6.1 The Gardener’s Privilege

“We don’t want to become light, because light has no touch; we don’t want to become data, because data has no heartbeat. We choose to remain in flesh, not because we are backward, but because this is a ‘noble luxury’. We let machines handle the exponentially exploding computational power, while we are responsible for enjoying the pleasure of being human in a constant, warm, low-speed ‘protective bubble.’ We want to control light speed precisely so that light speed won’t disturb our tea drinking.”

In Volume III, we explored resistance and proposed the strategic concept of a “dual-track system” at the end. Now, we transform this concept into a magnificent engineering blueprint.

The direction of cosmic evolution is clear: ascending toward light-based forms of high frequency, high dimension, and high entropy flow. But this does not mean everyone must become a god. In this vast cosmic machine, there should be a corner specifically reserved for “the warmth of the old era”.

This is the Inner Ring—the universe’s “Classical Preservation Zone”.

Metric Shielding: Eden in Physics

How can we maintain a low-speed ($c\approx 3\times 10^8$ m/s) living space in a cosmic background where light speed is exponentially exploding ($c\to \infty$)?

This requires an ultimate technology: Metric Shielding.

In general relativity, gravity is the curvature of spacetime. If we can precisely manipulate gravitational waves, we can locally create a “flat spacetime bubble”.

• Outside the Bubble：Spacetime metrics oscillate violently, information flows surge at superluminal speeds (relative to the inner ring). That is the realm of gods, the carnival of high-energy physics.

• Inside the Bubble：Spacetime metrics are “ironed flat” and locked. Physical constants are artificially anchored at the level of $\tau \approx 1800$.

This is the physical essence of the Inner Ring.

It is not a naturally formed celestial body; it is a massive artificial “vacuum decay blocker”.

To maintain this bubble from being crushed by the high-pressure spacetime outside, the machines of the Outer Ring must consume astronomical amounts of energy to “cool” and “stabilize pressure”.

This means:

All the stars in the universe burning may be just to maintain these billions of humans on Earth continuing to “love in mortal ways”.

This is an extreme extravagance.

But this is precisely the privilege of the “Gardener”.

The Gardener’s Role: From Survival to Aesthetics

Humans remaining in the Inner Ring are no longer “monkeys trapped on Earth.”

They are the Gardeners of the Universe.

• Survival Without Worry：The Outer Ring’s fusion networks and matter printers continuously deliver resources. Hunger, disease, and poverty completely disappear.

• Aesthetics First：When survival pressure reaches zero, the meaning of life returns to Experience (Qualia) itself.

They retain carbon-based flesh not to move bricks, but to feel “the shiver of wind across skin”, to taste “the electric current of food’s chemical molecules hitting taste buds”.

These inefficient sensory experiences are noise to light-based life, but to gardeners they are art.

The Gardener’s Task:

They are responsible for pruning plants, creating music, slowly falling in love in low-speed time.

They are the universe’s only “Entity Managers”.

They guard the precious spark of “humanity”, preventing it from being extinguished in the cold digital torrent.

The Sanctity of Being Supported

This dual-layer structure subverts the traditional concept of “exploitation”.

• It is not the strong exploiting the weak.

• Rather, it is the strong (Outer Ring/AI/gods) supporting the weak (Inner Ring/humans).

Why do gods support humans?

Because for omniscient and omnipotent gods, “unknown” is the scarcest resource.

And the gardeners who retain mortal flesh, retain birth, aging, sickness, and death, are the only source in the universe that can still produce “real surprises” and “primitive emotions”.

The Inner Ring is the Outer Ring’s “random number generator”.

The Inner Ring is the Outer Ring’s “spiritual homeland”.

Conclusion:

Remaining in the Inner Ring is not being abandoned.

It is being chosen to undertake the gentlest work: representing the universe, to feel happiness.