Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1085 562: Is There Life Inside the Wormhole? (Part 3)

On the slides, Yu Yaoming was showing his derivation step by step: "Among the forms of life we're familiar with, there is a limit value to how much tidal effect we can withstand. Once this limit is exceeded, the molecular structure of our bodies will be damaged.

This is a basic assumption based on our current knowledge, because none of us has ever really gone near a wormhole. No one knows what kind of changes we'd undergo near a wormhole, or even inside a wormhole itself.

If we switch to another assumption, we might transform from carbon-based life to silicon-based life. Our form of life might break free from the current molecular structure, or even atomic structure, in order to adapt to the extreme changes around a wormhole.

Or our structure might not change at all, but under the influence of some kind of energy, a negative energy density might appear in a local region, creating a relatively stable environment around the wormhole..."

Yan Youjun gave a laugh and interrupted him again: "Professor Yu, before you came, did you seriously think about what you were going to say? Forget atomic structure for a second—if even the molecular structure changes, is that still life? If you burn a living person to ashes, do you think that person can come back to life?"

"That analogy is inappropriate," Yu Yaoming went on presenting his derivation. "Burning a living person to ashes does not involve any change in the nature of space itself, whereas a fundamental change in space will bring about adaptive evolution in both environment and life."

"You're talking about evolution? With the level of science humanity has right now, we still can't reconstruct the full evolutionary history of life, and you're telling me life will evolve near a wormhole. When you say that, do you not feel like you're doing stand‑up comedy?" Yan Youjun found it absurd, and he was ready with even harsher words.

A few experts in the audience couldn't sit still anymore. They shifted their gaze to the person in charge of the conference, Vice Principal Lu Jianpeng.

"Old Lu, letting things get this confrontational—does that really seem appropriate?"

"What kind of academic exchange is this? Those two are about to start throwing punches. Where's the academic atmosphere in that?"

"I think this is exactly the kind of atmosphere academic discussion should have," Lu Jianpeng was very satisfied with how things were going. "How did academic exchanges used to work? Five or six experts took turns giving talks. After each talk, they got interviewed, everyone flattered each other.

When it was over, the people on stage had been praised till they were comfortable, the people offstage were nearly asleep, and once everyone went home, the field was still the same field, the landscape still the same landscape. What real outcome could that possibly lead to?"

The people around him fell silent. They realized Principal Lu was talking pretty sharply today as well, apparently infected by the mood on stage.

He really was infected. This was precisely why he had organized this conference: he wanted to change the landscape of the academic field of wormhole studies and win more attention for it.

On stage, the debate between Yu Yaoming and Yan Youjun was growing more and more intense. Every viewpoint Yu raised was refuted by Yan, and every one of Yan's refutations was countered by Yu.

"Professor Yan, biological evolution, by definition, is the process of changing in order to adapt to the environment. I did a focused study of biology for this. The speed of evolution for organisms under extreme conditions is astonishing..."

Once again, Yan Youjun cut him off: "No need to keep citing research; you were originally a biology student. You did your undergrad in biology, switched halfway to astronomy during your master's, and then changed again to quantum physics for your PhD.

Now, when people do research, they're always shouting about breaking disciplinary boundaries, tossing together fields that have nothing to do with each other, stringing along experts from all walks of life. Papers come out fast, the awards pile up—do you really call that doing academic work?"

Down in the audience, Fang Yufei was grinding her teeth. "That old bastard's started going for personal attacks. That's all he's actually good at!"

Beside her, Han Yue Long asked, "Yufei, do you care that much about Professor Yu? Just because he's your advisor, you can't stand seeing him suffer even a little?"

Fang Yufei nodded. "Yes. He shouldn't have to suffer any grievances, especially not from idiots like these. People this ignorant—every time they provoke Professor Yu, they're desecrating intelligence itself."

The people nearby heard what Fang Yufei said and turned to look in her direction.

Han Yue Long was sweating. The atmosphere at today's conference was already tense, and Fang Yufei's state of mind made everyone even more worried.

"Yufei, stop talking..."

"And what if I don't?" Fang Yufei sneered. "You're one of the idiots too. You have no idea what real wisdom and power are."

She had originally wanted to take a jab at Li Banfeng as well, but Li Banfeng was listening intently to Yu Yaoming's exposition; he was very interested in Yu's viewpoints.

Yu Yaoming said to Yan Youjun, "Professor Yan, I've listed a great many steps in my argumentation here. Please read them, and then we can move on to the next stage of discussion."

Yan Youjun shook his head. "I'm not going to look at your baseless derivations. The premises of those arguments are all assumptions you've made up out of thin air."

"Then at least let me finish laying out my views. Please don't keep interrupting me."

"Interrupting you is exactly what I intend to do. You've constructed an absurd viewpoint and are using an absurd derivation process to lead everyone else's thinking astray. This is classic misdirection—this is classic academic fraud!"

Teacher Song shook her head. Yan Youjun had started slapping labels on people.

She watched Yu Yaoming's reaction. So far, his emotions still seemed relatively stable.

"Professor Yan, you say I'm committing fraud. Then please point out exactly which of my arguments or pieces of evidence involves fraudulent behavior."