The biggest difference between civilized species and ordinary animals lies in the fact that civilized groups possess more than just natural attributes.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote in "Dialectics of Nature":
【The difference between humans and animals lies in the fact that humans create and use tools, and use tools to understand the world and change the world, rather than simply utilizing tools.】
Because of this, the most important nodes in the evolution of human civilization are the revolutions in production tools.
And if divided accordingly, then humanity has gone through a total of six eras from its birth to the present, namely:
The Old and New Stone Ages, from approximately 3 million years ago to 4000 years ago;
The Bronze Age, from approximately 4000 years ago;
The Iron Age, from 1400-500 BC;
The Steam Age brought about by the First Industrial Revolution;
The Electric Age guided by the Second Industrial Revolution;
And, with the birth of the internet three years ago...
"A new era has arrived, and we are very honored to invite you all to start the next, and even the next, wave of civilization."
Douglas bowed gracefully, looking around at the scholars in the lecture hall.
Behind him, only two large nouns remained: ternary computer and magical energy.
"After previous assessments, the binary computers in the non-magical world today cannot fully represent magic. In the magical world, in addition to true and false, unknown states, fuzzy operations, and autonomous learning are extremely important situations.
Therefore, before the birth of the mathematically optimal e-ary computer, we hope that you can focus your energy on this side first."
The middle-aged goblin's slender fingers tapped behind him, and a simple map appeared on the white curtain.
"Through some channels, we have purchased four cetyhb70s that have not been completely scrapped, as well as three production lines for related industries, and a complete set of power supply systems, which should be able to barely support your initial research needs."
"However, given the magical influence within the Hogwarts area, Muggle electronic products are usually unusable here, so we have temporarily provided two optional solutions.
According to your descriptions, use magic to retain some of the functions of electronic products during normal operation, turning them into magical items; or find a way to make them work normally..."
"This is not a simple matter, Mr. Douglas."
Vinogradov shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm very sorry, the communication cost between magic and science is really too high, and the difficulty of cooperation is still very high.
At least according to the current situation, there doesn't seem to be a suitable candidate in Hogwarts. We need a research-oriented wizard, not just an educator."
"Don't worry, we have already started working on solving this problem."
The middle-aged goblin grinned, revealing sharp teeth, "If all goes well, that lord will arrive at Hogwarts Academy Town before next week. You just need to consider the final result, and leave the rest to magic to solve."
As a "prophet" from decades later, Aileen knew very well what the next era of civilization would be.
Since the release of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, the separation between the magical world and the non-magical world has become increasingly obvious. To this day, the form of the magical world still remains in the steam age, but the non-magical world has already reached the end of the electrical age.
Whether it's the Hogwarts Express, or the flush toilets in the school; whether it's the elevator, or the magical radios in magical families; whether it's the camera, or the cars on the road...
Wizards have never truly understood the logic behind these things, they haven't tried, and there's no need to try them.
This is not because of wizards' pride, nor is it related to the constraints of the Statute of Secrecy.
The most important point is that for wizards who control magical power, they often only need to know the final form of something to reverse engineer, retain, and create similar magical items, and even go a step further.
However, times have changed after all.
The trauma and technological innovation brought about by the Second World War far exceeded everyone's imagination.
If even the non-magical world under the steam age and electrical age was still slightly inferior to the magical world in terms of efficiency and energy, then with the opening of the atomic energy and information age, magic began to become less omnipotent.
From information transmission efficiency to information processing capabilities; from the absolute value of energy to the utilization rate of energy...
From the end of the 1990s, the scientific progress that erupted in the non-magical world during the information explosion period will completely subvert the traditional model of human society for thousands of years, gradually entering an information age where virtuality and reality are intertwined.
Without a doubt, under the new human social model, the living space of the magical world will become smaller and smaller.
However, at this time, not many people in the magical world realize that the time left for the magical world is running out. Once the information age is fully opened, they will be two entire eras behind Muggles in terms of social form.
Regardless of any form of social innovation, it takes at least a generation to gradually adapt.
Fortunately, at this node where the internet has just been born, the magical world still has one last chance to overtake on a curve.
……
England, London, Ministry of Magic.
Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office.
This is a small room located at the end of the corridor on the second floor of the Ministry of Magic headquarters. The office is opposite a broom closet, and the office area seems to be slightly smaller than the broom closet. There are only Arthur Weasley and his assistant Perkins inside.
In the narrow office, two desks are squeezed inside, and there is almost no space for people to move freely.
Around the desks, file cabinets are lined up along the wall, and the files inside are so full that they are almost overflowing. The tops of the file cabinets are also piled with packages of precarious files.
The only bit of usable space on the office walls is covered with things that Arthur Weasley, the head of the office, is particularly fond of:
Several posters of aircraft carriers and cars, one of which shows a disassembled engine; two illustrations of mailboxes cut out from Muggle children's books; and a diagram of how to install a socket.
In the eyes of most wizards, this is undoubtedly the most boring department in the Ministry of Magic.
"Arthur, what were the results of the surprise inspection at the Lovegoods' place?"
Perkins looked up, pushed the glasses on his nose, and tried to find something on the cluttered desk.
"I'm sorry, I've been troubling you to go out on duty these days – I'm getting old, and the lumbar pain alone is almost killing me. St. Mungo's doesn't have any solution either. After you recruit a new person, I should consider retiring."
The Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office restricts wizards from performing magic on Muggle items, prohibits them from adding extra functions to Muggle items without permission, and ensures that those enchanted items do not return to Muggle hands.
Therefore, this office needs to conduct surprise inspections frequently to ensure that there is no misuse of Muggle items on the market.
Unlike Arthur Weasley, who is still in his prime, Mr. Perkins is very old. The eyes under his soft, gray hair have long been turbid. If the office hadn't been unable to recruit a new person, he should have retired long ago.
"I've checked it, there's no problem, mostly some printing-related machines."
Arthur Weasley replied with a smile, and casually handed the *Daily Prophet* on the side of the table to the old wizard.
"If I guessed correctly, the report information should be from here – without a doubt, Mr. Barnabas Cuffe has reason to worry about *The Quibbler*, but if Xenophilius Lovegood has a problem, then I estimate that almost all the news publications in the British magical world would have to shut down..."
"Heh, it's those sensational reporters again, the unscrupulous competitive tactics of businessmen."
Old Perkins took the newspaper, uttered a muffled grunt, and tapped the newspaper in front of him with his fingers.
"If you ask me, Arthur, you're just too honest. Those guys outside are just taking advantage of the fact that our Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office doesn't have much status in the Ministry, and they push all sorts of weird things over here. Just deal with it a little bit, there's no need to reply to everything seriously, for example, that anonymous report about Hogwarts before, just throw it in the trash."
"It concerns Hogwarts, this is not a small matter..."
Arthur Weasley raised his water glass and took a sip, glancing at the big ship in the poster on the wall, and said meaningfully.
"After all, more than one wizard claimed to have seen a flying big ship near Hogwarts. Although there were no Muggle witnesses, it is still necessary to investigate on the spot to see if the magic on that fishing boat complies with the regulations.
Moreover, considering that a lot of Squibs have recently settled around Hogwarts, compiling a complete investigation report would be a relatively good explanation for the Ministry, the magical world, and Hogwarts."
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I sorted out the plot today, and I will start breaking out tomorrow ~Goo~