Time always flies when they are engrossed in discussion; before they realized, it was time for the intern to leave. The three of them had reached a basic agreement on the goals of Gotham's reform, which was, by itself, a significant progress.
By dusk, Alberto's persona went to rest, and Evans resurfaced. He lowered his gaze to his watch and said, "I'm sorry, Professor, I may have to leave. There are matters waiting for me to handle."
Shiller stood up and said, "Go ahead, be sure to come on time tomorrow, and get some good rest."
After Evans' departure, Bruce showed no intention of leaving. He turned to Shiller and asked, "What is the exceptional hand you mentioned? My scientific research capability?"
"Of course." Shiller answered as he shut the door. Bruce's eyebrows furrowed, "Why?" he asked.
"Because of your extraordinary intellect." Shiller, sitting back behind his desk, replied. Bruce stood still, saying nothing, waiting for Shiller to continue.
"We're only discussing technology, not ethics. In an environment where resources are sufficient, are you confident you can support the entire human race?" Shiller asked.
Bruce furrowed his brows. "I don't want to rule Earth. Nor do I want to be the king of mankind or control all the resources on this planet," he said.
"Why?" asked Shiller.
"Because I don't want to be Macbeth." Bruce stared into Shiller's eyes, "Absolute power equals no power. Once power reaches its peak, nothing will be left."
Shiller sighed, "Rule? No..."
"If you can consolidate all the resources provided by the entire planet, then, with your research capabilities, you can transform the whole Earth into a system. Utilizing technological means to evenly distribute resources, hence supporting mankind."
Shiller looked into Bruce's eyes, "You've never been one of those living in a slum. Your outstanding intellect and resources make you capable of bringing rapid and profound changes."
"With your scientific research capabilities, you can turn the entire Earth into a hive where every individual has enough space and resources to fulfill their dreams and achieve ultimate happiness."
"I asked you before whether the current resources on Earth are enough for everyone to live happily, and your answer was yes."
"But the fact that we don't achieve this is the responsibility of both the social system and scientific technology. Whichever element grows stronger, it could replace the other to a certain extent."
"Evidently, your research abilities have become so strong that they can influence the social system, even to the point of changing human society itself."
"However, you need to understand one thing..." Shiller's sharp teeth began to show. He stood up, walked over to Bruce, and looked into his eyes, "Revolution, who will it transform?"
"No matter if you wish to ignite a revolution from the bottom, or initiate reformation from above, you must understand that even the most minor changes you bring about as the master of abundant resources will have losses, just a matter of scale."
"When you decide to completely overthrow the mob's rules, when you aspire to make every citizen's life better, making their peaceful and prosperous dream lives come true, have you considered that you might lose everything?"
"The more you wish to accomplish, the more you will lose. In the process of re-establishing rules and redistributing resources, you can't insulate yourself from harm."
"Bruce, you've probably read some books, but you haven't had enough time to truly understand them yet. When I ask you these questions, you should realise why it says in the book that capitalists will never wake up."
"Societal wealth is finite, and resources will not increase out of thin air due to changes in their distribution. In an untouched total quantity, the wealth that flows into the hands of the poor whom you sympathize with is all cut from your flesh."
"In this process, you must slice off your own flesh, piece by piece, dismantle your skeleton, dissect your organs and hand over all the materials that you rely on to survive, and that enable you to enjoy your current life, to those who will neither thank nor remember you."
"This is why throughout human history, top-down reforms have never been successful. No one can endure such pain."
"Their good intentions are all built on the premise that they themselves won't be at risk. Once the flesh is cut, everyone would flinch, fearing it like a tiger."
"What's different is that many of these classes didn't anticipate this outcome before the reform, but now, I've laid out all the consequences for you."
"Many people don't have this ability. Because of the constraints of the era, even if they make sacrifices, they can't get the desired results. But now, I can also tell you that with your extraordinary wisdom, you can achieve this."
"Once you start doing this, your wealth, status, and honor will all disappear, and what you can exchange for these things is only the happiness of strangers who have nothing to do with you."
"Batman, you've rediscovered humanity at the bottom of Gotham, wanting to mingle with them. But do you truly possess this divine nature, to abandon everything you have, and offer it all up in sacrifice to your ideals?"
"Now, a choice lies before you. Your ideals, or everything you possess, you can only choose one..."
"Batman, how will you choose?"
Bruce remembered, when he first met this professor, every time he entered his office, he would variously challenge his spirit, forcing him to choose. This time, it was no exception.
Or perhaps, the question this time was even more lethal.
Batman, who ranted every day about saving Gotham and fighting crime, should unhesitatingly carry out this plan when he got a chance to genuinely save Gotham and completely eliminate crime.
But the only problem was that to kindle this fire, the fuel needed to be burned was himself.
Under the existing system, wealth always flows upwards, and the wealth gap will only get bigger. To find a perfect social system to replace the current one, to permanently solve all problems, there are two methods.
One is to make resources infinite. As long as everyone has approximately unlimited resources, unlimited land, food, and air, the so-called wealth gap essentially becomes meaningless.
As long as one has access to absolutely infinite resources, even if the wealth gap between the poor and the rich spans thousands of galaxies, it's actually meaningless. There's a limit to all the survival materials a human needs in his lifetime, and the resources needed to fulfil all demands are also finite. Once everyone reaches the ultimate goal of happiness, excesses don't matter anymore, no matter how vast the gap is.
The other path is absolute fairness. Everyone is not born equal, but there are forced means to make everyone equal at birth. As long as a final provider could support the entire human race, regardless if he is good or bad, all the remaining people would achieve absolute fairness, either having absolutely nothing, or everyone having moderate wealth.
To achieve the first route, we need to expand outwards, towards the Star Ocean, occupying the entire cosmos, maybe even the Infinite Universe, to meet all human needs and navigate towards ultimate happiness.
To achieve the second route, we need to change internally, dominate the entire human society with an absolute advantage, then allocate the resources of the entire Earth with the greatest efficiency, so that every human becomes a part of the community. After eliminating disparity and comparison, there will be no more demands brought about by society. People only need to focus on their own survival and spiritual needs to achieve ultimate happiness,
But the only problem is that each final provider will not be willing to support the entire human race. Since he has obtained all the resources on this planet, why not enjoy them himself? What does the life and death of a stranger have to do with him?
This is not ruthless, it's human nature. Humans are essentially selfish and must prioritize their own needs. Accompanying the expansion of resources in hand, is the expansion of demands. The final provider might not need an entire earth, but he feels that his future desires might, so he will not share with others.
If Batman wants to escape from this natural essence, he has to become a god from a man again, because only a god can be truly selfless.
Bruce, standing in the room, understood this principle. When he flew down from the high loft, he only wanted to see what people on the ground were doing.
Living among the crowd, he donned human clothes, deciding to become one of them, possessing the courage to face adversity, yet still swim against the current.
But once he's inherited the most valuable part of humanity, he still needs to strip away one basic part of human nature, and that is selfishness and greed.
Bruce felt that the skin he had just grown back was starting to ache again. Beneath the human skin he had donned for himself, something was breaking through once more.
Perhaps, these were the wings he had not used for a long time.