly inhumane, but of course, Abundance doesn't listen to reason). The researchers have all reached the same conclusion: The life-extension protocols of the Denizens of Abundance are intrinsically connected to their genetic make-up — cannibalism, interspecies blood transfusions, a hive mentality, rejuvenation via hibernation or molting... Despite easy access to longevity, most of the Denizens of Abundance lose their minds as they warp into twisted beasts (even if those saber-toothed tigers have somehow had access to interstellar travel, they would have caused less panic the Denizens of Abundance do). Even if the Guild uncovers their secrets, nobody could commercialize it — rich people will never stump up the cost of treatment for inhuman long-living!
+In the end, the Intelligentsia Guild turned their research toward a more civilized long-life species: The Xianzhou Alliance. They are mortal enemies locked in eternal combat against their fellow long-life species, the Denizens of Abundance. The Alliance seems rational, can we invest some money in learning the secret to long life from them?
+Hmph, resource exchange, political mediation, trade wars... They have exhausted all possible methods to achieve nothing but regular academic exchanges. The Guild still doesn't plan on giving up, and keeps sending a stream of silly, cursed fools like us aboard the Xianzhou. Academic exchanges? Please, we might as well have the word "SPY" carved onto our foreheads. Do you really think the Xianzhou people don't get what we're up to? Will they just spill the beans while out doing groceries? Is it possible the masters governing the schools are all in fact idiots?
+Cleo, I'm sorry about all this blathering. Maybe I'm the idiot here. I know it's an impossible task, but here I still am. Because I'm no longer the middle-aged guy who used to teach you back then — I'm old now, my joints all creak and crunch like there're caltrops inside me, and I curse the universe every time I have to rise from my chair. $?%*&! Why? Why — no matter how far our tech advances — there is still no cure for arthritis? I truly regret not taking up the company on their cyber-medical insurance policy. At the time, I was filled with hubris and thought that I'd never grow old.
+But I was wrong. Now I hope to see a breakthrough before I die.
+;;#
+Your dearest teacher, Todd Riordan
+;;#
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 ==== Long-Life Species, Part II ====
+Cleo,
+I hope this letter finds you well.
+First and foremost, I hereby declare: **I voluntarily relinquish any right to claim remuneration from Scholar Cleo regarding this article.**
+Recently, I finally go acquainted with a few employees of the Alchemy Commission (which cost a lot of money), hoping to get some knowledge from them that ordinary outworlders can't get. I have sweet talked them and poured who knows how many catties of Dragon Spring Brew into them, but I still couldn't get them to show me the medical books and pharmacopoeia that cannot be released to the public. In their words, "This can cause you to lose your head."
+The good news is that they were finally impressed by my "sincerity" and were willing to share with me some medical reports that were of little value to them. These medical reports were about the natural death of foxians.
+I have attached the original report to this letter, so please pick it up for yourself.
+In terms of coming to their end, the natural death of foxians, like the ultimate end of all long-life species, is shrouded in a fog that is difficult to penetrate with superficial science and technology.
+During the vast majority of a foxian's life, a large number of pluripotent stem cells are stored in numerous organs of their body. These pluripotent stem cells will continuously repair the physical body of foxians, allowing aging and damage to be healed in a short period of time.
+Until a few years before their end of life, the number of these pluripotent stem cells gradually decreases, but still remains sufficient to maintain their ageless appearance. At the age of 250 to 450 years (Note: The median age is 307 years), these pluripotent stem cells come to a complete halt and lose their ability to divide freely.
+What ensues is a death that comes with multiple organ failures. The natural death comes quickly, with patients often dying within 3 to 4 days after the pluripotent stem cells have lost their ability to divide. The good thing is that most of them are prepared for the various age-related diseases that begin to develop in their organs, so it is typically not too late to prepare for the aftermath.
+Of course, neither the Alchemy Commission nor I could figure out what factor prompts these pluripotent stem cells to suddenly fail at some point in time.
+Over twenty years ago, when the Intelligentsia Guild fought the borisin, we did some related experiments. I don't know if you remember... Oh, you shouldn't remember, you weren't even that old then. At the time, we removed the livers of some of the borisin and found that they turned into a huge, aggressive "cancerous mass" within a few hours. Considering the phylogenetic relationship between the borisin and foxians, I think the principles involved are probably similar.
+There is something else that is unexplainable: There have been many case studies where the entire liver of a foxian patient is completely removed, but there has never been a record of a foxian turning into a "cancerous mass." In fact, most foxians grow a new liver after such a procedure and are discharged from the hospital with a normal recovery. (Although the records do show that losing a liver results in a much slower regeneration compared to the loss of other organs.)
+I currently believe there are two explanations for this:
+  - Foxian pluripotent stem cells aren't generated at the liver, but just gather there for some reason. (Which explains why the regeneration rate becomes slower after losing the entire liver.)
+  - Foxians have some kind of biological difference with the borisin, and this subtle but huge difference determines the difference between the Xianzhou native and Abominations of Abundance.
+Obviously, the incomplete "immortality" of foxians is not accessible to us. But I find that there is still a considerable degree of commercial value in it — while these pluripotent stem cells aren't actually "all-powerful," they can still enable foxians to maintain their youthful appearance until their demise.
+Cleo, before I set out, you said to me, "Teacher Riordan, I do not want to live forever. In living so long, even the more interesting things in life become meaningless. But I'm afraid of getting old, aging is terrifying."
+I didn't pay much heed to you at the time (and probably was even a little cold to you), but now I have to say that you were probably right. Most of the potential customers we can find in the cosmos probably hold the same thoughts as you do. They don't necessarily intend to live as long as the universe itself, but they merely wish to preserve their youth (or beauty) in the fleeting time that they have.
+If you're not busy these days, do some market research for me. Maybe the foxian pluripotoent stem cells will allow us to make a lot of money from "eternal youth."
+If I die without achieving this, then the patent is all yours.
+;;#
+Your dearest teacher, Todd Riordan
+;;#