Why is "The Three-Body Problem" "phenomenal"? It awakens "scientific superstition" and opposes "aggression and colonization"

In the past ten years, there seems to be no IP in China that is more "phenomenal" than "The Three-Body Problem".

Its story is recognized as better than Star Trek, and it is said that there will be no less than 130 million fans of the original book worldwide;

It is the fastest drama in Tencent Video's history to break 25,000 popularity, breaking the first-day popularity record of Tencent Video dramas;

It is also the IP that doubled the film and television rights into a "myth". In 2009, a director named Zhang Fanfan bought the film and television copyright for 100,000 yuan, and then because the shooting was too difficult, in 2018, the film and television copyright was sold for 120 million yuan.

Bizarrely, Lynch, who obtained the copyright of "The Three-Body Problem", died two years later, and his company's senior management fought for the "three-body legacy".

It is not difficult to predict that the "Three-Body Problem" IP will become a new starting point for the globalization of national IP, and foreign works in the same period will be out of reach.

After all, it won the Hugo Award, the "Nobel Prize of science fiction", and even Obama couldn't help but "urge change" the story!

What is the magic of "The Three-Body Problem", from capital to the president, it is regarded as a "curiosity"?

I think this stems from the fact that it makes clear three questions, which are arguably the ultimate philosophical and ideological questions of mankind:

1. What will happen to the human (or other species) desire for control when it develops to the end?

2. Is there a limit to human science?

3. Why should mankind be anti-aggression and anti-colonial?

The first question is how the desire for control in humans or other species will end

What is the story of "The Three-Body Problem"? (Reminder: This article is for personal understanding only, and the following contains spoilers)

A long time ago, the Big Bang blew up version 1.0 of the universe. Elementary particle generation, mass emergence, biological evolution, planet formation (Image source: Mixed Knowledge)

And there are single stars, double stars, three stars (the so-called "three-body planet"). On different planets, intelligent beings are randomly assigned to live in the "Age of Constant Age" or "Age of Chaos": the people of the earth live in the "Age of Constant Age", while the Trisolarans live in the "Age of Chaos".

The days of the "chaotic era" planet are not good, or the sky has been lit for hundreds of years and heated into a dog; Either it has been dark and cold for hundreds of years... Under this climatic condition, the trisolarans evolved an ability to dry themselves and "dehydrate" when they were not suitable for survival, and then "resurrected" after a hundred thousand years. The trisolarans think about "changing planets" every day.

When Ye Wenjie, an earthling, accidentally sent a signal to the universe one day and was discovered by the trisolarans, the trisolarans took a fancy to the "new home" of the earth.

Under what circumstances would a human introduce an alien civilization to Earth? Either curious to the point of madness, or so hated that you want to ruin it!

The reason why Ye Wenjie's plot of the drama version of "The Three-Body Problem" is popular is because it solidifies Ye Wenjie's motivation:

During the WG period, her father was betrayed by her daughter (Ye's sister) and wife, and when Ye Wenjie defended her father's "trumped-up crime", she was sentenced. In his sleep, Ye Wenjie was transported to the "Red Bank" base, and the base scientist asked: Do you either go back to serve your sentence, or live a dark life here for twenty years, which one to choose? She did not hesitate to take up the latter.

Since then, Ye Wenjie has isolated herself from humans. Perhaps, the impetus to communicate with the three-body problem came from her despair of humanity, or from the loneliness she was looking for!

Let's talk about the Earth. Human beings on Earth have always felt that they are the boss of the earth.

What is the joy of being the boss? Control ah!

The ultimate age of human control, known as the "Golden Age". At that time, human beings felt good about themselves and thought that they had the key to eternity: they could decide the life and death of other creatures, they could clone themselves, they could create systems to exploit their own kind without a bottom line... It's a booze.

But that's only because humans are still "outside the dark forest."

After Ye Wenjie attracted the "three-body problem", mankind will soon step down from the "boss" throne and hide in the era of living machines.

The era of crisis began with the three-body people using high-dimensional cognition to deter the earth, and the drama version of "The Three-Body Problem" also began here - the "countdown" that scared Wang Miao, played by Zhang Luyi, to death was the deterrence of the three-body people.

It is using "unnatural phenomena" that humans cannot understand to intimidate Wang Miao to continue his research. In the process, a large number of scientists committed suicide, and the Trisolarans won a phased victory.

At this time, Luo Ji comprehended the law of the "dark forest" (relying on Ye Wenjie to reveal more "three-body truths"), the earth began to fight back, and also successfully used some means to carry out the "three-body people", and the era of deterrence began from then on.

This is probably the content of the second part of the drama version of "The Three-Body Problem".

So what is the ending of "The Three-Body Problem"? Simply put, the three-body "pinched" the earth, and the higher-dimensional civilization of the universe "pinched" the three-body, and finally the universe exploded again...

"The Three-Body Problem" actually tells a story of "desire to control" and "the end of control":

Earthlings want to control everything, but in the end find that they can't control anything, because it is just an ant of the universe;

The Trisolarans want to control Earth, but find out that they can't destroy humans;

The high-dimensional civilization star-bombers thought that they could maintain the order of the universe, but in the end, the universe exploded, leaving all high-dimensional civilizations to zero.

To put it bluntly, it can also return to the Chinese philosophy of interpretation: everything has a law, like a dream bubble.

The second question: to warn human beings not to be overly "superstitious" about their own science and indulge in their own civilization

"A flock of turkeys is fed by the farmer every day at 11 a.m., so the scientists among turkeys come to the truth: at 11 a.m., food must fall from the sky. But some came with a chicken-killing knife. ”

"A MARKSMAN SHOOTS AT THE BULLSEYE AND PUNCHES A HOLE EVERY 10CM, SO THE [ANTS] WHO SURVIVE ON THE TARGET CONCLUDE THAT EVERY INTERVAL SO FAR AWAY, THERE MUST BE A HOLE."

In the drama version of "The Three-Body Problem", these two stories become the fuse for all suspenseful plots.

These suspense plots include: Why did Yang Dong commit suicide? Why can Wang Miao see the countdown? Shin Yufei in service? What is the Great History "rebelling" into?

The answer is "farmer", or high-dimensional civilization.

Arrogant humans would never have thought that in the eyes of the Trisolarans, human science is ridiculous like "superstition".

Put the trisolarans, earthlings, and the universe into the turkey story: the trisolarans are the farmers, the earthlings are the turkeys, and the universe is the world outside the farmer.

When you are a "two-dimensional ant" or a "turkey", can the truth you believe in be true? What is not superstition?

This is why the elderly Ye Wenjie said:

"Physics does not exist, just my physics, may not exist."

"Questioning the authority of human science" is one of the great things about The Three-Body Problem, which assumes that if it exists, the world of all people will change.

The rule of politicians will have no point in existing.

The human army may become ants.

The results of a lifetime pursued by scientists will become a joke, and it will no longer be possible for humanity to grasp the truth.

The most important thing is that human beings must no longer explore the unknown universe, lest the law of the "dark forest" accelerate the destruction of the earth.

This is why "The Three-Body Problem" has "shocked" the world - except for Liu Cixin, as if no one has given such a bold hypothesis this century. This assumption "breaks the dimension", and I believe that many "three-body fans" believe that "The Three-Body Problem" may be the "tip of the iceberg" or prophecy of some kind of truth.

But Liu doesn't want readers to despair.

There is an episode of the drama version of "The Three-Body Problem" that ends with a turkey successfully escaping, which is an allusion to "Wang Miao restarted nano research with the encouragement of the great history", and also hinted at Liu Cixin's belief: we are bugs, but bugs have never been defeated.

Be brave, but don't be arrogant, Liu Cixin tells us that we should never believe that the civilization of the earth is the highest civilization in the universe.

As it is said in "The Three-Body Problem": give civilization to the years, do not give civilization years.

Question 3: Criticism and warning on "anti-aggression and anti-colonialism"

Some readers said that Liu Cixin was telling us "the truth of civilization and the difficulty of survival", and he was a revelator.

But he is not only revealing the "external crisis" of the earth, but also criticizing and warning about the "internal crisis" of the earth.

Liu Cixin's afterword to the American edition of "The Three-Body Problem" reads:

"On Earth, humans can step into another continent without scruples and destroy their fellow citizens there through war and plague, but when they gaze at the stars, they become emotional. They believe that if alien civilizations exist, they must be civilizations bound by universally high morality, as if cherishing and loving other civilizations as a matter of course.

The cosmic code of conduct, I think, should be the opposite. Let us transfer the goodwill of aliens to our fellow human beings on Earth, and build trust and understanding between different peoples and civilizations... For a weak person like us, this is undoubtedly the most responsible path. ”

This postscript, I can explain it like this:

1. It is a warning to those countries or organizations that have malice towards their fellow human beings and attack others through war and plague, and in order to preserve human strength, please do not fire at "their own people" again.

2. Liu Cixin seems to be convinced of the law of the "dark forest" and believes that there may be "farmers", that is, the existence of high-dimensional civilization.

3. He is reminding us that the earth is a "weak civilization" and should not expand rashly.

Therefore, when we break through the shell of science fiction and watch "The Three-Body Problem", it is a masterpiece of anti-aggression and anti-colonial realism.

Of course, "The Three-Body Problem" also has its literary and artistic nature, which deeply reveals human nature in extreme situations: there are dark and light, and there are gray areas.

For example, the great history in the drama version of "The Three-Body Problem", he is the light of mankind: the logic is still clear and courageous at the moment of life and death, telling Wang Miao "don't lie down".

And Ye Wenjie, the commander of ETO of the three-body organization, revealed the "secret of the three-body problem" to Luo Ji when he lost his personal freedom-this woman who had coldly watched the destruction of the earth, and finally chose to leave a glimmer of life for mankind...

Unfortunately, at the end of "The Three-Body Problem", the earth was still destroyed in the hands of Cheng Xin, the "wayward little princess of mankind". She still wasn't satisfied with the stars sent by Yun Tianming. Alas, people may eventually have to pay for their ignorance and "desire for control."