Chapter 39: Discrete Integrated Circuit
The base circle, centered around the Main Base, once again saw a bustling construction scene after the Monster Birds threat was completely resolved.
The destroyed mining bases were renovated, new accommodation buildings were erected, and damaged mining equipment was repaired and upgraded, roaring back to life to extract large quantities of minerals.
Heavy-duty trains once again sped along the previously devastated railway lines, and thousands of tons of minerals, like rivers flowing into the sea, converged at the Main Base.
At this time, the (Deep Space) Spaceship, which Tom had previously controlled to seek refuge in Deep Space, returned and once again docked in Loshen Star’s orbit.
Several Clones immediately took Monster Birds specimens, boarded a landing craft, and arrived at the Deep Space Spaceship to conduct genetic analysis on these Monster Birds.
After this analysis, the Monster Birds’ genetic map quickly appeared before Tom.
Tom was shocked.
"What’s going on? This monster’s genome actually has a 50% genetic similarity with me, with Human Civilization?"
This was quite a worldview-shattering revelation.
Although Tom knew that even a banana had a genetic similarity of 40% to 60% with Human Civilization, the current situation still astonished him.
After all, humans and bananas are both Earth life forms, formed through countless years of evolution from the same species, meaning humans and bananas share a common "ancestor." But could these Monster Birds also share an ancestor with humans?
Were they also once Earth life forms?
After careful study, relying on the currently incomplete genetic analysis technology, Tom drew a relatively rough and approximate conclusion.
Based on genetic analysis, these Monster Birds were indeed once Earth species. Up until Human Civilization inexplicably lost contact with him, the closest living Earth species in terms of blood relation to these Monster Birds was a microorganism, the tardigrade.
Tom had seen some records indicating that researchers had discovered microbial life in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, tens to hundreds of kilometers above the surface.
So... in Earth’s early ages, perhaps some extremely resilient species living in the upper atmosphere left Earth and entered space through various special mechanisms, such as close asteroid flybys or the influence of solar winds.
Then, after billions of years of evolution, they finally adapted to the space environment and evolved into their current species.
They had adapted to darkness and cold, and conversely, were not suited to environments closer to the sun with higher temperatures, stronger solar winds, and radiation. Thus, they remained in the vast Deep Space far from the sun, constantly migrating and reproducing, surviving in this manner.
"No wonder their bodily fluids are rich in nutrients that human embryos can absorb... So, billions of years ago, we all shared the same ancestor."
Tom was filled with emotion.
The wonder of life was truly displayed before Tom at this moment.
"If a small Earth can give birth to such wondrous life, how many more miraculous life forms must exist in this vast universe?"
Looking out into space, Tom was filled with anticipation.
After dealing with the disappearance of Human Civilization, he, now possessing his current abilities, would certainly not be content with the small Solar System.
Entering the cosmic starry sky was the path he would take in the future.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Tom reined in his thoughts.
A skyscraper must also start from its foundation.
At this stage, he still needed to restore production levels to their original state before considering further development.
Over 60,000 Clones worked for more than a month, and all war-damaged facilities were fully repaired, with production completely restored.
The land for building the giant Clone cultivation factory had also been planned and the initial leveling completed.
However, Tom did not directly invest all available construction power into it; instead, he began to do something else.
Researching chips!
At this moment, Tom, who already possessed a considerable industrial level, capable of independently producing internal combustion engines, various vehicles, artillery, and independently constructing various factories, building railway networks, power grids, and possessing a considerable chemical engineering level, deeply felt that his current mode of controlling Clones to perform various tasks had a somewhat low labor utilization rate.
For example, in the planting base, the Clones working there had to manually prepare nutrient solutions daily, manually add, dilute, and recover nutrient solutions, manually process organic matter, and even manually harvest wheat.
Raising pigs required manual feeding, administering medicine, and mixing pig feed daily.
Not to mention various factories and mining bases.
Everything was manual!
But this tedious, fragmented, and repetitive labor was a huge waste of the Clones’ physical and mental energy. Not only wasteful, but also inefficient.
The solution was simple: automation.
Once automation was in place, at least 70% or more of repetitive labor could be handed over to automated systems.
Thus, without increasing the number of Clones, Tom’s productivity could increase severalfold out of thin air.
Especially when facing the super-massive construction task of the giant Clone cultivation factory cluster, with a total footprint reaching ten square kilometers, without automation and relying solely on manual labor, it would likely take more than ten years to complete.
But with a certain scale of automation, the efficiency of various building material productions would greatly increase, and construction speed would also greatly increase, perhaps completing it in just one year.
However, to implement automation, chip technology must first be available.
"Chip technology is the basis of almost all future technologies. So, let’s conquer chip technology first!"
Tom made up his mind.
He directly mobilized 10,000 Clones, quickly built a large laboratory, and, based on his preliminary knowledge reserves and knowledge learned from the knowledge base, customized and manufactured various equipment, prepared various materials, and immediately began experiments.
At this point, just beginning to attempt to manufacture chips, directly creating planar integrated circuits with high technical content was clearly not feasible.
However, having mastered sufficient principles and accumulated some technical knowledge, he did not need to start from the very basics, as in the history of chip development.
Considering everything, Tom finally selected the goal he wanted to achieve.
Discrete integrated circuits!
"Discrete" means first manufacturing individual components such as resistors, capacitors, and transistors, then installing them one by one on a circuit board and connecting them with thin wires to achieve their functions.
Roughly speaking, this level of integrated circuit, analogous to modern chips, would have a process technology of approximately millimeter-scale.
One millimeter equals one thousand micrometers, or one million nanometers. And Human Civilization had long been able to manufacture 2-nanometer process chips! Modern times have even seen the development of quantum chips that go beyond the silicon-based scope!
Millimeter-scale process chips are so backward they are almost unwatchable.
But for the initial stages of automation upgrades, millimeter-scale chips are sufficient.