Book Summary — Three Body Problem
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1 paragraph summary:
When humans discover there is an extra-terrestrial civilisations — would we rejoice, welcome aliens, declare war or self-destruct from the conflict of the decision? The Three Body Problem introduces two fascinating concepts. #1 the mathematically unsolved challenge of three bodies with gravitational forces and what their affect is on each other and #2 how humans would react to the knowledge of alien life.
“In China, any idea that dared to take flight would only crash back to the ground. The gravity of reality is too strong.”
She could no longer feel grief. She was now like a Geiger counter that had been subjected to too much radiation, no longer capable of giving any reaction, noiselessly displaying a reading of zero.
It was impossible to expect a moral awakening from humankind itself, just like it was impossible to expect humans to lift off the earth by pulling up on their own hair. To achieve moral awakening required a force outside the human race.
Since the second half of the twentieth century, physics has gradually lost the concision and simplicity of its classical theories. Modern theoretical models have become more and more complex, vague, and uncertain. Experimental verification has become more difficult as well. This is a sign that the forefront of physics research seems to be hitting a wall.
The shooter hypothesis, a good marksman shoots at a target, creating a hole every ten centimeters. Now suppose the surface of the target is inhabited by intelligent, two-dimensional creatures. Their scientists, after observing the universe, discover a great law: “There exists a hole in the universe every ten centimeters.” They have mistaken the result of the marksman’s momentary whim for an unalterable law of the universe.
The farmer hypothesis, on the other hand, has the flavor of a horror story: Every morning on a turkey farm, the farmer comes to feed the turkeys. A scientist turkey, having observed this pattern to hold without change for almost a year, makes the following discovery: “Every morning at eleven, food arrives.” On the morning of Thanksgiving, the scientist announces this law to the other turkeys. But that morning at eleven, food doesn’t arrive; instead, the farmer comes and kills the entire flock.
“How long does a Stable Era last?” Wang asked. “As short as a day or as long as a century. No one can predict how long one will last.” King Wen sat on the sandglass, lifting his head to gaze at the noonday sun. “According to historical records, the Western Zhou Dynasty experienced a Stable Era lasting two centuries. How lucky to be born during such a time!” “Then how long does a Chaotic Era last?” “I already told you. Other than Stable Eras, all other times belong to Chaotic Eras. Each of them takes up the time not occupied by the other.”
“But, I did indeed invent an ultimate rule.”
“Tell me.”
“Anything sufficiently weird must be fishy.”
“What… what kind of crappy rule is that?”
“I’m saying that there’s always someone behind things that don’t seem to have an explanation.”
Contrary to the happy wishes of most people, it was not a good idea for the human race as a whole to make contact with extraterrestrials. The impact of such contact on human society would be divisive rather than uniting, and would exacerbate rather than mitigate the conflicts between different cultures. In summary, if contact were to occur, the internal divisions within Earth civilization would be magnified and likely lead to disaster.
Sometimes I thought life was precious, and everything was so important; but other times I thought humans were insignificant, and nothing was worthwhile. Anyway, my life passed day after day accompanied by this strange feeling, and before I knew it, I was old.…”
These are the rules of the game of civilization: The first priority is to guarantee the existence of the human race and their comfortable life. Everything else is secondary.’
- The Adventists would like to destroy the human race by means of an alien power;
- the Redemptionists worship the alien civilization as a god;
- the Survivors wish to betray other humans to buy their own survival.
Because God was stingy, during the big bang He only provided the macroscopic world with three spatial dimensions, plus the dimension of time. But this doesn’t mean that higher dimensions don’t exist. Up to seven additional dimensions are locked within the micro-scale, or, more precisely, within the quantum realm.
Humans are buys compared to extra-terrestrial civilisations.
But the fact is: Bugs have never been truly defeated.
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