by <unknown>
Throughout the long history of the process of cloning, the most monumental challenge had always been the cloning of primate species. In the case of other various species, the cloning technique used could be cross-referenced to develop new techniques. For instance, the cloning technique used for sheep could be modified slightly to clone Kunming mice.
However, of all the cloning techniques developed to this day that could be used to clone mammalian species, none of them were applicable to primate species.
Theologists all across the world claimed that this was because humans were primate species as well and were made in the image of God. God would never allow technology to defile his creations.
The sixteen year-long duration between the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep up till 2013 was coined as the dark ages of the cloning world. Over these daunting sixteen years, scientists all over the world constantly attempted to perform cloning on primate species with what extremely limited cloning theories they had at hand.
Each time they failed, they tried again. Again and again…
Many people had given up on the endeavor. However, each failure effectively crossed off a non-viable path and served as an insight for the next person on the line. Each seemingly futile step taken contributed to the path to success in the grand scheme of things…
This mindless endeavor went on until 2013. It was then when the almighty authority of God was once again overcome by mankind.
In 2013, after thousands of failed attempts by the American-Kazakhstan scientist Mitalipov, he attempted the very first usage of caffeine in the process of human somatic nuclear cell transfer. It was this attempt that gave way to the miracle which countless scientists only dared to dream of up till that point —
After undergoing the caffeine process, not only were the cloned embryos able to fuse efficiently, they were able to attain a perfect form never seen before throughout the years!
The cause for this was that caffeine was a form of protein phosphatase inhibitor. Its elements were able to temporarily suppress the signal passage of the egg cell, effectively keeping it in a stable condition. This way, it was able to dramatically improve the efficiency of the cloning process.
Going back to the Western fable analogy:
The purpose of cloning was to cast out the original "egg cell nucleus" king from the egg cell to let another king called "Somatic cell nucleus" take its place.
However, the shift of regime was no small matter. If the nation was in a volatile state during the transfer of power, there was a large chance of a dramatic outbreak and riot which would lead to the collapse of the kingdom.
This was where caffeine played a critical role. It assumed the role of the "Minister" who kept the nation under control during the transfer of power. In these times of turbulence and turmoil, it was able to quell the nation to ensure the "Somatic cell nucleus" was able to smoothly ascend to its place on the throne…
In China, there was a saying which conveyed the meaning that the older generation planted the tree for the next generation to use as shade. This was a perfect analogy of the contribution of the scientist Mitalipov. It was his effort that ensured that humanity would not cease in their efforts of cloning, all of that led to Samuel standing here today beholding what was before him.
When Samuel beheld the birth of life happening before him, he thoughtfully reflected on its implications.
This batch of cloned chimpanzees had differentiated enough hematopoietic stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells to help reiterate Chen Chen's previous experiment.
As long as the experiment was able to proceed as planned, the process of aging would soon cease to be an irreversible phenomenon. The average life expectancy of human beings was expected to be raised by 20 to 30 years.
Needless to say, this technique was not in its mature stages yet as there were still many hurdles yet to be overcome. For instance, the harmful effects which chemotherapy posed to the body, the high failure rate of immune system reconstruction, and such. These issues had to be addressed one by one in the future.
Apart from that, there was the issue of ethics. Although the argument that "embryos were not sentient beings" could be valid here, there would be a considerable amount of contradicting opinions from society. A separate solution was required to address this problem.
…
On the other side, right after bidding farewell to Cheng Cao, Chen Chen received news from Samuel regarding the success of the cloning.
"Pulling off the cloning chimpanzees in barely two months. Samuel is a very remarkable prospect…"
Chen Chen pondered for a moment upon reading the contents of the text.
If the following chimpanzee experiments turned out to be successful as well, all that remained was the clinical human trials.
To conduct clinical human trials in Switzerland, the green light from ATP (Advanced Technology Products) and SOPH (Federal Office of Public Health of the Swiss Confederation) was required. Just like how approval from FDA was needed in North America Continent and CFDA approval was required in the Mainland.
It was for this reason that another pesky situation came up —
Sometimes, the approval process in certain countries could take even longer than the time taken for drug and technology research and development. It may even be dragged on, that the company would be long bankrupt before approval was given.
Therefore, Chen Chen was not going to conduct the third stage of the clinical human trial in Switzerland where the healthcare infrastructure was perfectly standardized and developed.
He was going to relocate the third stage of the trial to Namibia.
He was currently in the honeymoon phase of the relationship with Namibia. Therefore, receiving the stamp from the Ministry of Health was going to be an effortless task.
If the ethic factor still proved to be too challenging and the chances seemed to be not optimistic, secretly conducting clinical trials himself might still be viable…
Chen Chen thought about his next move. He then made a call to Wynn, the head of the Swiss branch.
"Mr. Wynn, I need you to do me a favor…
"I need the most advanced bio-electronic equipment on the market... Yes, price and tariffs won't be a problem. The required political contributions won't be an issue either...
"I know there's going to be a lot of work and connections involved in this project. I heard your son is getting married soon, it just so happens that I recently bought a deluxe apartment right next to the Zurich Opera House. It belongs to him now.
"Alright, the sooner, the better. I'm sure you know what the company is currently developing as well. You'll be first in line as its beneficiary if it proves to be successful."
Chen Chen shook his head after ending the call.
Going by this trajectory, the four billion U.S. Dollars Chen Chen got from Facebook was not going to last much longer. He might have to scam his way into another fortune again.
Once he received a definite result of the experiment from Samuel's end, he just might have time to go bounty seeking across the world again.
This time around, four billion was not going to cut it…
Chapter 90: Obstacles in the Path Will Not Hinder Progression |
Over the following month, Chen Chen did not go anywhere and remained cooped up in the embassy reading materials and biology thesis.
From induced pluripotent stem cells to regenerative medical science, biomaterials, tissue engineering, genetic engineering, and cell engineering, Chen Chen was advancing one step at a time.
When there was no longer a restriction to the knowledge Chen Chen could have access to, he began to devour all current existing biological knowledge at a breakneck speed.
Without realizing it, it was already 31 January 2022. If Chen Chen was still in school, today would have been the end of the first half of his sophomore year.
Today also happened to be the day of a very important cultural event in China – New Year's Eve.
At around two
in the afternoon, while reading a thesis on "CRISPR/Cas9 systemic human genetics in relation to relative position", an idea suddenly came to Chen Chen. He picked up his phone and dialed an all-too-familiar number after a momentary hesitation.
Namibia was in the UTC+2 time zone, which was six hours away from Mainland China. It was around eight o'clock at night back in Mainland China.
"Hey, Little Chen, how did you find the time to call your mom?"
The voice of Chen Chen's mother came out from the other end, "Don't worry, your mom and dad are doing fine. Your dad bought a villa following your recommendation, it's still being renovated now.
"Once you get married in the future, you won't have to move out. I can spend time with my grandchild that way…
"Anyway, your dad is still the same as he's always been, always so stingy with relatives… Let's not talk about it, makes me angry when I think about it!
"Speaking of which, Little Chen. When are you coming back? I haven't seen you in a whole year ever since last year's New Year. Don't just invest all your time on your work, find some time to come back now and then, bring a girlfriend back too, eh?"
Listening to his mother nagging on and on, Chen Chen answered sheepishly to her remarks. The conversation went on this way for half an hour before it ended.
There was still a remnant of a smile in Chen Chen's eyes after he had ended the call. He got some shuteye after that.
When he opened his eyes again, the trace of smile was completely drowned in his pitch-black pupils.
The farther away he was from home, the more he longed for the charm of being at home. It was for this reason that Chen Chen wanted to preserve this charm forever.
"Mankind anti-aging project…"
Chen Chen mumbled to himself. This project was something he began drafting with ever since acquiring the USB drive. It was the ultimate endeavor to forcefully extend the human lifespan by all means necessary.
The reason for Chen Chen's unwavering commitment to see this project through was for the sake of his parents. He did not intend to continue living on all by himself. He had hoped that his parents would be there with him on this journey of life.
His parents must have felt the same way as well. They also had loved ones in their lifetime that they held dear to and certainly hoped could continue to be with them.
This was how Chen Chen's plan directed on the entirety of mankind came to be.
The first step to achieving immortality was to break the boundaries of the Hayflick limit to achieve longevity of the human lifespan. Only after acquiring the technique to longevity could one hope to pursue the elusive fable known as immortality.
It could even be said that everything Chen Chen did up till this point was to help him set to stage to carry out his project.
One of the components Chen Chen required for his project was a technique referred to as embryonic stem cell cloning. This was a technique that the entire world was striving to develop.
In contrast to the human cloning technique which faced countless scrutiny on an international scale, simple cloning of human embryo was not met with the same treatment. As far as most scientists were concerned, the brain of an embryo was hardly developed, if at all. It was just a sack of meat.
Just like how getting an abortion before fourteen weeks was considered not be a big issue. Passing the fourteen weeks period, it would be considered taboo to get an abortion.
The fourteenth week was considered the critical point where the fetal brain began rapid development. From this point onward, it was considered a human.
Whether the cloning of human embryos was considered taboo or not had been a subject of controversy in the medical world for some time.
The way Chen Chen saw it, it was a small price to pay for a further breakthrough in medical science. It would lead to curing more sickness and alleviating more people of their pain and suffering.
Simply put, medical development would always be a double-edged sword. Questions of morality and ethics would constantly be a part of the conversation when it came to such techniques. Without the factor of morality and ethics, the medical industry would spiral downward into an abyss of destruction.
However, when the bar of morality and ethics was set too high, the technological progression was hindered as well.
Chen Chen held onto his belief that the obstacles in this path would not hinder progression as the advancement of human technology had always been associated with countless obstacles and barriers.
It was a parallel of the relationship between environmental protection and development. Everyone knew that humanity wanted to preserve and protect the earth and its environment. They tend to forget the real motive behind doing so was to protect themselves. If the earth and its environment were destroyed, humanity would cease to exist as well.
However, limiting the advancement of technology for the sake of protecting the environment was like putting the cart before the horse.
Some sort of balance had to be achieved to maintain the trend of upward progression.
Chapter 91: Blacklight Biotechnology Experimental Center |
Two months later.
After a fierce battle, Blacklight Biotechnology finally signed an agreement with two groups from the nuclear industry in Mainland China.
Through an EPC contract, Blacklight Biotechnology would contract China General Nuclear Power Group and China National Nuclear Corporation to complete the "Blacklight Biotechnology Namibian Nuclear Power Plant" project. The two companies would be in charge of all construction work and technologies while China National Nuclear would also supply the necessary building materials.
The "Blacklight Nuclear Power Plant" was a third-generation nuclear reactor with two CAP1400 pressurized water reactors, each with a power of one million kilowatts, reaching a total output of two million kilowatts. The construction area would span about fifteen square kilometers.
Blacklight Biotechnology had invested 4.3 billion USD in total, paying 1.4 billion USD for China General Nuclear Power's construction costs and 2.9 billion USD for China National Nuclear Corporation's technology, construction, and materials.
Out of this amount, Blacklight Biotechnology had to make a first payment of 2.3 billion USD. Half of the remaining two billion USD would come from "foreign investment loan" from the Bank of Mainland China.
As for the remaining funds that were worth more than one billion, a corporation called Mainland China Electronics Group had paid for Chen Chen.
The reason was this corporation had first contacted the head office of Blacklight, expressing its willingness to acquire the simultaneous translation technology at the price of seven billion RMB. This was in addition to a reduction of loan interest and compliance with Blacklight Biotechnology's policies.
This was a clear representation of what the authorities wanted.
The AI in the original Little X Translation Assistant had not been cracked by the authorities. Therefore, they bought the technology before the second product was released.
Xia Yin had asked Chen Chen about this. Naturally, he held no opinion on the matter.
On the surface, it looked like Chen Chen would get the short end of the stick. After all, a technology that would overturn the entire translation industry was worth more than this. Even so, there were some hidden benefits that could not be measured by money.
To ordinary people, these conditions were certainly not as favorable as a buyout worth tens of billions. However, for those who would seize the slightest chance to climb up further, this meant something completely different.
From Chen Chen's perspective, these conditions were the true basis of whether a company could take root, rise, and expand in the long term in Mainland China.
In simple terms, Chen Chen had exchanged the technology of the simultaneous translator for an opportunity to become a company like Tencent or Alibaba.
Moreover, the authorities would only acquire the technology, which would not affect Chen Chen from raking in more money.
As long as the product was released in other countries, Chen Chen could still sell it around the world and make staggering profits.
As of now, the four billion USD earned by Chen Chen had been spent completely. Not only that, but he also owed the bank more than one billion.
Even so, his emotional state remained unaffected. He even felt like laughing.
After half a year of proliferation, Little X Translation Assistant was gradually promoted across the globe. However, due to Facebook's diversion and the suppression of various countries, there were only about ten million paying users each month.
After subtracting the sky-high tolls of each platform, the monthly net income of this software was maintained at around twenty million USD for now. This was only a drop in the ocean of Chen Chen's expenses.
Although it was not as profitable as he had imagined, Chen Chen was playing the long game. After all, it was a unique technology in this world. Sooner or later, it would become a money making machine.
Before they sold off the simultaneous translation technology to the authorities, Xia Yin did encounter a kidnapping attempt. There were five kidnappers in total.
Nonetheless, they only managed to sneak into the office building. Before they could carry out the kidnapping, they all jumped off the building for some reason. The police only managed to identify them as kidnappers based on their foreign nationalities.
Ever since then, nothing of that sort happened again.
In the past two months, Chen Chen had kept himself busy too. He bought a 1000-hectare vacant lot near Walvis Bay and set up a large biological experimental center.
This project was outsourced to China National Nuclear Corporation along with the nuclear power plant. The first batch of construction materials for this had arrived before the nuclear power plant.
This was because Chen Chen had opted for the fastest, pure steel, modular design, just like building blocks. In a few days, a biological experimental center covering an area of a hundred thousand square meters was standing to the south of Walvis Bay.
