The droplet was one of my favourite parts in the trilogy. It illustrates perfectly well how a battle between two sides with completely different technological levels looks like. It was a detail that made clear why Trisolarians locked down specifically the study in particle physics in the previous book. This way, the primitive humanity was forced to spend the last centuries in their precious island crafting the best bows and spears they could, only to be annihilated by long range artillery before the real battle could even begin.
The whole time in the second book people were boasting about how they were going to beat the Trisolarans I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. And when it did it was one of the most memorable scenes in the book. Made some later events kind of cathartic, though.
Why did the commanders of the fleet decide it was a good idea to bring all of the battleships together and line them up in a nice grid to meet the teardrop? As humanity could not deal with the sophons for centuries and they were malevolent sub atomic particles, why did people they think they could deal with a spaceship that was massive was? This was a huge failure. I know humans thought their technology matched Trisolarian technology based on observation of the first Trisolar nvasion fleet but they should have thought about it and accepted human technology had not got to the level of Trisolarian technology. Even as I read this I knew it was a mistake to bring all of the fleet ships to one location. The Trisolarians made similar mistakes. They should have killed Luo Ji when they had a chance. If I was the Trisolarian commander I would have sent the droplet on a hunter killer operation, killing as many humans as it could till the next droplets arrived to finish off humanity. They would have been the real hunters in the dark forest. The Trisolarans showed their mean streak too late.
@@kdegraa As far as the human commanders and fleet position, it is explained in the book that because of politics (each ship was essentially a nation-state and thought of themselves important as such) the fleet decided to align itself that way so that there was no "disparity" between the ships, that they all presented an equal front to the Trisolarans. Even characters in the book talk about how stupid and dangerous it is, and that it's a bad idea. But they are ignored, and we see a couple of them die almost guessing exactly what happened.
@@danielcaraballo113 in the next book another similar situation occurs. After the Sophons, the teardrop, seeing two solar systems destroyed, why the hell would not everyone clear off when they had a chance. Travelling at light speed was really the only way to go along with setting up habitats far beyond the solar system for human survival. Humanity by this time lives in habitats in space. Rather than hiding behind planets, they should have been hiding out in interstellar space. The prohibition against escaping did not make sense when people have already escaped Earth. In this universe I’d imagine there would be many refugees travelling the galaxy, trying to hide from those who think they are dangerous. However I kind of think the whole premise of the books are false. While space is limited in theory, in practice it’s limitless. If a civilisation becomes space faring then it will create artificial habitats in space. Space is so huge it would take many millions or billions of years for a civilisation to occupy and run out of room in a solar system.
One of the most amazing things about this trilogy is Cixin Liu’s ability to credibly imagine technology far beyond current human capabilities, but sufficiently within our understanding to be creepy and chilling. The teardrop, the dimensional foil, lightspeed… such a brilliant mind.
these are things china is actively working on rn..china and communist iron fist will take over the planet..you will be our slaves..get used to it..were just superior
@@kickassandchewbubblegum639 superior at subjecting 90% of your own population to extremely horrid atmospheric conditions, superior at incredibly stupid amounts of obedience to a central authority, superior at holding on to superstitions and make-belief, superior at eliminating your own neighbors just because they dance in parks, superior at ridiculing the entire backbone of your society because higher education is the only thing that matters, superior at being incredibly racist.
eh, it does feel like the sort of thing someone with little actual knowledge on science would write. Granted still better than the giant pile of rubbish that is most modern 'science' fiction (read: science fantasy)
I remember getting to that part of the book completely convinced that humanity was unbeatable, and that there was no way for the author to recover the tension that one felt during the wallfacer parts of the book. Oh boy how wrong I was, it made me feel as arrogant as the humans of that era.
Same bruh. When i got to the future part i was like huh human situation is looking pretty good there was no need of all that worrying in early crisis era. Then the droplet happened ☠️. Then i thought offcourse trisolarans are also advancing their science while we were stuck due to sophons and they made a weapon far more dangerous then their old fleet.
I actually was not surprised that the humanity became so oblivious to one single truth, "A civilisation travelling 4 light years or 36 trillion kms would be something we can take on, when our understanding and knowledge had already proven that interstellar travel is something we will not be able to achieve anytime soon. In a way I failed to understand the hubris of humanity and how they could be such fools, but alas we are.
You know, as fun as it was to read I think there is a story to be told in the complete opposite of this. I mean it would be a series anathema to this one both in tone and implications. But the idea of an aggressor doing what Trisolaran's did but actually conforming to what much of humanity began to believe in it being something of a peace offering instead of the Trojan horse it was could make for an interesting concept. That in recognizing that humanities growth meant that a war would wind up not only creating massive casualties on each side but also the possible destruction of the planet both wished to inhabit, resulted in a different line of thought within the aliens just as it had the humans. Like I said, it would be an incredibly different work of fiction. A far, far, far more hopeful one. But all the same there's an idea in that, that I don't think I've ever really seen explored before. The aggressor turned sympathetic ally long before they arrived through the recognition that the universe is cold and uncaring of our existence and then actually follow through on the sides collaborating. You could even do this and still continue writing a dark story under the proper circumstances. Show them arrive, engage in political and social discourse that eventually results in co-existence and then still remind us that, "Oh, yeah, the universe doesn't care" with some of its later revelations hitting them or something even greater than we ever see. If anything this might actually make the darkness that's coming hit even harder as you're briefly lulled into the idea that maybe it wasn't that kind of book in the first place and it was actually wrapping a noptimistic ending in a pessimistic shell only to broadside you just as things are looking up for the two species. I don't know, call me crazy I just think there's something there. Because as soon as the droplet was detected I immediately knew shit was going to go sideways either when it arrived or shortly thereafter, and sure enough there we go. If it had been played entirely straight it could really throw the reader for a loop when something far worse happens later in the series. But all that said...yeah it was still cool to read.
@@sa4555 I think it's based on that old truth nugget of "humanity is doomed to repeat the past" because unless an idea is constantly reinforced in our minds most people will forget, or at the very least diminish, a mistake made both on a micro and macro level within just a few years of making it. In the book humanity went from almost going extinct to a new golden age of both peace and technology in enough time that some of the people who were alive when people were eating each other were still alive when the reorganization of the space force began. And it's easy to see how their predecessors could look at that and say "Look at the progress we've made in such a short time, how could they manage that?" because at the end of the day humanity has spent its entire existence thinking it's special, that it's the only species with the intellect we have (this could possibly be true in reality, if doubtful, though the likelihood of any of us living to find out is beyond negligible). And while humanity in this book now knows they aren't alone it isn't until this attack that they actually have to come face-to-face with the fact they they aren't in-fact, special in any way. They aren't the heroes of the galaxy and their technology isn't going to magically outpace a species thousands of years ahead of them in two-centuries. So while at first it seems a little odd that humanity would just think they could magically outclass their foe if you really think about how humanity has proven time-and-time again both its short memory and total arrogance in thinking itself the master of its domain (its story if you will) it does begin to make a bit of sense.
Personally, such an outcome seemed obvious to me when it turned out that no prerequisites for peace from Trisolaris were actually observed. If they really wanted this, they have the most direct channel of communication with the Earth through the Sophons. But since this did not happen, it means that these negotiations existed only in the wet dreams of pampered humanity. (More than sure that this effeminacy only strengthened the determination to get rid of people) Pretty good illustration of the fact that humanity has a very short memory.
"If I destroy you, what business of it is yours?" That line from The Dark Forest absolutely haunted me. Basically being so technologically insignificant that it's tantamount to someone kicking over an ant hill.
Remember, that is just a rewording of the quote, "If I love you, what business is it of yours?" by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, used earlier in the book. Makes it more powerful.
i love that he goes back to this idea so often, that no matter how important we think we are, or what purpose we believe we have, we aren’t very different from an ant going along it’s business, obvious to what is actually out there.
Well, to be fair, ants bite and there's a reason people stay away from their nests. In fact, many geniuses have marveled at the innovation and collectivism at play in ant colonies. Proves once again that pride is a greater sin for a civilization than their avarice.
insects are 80 percent of the biomass of this world and ants have had an outsized role in creating the soils you live on. without them no you....can you kick over a planet? thats the size of the total ant hill....humans see one little colony and think because they impacted that they are strong and powerful....well...nothing is ever what it seems...
Same for me. The droplet scene was really shocking and breathtaking. The brutal violance of the droplet shows technical superiority of trisolarans on one hand, however on the other it shows how primitive they are - using raw mechanical power to deal destruction.
It's been a while since I read those books but I remember that scene being great. That old doctor/scientist guy (please forgive me) tells them something like; "They're probably going to have technology that is so advanced, we won't even be able to recognize it for what it is." which foreshadows the annihilation nicely.
Actually there is a shot film on youtube called “ Waterdrop :the fans movie of The three-body problem", which done rather well in capturing the atmosphere, that uncanny calm before storm.
Aliens are crossing centuries worth of space to annihilate you and conquer your planet, they sent incredibly tiny intangible computers to stall your technology and have not shown a single instance of mercy. "This menacing tear must be a gift!" Those billions of dead must've included all the skeptics.
Soon as I learned an alien race was coming, and they have a way to stall our technological growth.... Time to look for a new world people, lets see how much we can strip from this one to make ark ships!
@@lostbutfreesoul sadly, in the dark forest trilogy, humanity literally memetically engineered themselves to have a phobia to strategically run away. Yep, in fact it was punishable by death to even try to make a way to escape.
@@lostbutfreesoul Escapism was banned by human governments in the books, because no matter how hard they tried there would never be enough spaceships to get more than a miniscule percentage of the population of Earth off planet. They realized that squabbling over who gets to go and who has to die would mean nothing ever gets done and might even lead to civil wars or class wars between different groups trying to make sure their great great great grandchildren get to leave. So they just said "If not everyone's leaving, no one can," and forced everyone to stand their ground. Very extreme and they definitely took it too far, but sadly they were probably right about the squabbling. Not that it really would have mattered since Trisolarans would have just sent Droplets to intercept the escaping ships, dooming humanity anyway.
@@lukred6271 If Trisolaris had their way they would literally have made humans eat each other until only a few million humans were left, who would then live short, miserable lives on preserves as savages. That kind of atrocity is not what I would consider a good thing.
(spoilers for all 3 books) It's pretty interesting that the military strategists were worried about facing antimatter weapons at the doomsday battle, and then ultimately, the only time any humans were threatened by antimatter, it was Wade's soldiers in the 3rd book. Humans always speculating on how to counter technology that they wind up turning on themselves. The cold war-like deterrence state and technological creep in this series is so so well done. Always tense and constantly evolving.
Wade is lowkey my hero in the book. Saw what needed to be done and was willing to do it. Even stood by his word. Such a dichotomy or ruthless pursuit of the greater good and honor. Was an interesting contrast to Cheng Xin.
Imagine being a safari guy driving a well supported jeep and a gun in your hand, all is chill until the leopard on the side of the road start to dodge away from where you aim your gun.
Honestly there were so many impactful moments in Book Two that still gives me chills to this day. Lets just say that if A Storm of Swords had the Red Wedding, Dark Forest had like 6 Red Wedding tier moments, it's crazy 😂
This was BY FAR the most riveting and engrossing part of the whole series for me… Just the utter devastation and humiliation of the human fleet after all they thought they had accomplished…Fantastic. I compare this part to the end of the last book when the entire solar system is being consumed by the dimensional object thing, but that part had such a sense of prolonged dread because it happened almost in slow motion compared to the Droplet attack. Anyway, both scenes were absolutely devastating and epic in scale. Wonderful writing.
@@MrBobby35790 I hears that the guys who adapted game of thrones ( and ruined it in the final seasons ) will adapt this one. Let's hope for the best....
Mateee you've got a lot to read about lol. No spoilers, obvioiusly. I finished the whole original 3 series, except by the 4th by another author. Really great series. I recommend you the "Project Hail Mary" from Andy Weir. You'll love it. @@puckles7585
Remembrance of Earth's Past is well written but so laden with doom that I actually felt existential despair after reading it. Not about the real world, just how the books left me feeling. For a lot of reasons I don't think I'll ever read them again but I'm glad I *did* read them, and love your videos analyzing them.
It puts things into perspective for sure. We see ants and we douse them in chemicals until they are annihilated. The horror begins when we find out that we are the ants.
Me too, I thought they were genius but the vibe was not enjoyable. I don't want to feel that dread again, but I'm glad that I experienced it. The book really changes one's perception of the world.
Hey, Quinn. I understand your idea that wishful thinking doesn’t solve humanity’s problems and that we need to apply better strategies to help mitigate our global crisis, such as, climate change, poverty, etc. But our species greatest assets that has helped us overcome problems that seemed insurmountable are our ingenuity and tendency to hope for a better future. This has been our bedrock for centuries and moved our society towards a brighter era of wealth and prosperity.
This was one of the most psychologically devastating moments of the book for me... even after all those years past, when I watch this video, I suddenly went back to that feeling of hopelessness and fear. Brilliance in imagination and perfection in writing... very nice playlist by the way, keep up 👏
I’m so happy someone is making 3BP content. I still haven’t reached the highs of this sci-fi series since I’ve this series a couple years ago. It’s a masterpiece
It is the single greatest piece of fiction I've ever read. And I have a home library of more than 5,000 books. This trilogy utterly changed the way I look up at the stars. I loved every moment I spent living within its pages.
Quinn, I'm angry I found your channel so late into your content. You're an amazing dude and deserve an intergalactic award. I understand more about the world. My naivety was transmuted into knowledge, thank you... honestly
did you know him back when his channel was called "Idea's Of Ice & Fire"? now that I think back I think I found him around season 2-3 of "Game Of Thrones" him & a few other YT people convinced me to read them.
One of the best series I’ve read, maybe the best. The end of the Universe is pretty big. I thought the Dark Forest was incredible and then the end of Death’s End blew my mind.
One of my favourite sci-fi battles that I know, its so unique and different compared to other sci-fi battles. So glad more people are talking about this series.
Most humiliating part is when you think you are advanced. Trisolarans defeated you by a tactic you used in the stone age. Throwing a hard object at you.
The worst part is humanity was only 20 years or so away from developing a countermeasure to the probe, as explained in the 3rd book. They were on the verge of creating the same kind of supermaterial, that could be used as shields and projectiles against probes.
@@xahbal yea, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. IMPROVE IT. Example: Unga bunga! Rock-hurt. Rock in sling. Sling rock-MORE HURT! UNGA BUNGA!! We sharpened the rock&put it on a stick! We took the rock on a stick&put it on rope attached to a piece of wood to make it faster&hurt better! We replaced rock with metal! We replaced the string with boom-boom powder, the metal no longer needs wood to fly through the air! We made bigger boom-boom sticks&metal balls. We put them on boats. We made boom-boom sticks easy to reload&higher capacity. We made exploding boomers. We made rolling boomers. We made FLYING BOOMERS. Some schmuck made an atomic boomer…..let’s tell the world to ease it on back a bit with that one, but no one that was researching&actively developing them really will. We also made napalm. Apparently napalm violates a checklist. Note to self: flying chunks of metal-okay, exploding chunks of metal-okay. No chemicals…..
Children of Time is a masterpiece, one of my favorite sci fi books of all time. Somehow, a book that centers giant spiders and humanity on the verge of extinction managed to be incredibly uplifting multiple times. The narratives of one constant protagonist + thousands of years of history of a civilization, interwoven, was masterful. I'm so glad Quinn is boosting it, it kinda flew under the radar when it came out.
Loved it, the sequel was good too, weird as the first, but somehow not as compelling. The first was so good, and i am sitting there going, I am reading about a giant spider society, and it doesn't feel strange. The humans feel strange.
After watching your videos for the last year or so, i consider you a great authority on scifi and fantasy. Thanks to you, my interest in reading scifi has peaked in a way i didn't think possible since i was in high school. I would just like to say thank you.
Just when you think you've heard every scifi idea, There's always one writer out there who has the potential to surprise you with a new concept you never see coming. Thank you so much for sharing, I'm excited to read the books!
I stumbled upon this video at random. I watched it because i love good Sci fi. After watching it i went out and bought all 3 books. I just love the depth of thought this story provokes. Epic doesnt even come close!
Its weird that humanity didnt use at least one of those ships to leave the influences of the sophan to conduct scientific experiments away from her influence, knowing the limits of space travel, this would be a reasonable action
@@bucketmisser3210 SPOILER FOR ANYONE READING iirc blue space was being pursued by a ship as well as one of the tear drops (which was planning on backstabbing both human ships) until they entered the 4d rip which allowed the crew to dismantle the tear drop, it was extremely important for the trisolarans to get rid of the ship otherwise their new home would be under threat, if sophon's could reach that ship then they would've warned / reprogrammed the tear drop to avoid the 4d rip / attack as soon as the 4d vulnerability was known by the crew. Also i'm pretty sure its directly mentioned that blue space left the ranged of the sophons influence.
@@BadVoodo0 but the 4d bubbles were drying and moving through space, they were also far from the solar system, building a particle collider in such circumstances so far from home would be hard. Also people loose all sense of direction inside them.
@@itobin2957 i know but that doesn't change the point, if sophon was observing blue space they would've noticed them slipping into 4d and the tear drop would've been better prepared, in fact (forgot the ships name) but the fact that the trysolarians allowed the human ship to perusing blue space in the first place rather then skipping diplomatic formalities shows the lack of threat aweness which ultimately cost them the war. Also >building a particle collider in such circumstances so far from home would be hard yes, but not impossible, you would need a bigger ship for sure. That said i just realized you'd need at least 3 ships to factor out stuff like local noise / filters / space-environmental factors, and said 3 ships would have to have some communication to compare results. But considering iirc the human race had 1000 ships, its not that much of a tall order to fulfill.
Leaving Sophon range would mean leaving the solar system. That's dangerously close to Escapism, better watch out before you get shot for cowardice and betrayal of the human race!
I can't stop thinking about it either. I just finished Ball Lightning which the authors says inspired a lot of ideas in this trilogy. I loved that as well. Great video as always!
Awesome Story. I have bought and read the three books in January, after watching your video "The Most Horrifying Science Fiction Series of All | The Three-Body Problem Series". The books are very interresting and I couldn't stop reading.
The droplet part reminds me a tad bit of the start of UC timeline Gundam, when mobile suits first made their appearance and started zipping around the battlefield - A skilled pilot could take out multiple warships because they were smaller, quick, carried alot of firepower and couldn't be spotted by conventional radar detection due to the Minovsky particles their reactors emitted. Warships had to wait until mobile suits were right in their face, and by then it was often too late.
Warhammer-Gundam logic initiated. Engineer: This is the RB-79 ball. On paper, it should be able to out accelerate and out turn a Zaku. It also has a big gun, but we haven't figured out how to fit it with plot armor so it does diddly. Federation: How many can you get me? Engineer: Refitting civilian space pods, about 1200 in a month... Federation: That's a whole lot of diddly.
I'm not so sure you qualify as a "hidden" gem anymore but this is the best channel most haven't heard of. Thanks for the great uploads, we'll be out here sharing your work!
You posted a video five months ago and because of that I've read all 3 books by now. One of the best examples of sci fi I've ever laid eyes on, thank you for that.
As a huge fan of cosmic horror and someone attempting to create cosmic horror short stories, I'm so glad I found your channel. Please keep making content, I love it!
I came across this trilogy by accident, It is the most amazing read ever. I have read it all twice now, and in a year's time, I will read it again. This is the Lord of the rings of science fiction - I still can't get my head around how he came up with the ideas and then wrote them down, just amazing. If you never read another book in your life make sure you read these. Great channel, by the way, nice hearing your opinions on this literary masterpiece. His other books and short stories are also pretty good.
I was intrigued by your videos so I picked up the books. I just finished the series and... wow! Thanks so much for the recommendation Quinn. This was the smartest piece of Sci-Fi I've ever read. Dune, Foundation, and Code of the Lifemaker (Highly recommended) were among my favorites. As far as highly thoughtful fiction, this series trumped them all. The concepts it introduces alone were mind boggling, but the way they were presented to the reader really was the icing on the cake. Thanks again for igniting my interest in the series.
This scene features some of the most masterful translation in the whole trilogy. At times it can be a little clumsy, but the droplet scene reads like it was written in English natively.
I'm nearly finished with the first book and honestly I'm loving it. So glad I found this channel, it got me into dune, foundation, Hyperion and now the three body problem.
Quinn, your channel introduced me to this series, and it's been an amazing read. I just finished dark forest, and it's been one of the best reads I've ever had. Thanks for your content. On to Death's End!
Thank you so much for making this series of videos. After watching the first 5 minutes of your first video a few months ago, I was so intrigued that I wanted to read the whole series before watching your videos. I just finished Death's End and I just want to say thank you for putting this out there. This book series is amazing and your videos are the reason I discovered it.
Thank you for your Three-Body Problem reflexions, I really love them! You made me read the trilogy after your first video on it, but I don't have any friends to talk about it. It's style is too "hard", complicated or downright grimdark for anyone I know to enjoy. So listening to you is like having a great discussion about the books and it's super sweet. You are officially my imaginary best friend :)
I love hard science fiction. It's great when an author acknowledges real issues, like the fact that high speed would kill everyone. The Forever War did it well, and also dealt with relativistic time dilation. I've known of the Dark Forest books for a while, maybe I'll check them out.
Even without having red this book series, I can't stop admiring the great choice for a title. I encourage anyone to watch an explanation of the real life "three body problem" and realize how well it fits the content of the story. While the "dark forrest" should be a no-brainer to any sci-fi fan.
omg there is a channel talking about this series!? It's my favorite sci fi. I read it in Chinese when it came out and was completely blown away by its sheer imagination and great narrative. I'm a big fan of how the author talks about the impact of invasion to the general population and the society as a whole. I definitely recommend the series to any sci-fi fan.
I'm so glad this is out there. By far the most comprehensive sci-fi series I've read. As you said, the scope and sheer amount of information is staggering, that's not even getting into the plots and how each book is kind of its own brutal slab of doom. I love it!
I have not read this trilogy yet due to academic reading requirements, but I have watched the netflix series. I love listening to you videos because it makes me explore even if im quite left behind. Thank you!
Cixin Liu really knows how to play with the readers feelings. Although it was already pretty clear as a reader that mankind would not just overcome the Trisolarians technology and be able to defeat them, Liu perfectly brings across the the human optimism as they thought they had advanced to a technology level way beyond the Trisloarians. Thus even the reader became optimistic that humanity would be able to defend them self. This quickly turned into a feeling of hopelessness and depression after humanity encountered the droplet. Imagine being a human after the droplet attack and how hopeless and little you must feel. Like an ant that was stupid enough to think it is smarter than a human and can fight the humans just to see how a human destroys a big ant hill, with millions of ants that worked so hard for to build over years, within a few seconds. After this chapter I somehow also felt somewhat hopeless and pessimistic for a few days and I think I have never been touched by a book in this way.
@@esecallum To us, maybe, but these were people that grew up in a time of peace and technological prosperity after ages of sophon stifling. It must have felt like technology was escalating too fast for trisolarans to catch up. If I remember correctly, they did try and take common era military personnel to command fleets. Though many commanders were too eager to be the first to make first contact. Fleets weren't united under a single country so this was the agreed upon plan to give each country equal opportunity to make history.
@@DeskToyStudios nah, I see where you're coming from, but they supposedly ran simulations and what not. It's just too much incompetence from too many people to leave all ships close by (and lined up at that), specially when the explosion of a ship can trip the systems of the other and you're literally dealing with aliens who were already capable of doing a lot of crazy stuff a long long time ago
@@user-sl6gn1ss8p we'd definitely do something like that though. I mean, we're burning and banning books en masse and "witches" are being outed, one was murdered recently (not a real witch obviously) but we'll always be this primitive in our thinking especially with this atrocious education system. Welcome aboard to the new dark ages and techno feudalism as we leave late stage capitalism behind :) it doesn't even look cool like blade runner lol
@@Junksaint I do agree we do lot of dumb shit, but this is just not comparable. I'm not even saying this is the dumbest thing ever done by humans, but it's just of *another kind*, that I find forced in context (my context being just this video, it might well make sense in the books for all I know). Like, it's takes a special kind of naivety for all of the worlds militaries to think "you know what, we should just leave all of our ships in the same place and in straight lines in space while waiting for a literal alien attack". Specially given that we know that they ran "simulations". Shit happens and the pandemic for one has shown that, but this strains my suspension of disbelief : p
The explanation of the story- the way people reacted feels so real! Congrats, you've convinced me to read my first book in almost 5 years. Thank you ^_^
i honestly found the books very hard to read because of the incredibly dry prose... but man, the ideas within are amazing. the way you read the passages injects them with such drama and horror. i wish you'd do an audiobook series!
I sampled them on Audible and passed because I didn't like the narrator. To me, his voice made everything sound even drier and I wanted the opposite. This guy, I would love to hear those books read by him. He's the one who got me interested in the first place but I'm kinda stuck bc I basically gave up real reading years ago 🤣
Just started the first book in this series because of your videos and I'm hooked. You do good work and I love your collection of books. I'm subscribed and working through your videos. You've got another fan!
The Great Ravine is no reference to the Great Depression here in the USA. It's a reference to something far closer to home and far far worse - the Great Chinese Famine. It's widely regarded as one of the greatest man-made disasters of all time, although ... well ... let's just say, "so far".
My buddies fiancé is second generation Chinese, both parents survived the famine and escaped. We had all read the series recently and this was her take and mine as well.
Big fan, Quinn - your Three Body Problem videos are what convinced me to subscribe, and every upload related to the series is a treat. Like you, I could not get the Remembrance trilogy out of my head after I put down Death's End. It has quickly become one of my favorite literary trilogies of all time, and the last book specifically might be in my top ten books of all time. To put that into context, I am a professional academic (college instructor, specifically) and all of my degrees involve literary study. I have to basically read for a living, and I've read a lot - out of all the books I've absorbed in my lifetime, Cixin Liu's trilogy easily sits near the top tiers of literature. I hold it in the same regard as I do many of the classics. Granted, my opinions on great books are my own, but I hold the series in such high regard because it achieves something Richard Dawkin calls "raising consciousness." It didn't just thrill me with a tremendous story - it expanded my imagination and truly impacted the way I see the universe today. I came to view humanity itself a little differently after Death's End. So forgive me what is probably going to be a very long comment, for which there will be story spoilers. It's just rare to meet sci-fi lovers who adore the books as I do. I know the Remembrance trilogy is still considered a truly epic work in this particular genre, but I've noticed that there are a lot of cultural differences and character motivations that stymie readers who lack in-depth knowledge of Chinese history or who expect pro/antagonists to behave in predictable ways. Case in point - the sizable percentage of readers who absolutely hated Cheng Xin but loved Luo Ji. I think those unexpected story elements endeared the novels to me even more. At the end of each book, I required time to reckon with what I had just read. While the trilogy isn't often considered part of the sci-fi horror genre, the longer I reflected on key plot elements the more unnerved I became starting the next title. The Doomsday Battle in The Dark Forest and the true nature of the Trisolaran droplet is a great example; Cixin Liu's descriptions (aided of course by Ken Liu's masterful translations) evoked both awe and fear. That something so beautiful, so perfect, so emblematic of a Platonic ideal could hide such terrifying power really stuck with me. Humanity's entire war fleet, massacred with such mathematic precision - it definitely had the same emotional impact as Game of Throne's Red Wedding but with far, far greater stakes. I think part of what made the Trisolaran droplet such an iconic reveal was humanity's hubris during the encounter. This is a phenomenon we see all too often. So proud, so sure, and so united a front is rare in human history: the fleets assembled to confront the droplet represented the collective will of humanity. Our entire civilization had finally dropped its petty political and religious squabbles and come together with unified, noble purpose - that unity meant nothing against the droplet. And of course, the droplet only revealed the ultimate power of the Trisolaran race - The Dark Forest made clear that the Trisolarans are but one hostile civilization in a universe filled with them! We eventually see even the Trisolarans laid low by their technological betters, and when the scope of the threat zooms further out to encompass even more of the galaxy, it's easy to finally see just how insignificant and brief our existence might really be. Even after Earth finally achieves victory against Trisolaris (if you could truly call it "victory"), the sensation of being an insect in a universe of giants only grows. If the universe could produce a race capable of constructing droplets, strong-interaction objects capable of unimaginable speed and power, so much power that entire planets are at risk of annihilation, what else is out there? We, of course, find out in the last book. (SPOILERS) No exaggeration, no weapon in ANY book I've ever read terrified me as much as the dual-vector foil responsible for the Solar System's destruction. Your average sci-fi reader probably has a slightly deeper understanding of dimensional space (or at least the principles underlying its study), but very few had probably imagined what a shift to a two-dimensional universe would do to us, to reality itself. Here's a good selection from the horror that unfolds following the vector's "detonation, edited to include the most horrific parts. This scene describes what happens to a human space city (containing 3 million people) as the space it occupies is collapsed from the three dimensions we know to the two-dimensions we did most certainly did NOT evolve to live in: "A black belt of cloud's appeared along the city's axis...Cheng Xin and AA were shocked to see that the black cloud was formed from people drifting in the middle of the city! Some of the weightless individuals had pulled together into a cluster; some had linked hands and formed a line; but most floated alone...Cheng Xin felt as though she were looking down upon an ant colony, and the black people-cloud looked just like a drifting swarm of ants. Someone in the people-cloud screamed. A glowing dot appeared at a spot on the city's equator...That was where Europe VI first came into contact with two-dimensional space. The space city now resembled a giant ship whose bottom had been breached, sinking in a flat sea. The plane of the two-dimensional space rose like water, and everything that came into contact with the surface instantaneously turned into two dimensions...On the rising, expanding plane, gorgeous colors and complicated structures flashed by and zoomed away in every direction, as though the plane was a lens through which one could see colorful beasts running. Because the city still possessed air, they could head the sound of the three-dimensional world falling into two dimensions: a crisp, piercing series of crunches, as though the buildings and the city itself were made of exquisitely carved glass and a giant roller was crushing everything. As the plane continued to rise, the people-cloud began to spread out in the opposite direction, like a curtain being lifted by an invisible hand...Some people had begun to fall into the plane by now. Like drops of colorful ink, they spread open on th plane in an instant, and each appeared as a unique figure in two dimensions...they saw a pair of lovers leaping into the plane while in an embrace...Nearby there was a mother who lifted her baby overhead as she fell into the plane, all so that the baby would survive for an extra tenth of a second. The lonely, three-dimensional island continued to sink and melt into the two-dimensional sea. In less than ten minutes, all of Europe VI had turned into a painting...it was a dead city...the two-dimensional bodies did not move at all, and gave no signs of being alive...This was a dead world. A dead picture." Sorry for this ridiculously long quote in a ridiculously long comment, but I could not get the two-dimensionalization of the Solar System out of my head. I don't know if the physical laws of the universe or the science in the Remembrance trilogy is "realistic" necessarily, but as a hard sci-fi series much of Cixin Liu's narrative hinges on verifiable physical constants, so it was easy for me to think that there may be technology out there in the universe that really WOULD terrify us. It's the not knowing that ultimately unnerved me. Either way, thanks for your awesome uploads Quinn, and for allowing this essay of a comment.
Thanks for sharing your opinion. I find it interesting. It makes me ponder what sort of weapon would be terrifying or compelling to me, because the scene you describe does not inspire any emotional reaction from me at all. I mean ... it seems so small scale to me. I had been assuming that dimensional collapse was something like false vacuum decay - something that affects the entire universe, spreading out at the speed of light from the nucleation point. Maybe it's a cultural thing. I grew up with MAD and nuclear winter, and stories all about the end of all life on Earth. I think different people took different attitudes to cope with the threat of global thermonuclear war. A lot of folks, I suppose, just chose to ignore it. Others, of course, tried to do something about it, like protesting nukes. I was just a kid who had no power to do anything about it (or at least that's what I thought, or chose to believe). I guess I just chose to accept it as a possibility. The dinosaurs died. We could die. That thought holds no horror for me. I'm not sure what would, in terms of cosmic horror. I still like cosmic horror anyway, regardless of whether or not it inspires a visceral emotional reaction from me, though.
@@IsaacKuo Liu does establish that the dimensional collapse is total - it does not stop and will eventually reduce the entire universe to 2-dimensions. Granted, the implication is that it's a long process given just how massive the known universe is, but I think that is what terrified me - not that the dual-vector foil was capable of collapsing the 3rd dimension in the first place, but that it was an unstoppable process pretty much guaranteed to destroy every 3rd dimensional organism in existence (so, for us...all of them). I think I see where you're coming from with regard to the dual-vector foil, though. The process of dimensional collapse, once it reaches humanity, is more or less painless (or at the very least, almost instantaneous). I think it's the dread of knowing that unsettled me - not just that people would die, but that the extinction would extend to even the water-bears and microbes that so impress us. Liu's descriptions of "dead worlds" and "dead paintings" felt very depressing, because who would even survive to know anything had existed in the first place? (I definitely understand why a slightly different fear - of being the ONLY survivor of the dimensional collapse - would terrify people, too.)
@@blackpajamas6600 To clarify - I find it interesting more for what it says about myself than anything about the quality of Liu's writing. I just don't feel the sort of dread that I used to feel about some things. I do remember that I once worried about being forgotten in the mists of time. But I don't feel that existential dread any more. The idea that all of humanity ... all of life on Earth ... may someday be completely gone. No legacy. No memory anywhere. No monument... I do remember a time when that would have been worrisome to me. But I don't feel that way anymore and I haven't for many years. Both viscerally and intellectually, it just doesn't bother me. Our time may be finite. If so, what of it? That just makes it so much more important for us to strive to make that limited time fulfilling. The thing is ... there are plenty of things that still viscerally horrify me. Stick me in Mariupol and I'll see plenty I wish I hadn't. But my question (to myself) is ... are there things which count as _cosmic_ horror that affect me that way? I don't know, but it's an interesting question to me.
I have read the Dark Forest series. It gave me troubled thoughts for a long time. It’s easily one of the best science fiction series I’ve ever read and I’m 57 years old. Thanks for a great video, my friend.
Your excitment for this book series has really sold me on it. you've got good production values and a great voice for narration. keep up the good work.
I have a hard time reading due to being neurodivergent. At some point, I might be able to get back into it, but first I need to become sufficiently intrigued and curious. Watching your videos is definitely nudging me in that direction. I can't tell you how meaningful that is to me, so thank you for what you are doing. You're great!
@@wobblecrash 'Neurodivergent' is not only ADHD and also includes many other conditions involving cognitive dysfunction which can share traits of ADHD and either way can benefit from having baseline engagement with material before committing to interaction with it. And there are multiple types of ADD. Not everyone is you. I'd say "good for you" but as you also seem to suffer from Rabbit Up My Ass Disorder [R-U-MAD], I'll leave it at "so sorry about that" instead. Try Less. Twit.
Can I just say I love the way you narrate things and your voice is very soothing, my first video I saw from you was the first one you did covering this trilogy. My first video in this niche and you had me completely hooked in a existential crisis. So happy I've found you channel. Legend
Really like watching these videos about sci-fi book on my quieter drinking nights, I'm 100 percent focused on music production, so I'm either learning music tech, making music or working physically. I don't have time to read books like these anymore, who has time to do everything though
Having read the trilogy about a year ago, your excellent video motivates me to read it again. Reading it the first time blew me away. Now with your videos I can figure out why.
Finally subbed. Idk what took so long because your opinions and likes in novels are so close to mine. This is the first new series you brought to my attention, and I fucking loved it. Thank you for your opinions and videos. And thank you for bringing light to more content like this when I run out.
People should remember that the title of the series “The Three Body Problem” is based off the real scientific principles on the difficulties of creating true real time orbiting models of more than two celestial bodies! The title is most certainly a nod to that and perhaps his inspiration for why the humans of his story fail to understand reality.
The title is based, but the series is the disgrace to all of the scientific community. It is an incoherent mumbling of somebody who have heard scientific words over the TV, having literally nothing based off real science with a lot of topics that are completely absurd from the viewpoint of modern physics
@@sirlight-ljij I have not read 3BP but most sci-fi has at least a few invented space and pseudo physics jargons unique to the series and plenty are filled with the alternates science. What makes this stories use of it so egregious to you? Actually curious 🧐
@@volcryndarkstar I understood that to begin with from watching Quinn’s other videos, but I was suggesting that the title was referencing multiple things lol
Thank you for this! I don't read as much as I used to, in my old age I have less patience to find the good stuff, but I'm reading this trilogy now because of your fascinating discussion of it. It's excellent!
Didn’t realize until about episode 4 while watching the Netflix show that this was the same series. LOVE your videos. So interesting and detailed. Thanks for your content!
@@silverhawkscape2677 I’m pretty sure that’s the case. Ramming IS the simplest form of destruction when your projectile can’t be damaged but had they been real weapons I’d imagine they’d have just lit up all the ships before they got there.
Me too. Ever since I read Liu Cixin's trilogy, The Three-Body Problem, I can't stop thinking about it every day. The first book was interesting. The second was very… fascinating. But the third… the third. Heartbreaking. Obsessive. Arf, damn! Now that I've talked about these books, I absolutely have to reread them. Incredible.
I also read Children of Time but couldn't get through the second book. It just didn't hook me the way the first one did. I'll be interested to hear what you think in future videos.
I like how Issac Asimov foundation trilogy is on your bookshelf next to the earth’s remembrance trilogy because listening to Issac Asimov foundation trilogy lead me to more audiobooks but also to your videos via the algorithm. I’m so glad I started watching your vids keep up the good work from a fellow sci fi enthusiast!
Thanks to your video, i became aware of this series... and listened to the audiobook for the last two days, just so i could watch your video without beeing spoiled.
I am a huge scy fi fan, i have read the whole dune series 5 times and many others, but i had never heard of this series, after watching your videos i am really looking forward to reading them. i just found this channel and i am loving it, thanx.
Quinn always has his finger on the pulse of Sci Fi novels that eventually gains massive popularity. Quinn is who we should all turn to for incredible content and in depth analysis of these amazing works.
The droplet was one of my favourite parts in the trilogy. It illustrates perfectly well how a battle between two sides with completely different technological levels looks like. It was a detail that made clear why Trisolarians locked down specifically the study in particle physics in the previous book. This way, the primitive humanity was forced to spend the last centuries in their precious island crafting the best bows and spears they could, only to be annihilated by long range artillery before the real battle could even begin.
Sadly for us Terrans, you wonder if the Trisolarians watched the construction of the fleet with bemused smiles the entire time
The whole time in the second book people were boasting about how they were going to beat the Trisolarans I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. And when it did it was one of the most memorable scenes in the book.
Made some later events kind of cathartic, though.
Why did the commanders of the fleet decide it was a good idea to bring all of the battleships together and line them up in a nice grid to meet the teardrop? As humanity could not deal with the sophons for centuries and they were malevolent sub atomic particles, why did people they think they could deal with a spaceship that was massive was? This was a huge failure.
I know humans thought their technology matched Trisolarian technology based on observation of the first Trisolar nvasion fleet but they should have thought about it and accepted human technology had not got to the level of Trisolarian technology. Even as I read this I knew it was a mistake to bring all of the fleet ships to one location.
The Trisolarians made similar mistakes. They should have killed Luo Ji when they had a chance. If I was the Trisolarian commander I would have sent the droplet on a hunter killer operation, killing as many humans as it could till the next droplets arrived to finish off humanity. They would have been the real hunters in the dark forest. The Trisolarans showed their mean streak too late.
@@kdegraa As far as the human commanders and fleet position, it is explained in the book that because of politics (each ship was essentially a nation-state and thought of themselves important as such) the fleet decided to align itself that way so that there was no "disparity" between the ships, that they all presented an equal front to the Trisolarans. Even characters in the book talk about how stupid and dangerous it is, and that it's a bad idea. But they are ignored, and we see a couple of them die almost guessing exactly what happened.
@@danielcaraballo113 in the next book another similar situation occurs. After the Sophons, the teardrop, seeing two solar systems destroyed, why the hell would not everyone clear off when they had a chance.
Travelling at light speed was really the only way to go along with setting up habitats far beyond the solar system for human survival. Humanity by this time lives in habitats in space. Rather than hiding behind planets, they should have been hiding out in interstellar space.
The prohibition against escaping did not make sense when people have already escaped Earth.
In this universe I’d imagine there would be many refugees travelling the galaxy, trying to hide from those who think they are dangerous.
However I kind of think the whole premise of the books are false. While space is limited in theory, in practice it’s limitless. If a civilisation becomes space faring then it will create artificial habitats in space. Space is so huge it would take many millions or billions of years for a civilisation to occupy and run out of room in a solar system.
One of the most amazing things about this trilogy is Cixin Liu’s ability to credibly imagine technology far beyond current human capabilities, but sufficiently within our understanding to be creepy and chilling.
The teardrop, the dimensional foil, lightspeed… such a brilliant mind.
these are things china is actively working on rn..china and communist iron fist will take over the planet..you will be our slaves..get used to it..were just superior
@@kickassandchewbubblegum639 ???
@@kickassandchewbubblegum639 You still struggle to keep planes in the sky.
@@kickassandchewbubblegum639 superior at subjecting 90% of your own population to extremely horrid atmospheric conditions, superior at incredibly stupid amounts of obedience to a central authority, superior at holding on to superstitions and make-belief, superior at eliminating your own neighbors just because they dance in parks, superior at ridiculing the entire backbone of your society because higher education is the only thing that matters, superior at being incredibly racist.
eh, it does feel like the sort of thing someone with little actual knowledge on science would write. Granted still better than the giant pile of rubbish that is most modern 'science' fiction (read: science fantasy)
I remember getting to that part of the book completely convinced that humanity was unbeatable, and that there was no way for the author to recover the tension that one felt during the wallfacer parts of the book.
Oh boy how wrong I was, it made me feel as arrogant as the humans of that era.
Same bruh. When i got to the future part i was like huh human situation is looking pretty good there was no need of all that worrying in early crisis era. Then the droplet happened ☠️. Then i thought offcourse trisolarans are also advancing their science while we were stuck due to sophons and they made a weapon far more dangerous then their old fleet.
I actually was not surprised that the humanity became so oblivious to one single truth, "A civilisation travelling 4 light years or 36 trillion kms would be something we can take on, when our understanding and knowledge had already proven that interstellar travel is something we will not be able to achieve anytime soon. In a way I failed to understand the hubris of humanity and how they could be such fools, but alas we are.
You know, as fun as it was to read I think there is a story to be told in the complete opposite of this. I mean it would be a series anathema to this one both in tone and implications.
But the idea of an aggressor doing what Trisolaran's did but actually conforming to what much of humanity began to believe in it being something of a peace offering instead of the Trojan horse it was could make for an interesting concept. That in recognizing that humanities growth meant that a war would wind up not only creating massive casualties on each side but also the possible destruction of the planet both wished to inhabit, resulted in a different line of thought within the aliens just as it had the humans.
Like I said, it would be an incredibly different work of fiction. A far, far, far more hopeful one. But all the same there's an idea in that, that I don't think I've ever really seen explored before. The aggressor turned sympathetic ally long before they arrived through the recognition that the universe is cold and uncaring of our existence and then actually follow through on the sides collaborating.
You could even do this and still continue writing a dark story under the proper circumstances. Show them arrive, engage in political and social discourse that eventually results in co-existence and then still remind us that, "Oh, yeah, the universe doesn't care" with some of its later revelations hitting them or something even greater than we ever see. If anything this might actually make the darkness that's coming hit even harder as you're briefly lulled into the idea that maybe it wasn't that kind of book in the first place and it was actually wrapping a noptimistic ending in a pessimistic shell only to broadside you just as things are looking up for the two species.
I don't know, call me crazy I just think there's something there. Because as soon as the droplet was detected I immediately knew shit was going to go sideways either when it arrived or shortly thereafter, and sure enough there we go. If it had been played entirely straight it could really throw the reader for a loop when something far worse happens later in the series.
But all that said...yeah it was still cool to read.
@@sa4555 I think it's based on that old truth nugget of "humanity is doomed to repeat the past" because unless an idea is constantly reinforced in our minds most people will forget, or at the very least diminish, a mistake made both on a micro and macro level within just a few years of making it. In the book humanity went from almost going extinct to a new golden age of both peace and technology in enough time that some of the people who were alive when people were eating each other were still alive when the reorganization of the space force began.
And it's easy to see how their predecessors could look at that and say "Look at the progress we've made in such a short time, how could they manage that?" because at the end of the day humanity has spent its entire existence thinking it's special, that it's the only species with the intellect we have (this could possibly be true in reality, if doubtful, though the likelihood of any of us living to find out is beyond negligible). And while humanity in this book now knows they aren't alone it isn't until this attack that they actually have to come face-to-face with the fact they they aren't in-fact, special in any way. They aren't the heroes of the galaxy and their technology isn't going to magically outpace a species thousands of years ahead of them in two-centuries.
So while at first it seems a little odd that humanity would just think they could magically outclass their foe if you really think about how humanity has proven time-and-time again both its short memory and total arrogance in thinking itself the master of its domain (its story if you will) it does begin to make a bit of sense.
Personally, such an outcome seemed obvious to me when it turned out that no prerequisites for peace from Trisolaris were actually observed.
If they really wanted this, they have the most direct channel of communication with the Earth through the Sophons.
But since this did not happen, it means that these negotiations existed only in the wet dreams of pampered humanity.
(More than sure that this effeminacy only strengthened the determination to get rid of people)
Pretty good illustration of the fact that humanity has a very short memory.
"If I destroy you, what business of it is yours?"
That line from The Dark Forest absolutely haunted me. Basically being so technologically insignificant that it's tantamount to someone kicking over an ant hill.
就和我们随意杀死蚂蚁一样。 我们不用去关心蚂蚁的生死。 在宇宙中也是如此
Remember, that is just a rewording of the quote, "If I love you, what business is it of yours?" by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, used earlier in the book. Makes it more powerful.
i love that he goes back to this idea so often, that no matter how important we think we are, or what purpose we believe we have, we aren’t very different from an ant going along it’s business, obvious to what is actually out there.
Well, to be fair, ants bite and there's a reason people stay away from their nests. In fact, many geniuses have marveled at the innovation and collectivism at play in ant colonies.
Proves once again that pride is a greater sin for a civilization than their avarice.
insects are 80 percent of the biomass of this world and ants have had an outsized role in creating the soils you live on. without them no you....can you kick over a planet? thats the size of the total ant hill....humans see one little colony and think because they impacted that they are strong and powerful....well...nothing is ever what it seems...
When you talked about the humans interpreting the droplet as a gift, I was like "Have these people never read about the Trojan horse?"
Never underestimate human arrogance
@@MagikarpManI bet you're vaccinated😂
@@covidenslavement8918 your mum's dead
@@covidenslavement8918uh what
@@covidenslavement8918btw don't actually respond
The Dark Forest had a slow start for me but The Droplet scene is definitely one of the best moments of the series
Same for me. The droplet scene was really shocking and breathtaking. The brutal violance of the droplet shows technical superiority of trisolarans on one hand, however on the other it shows how primitive they are - using raw mechanical power to deal destruction.
@@EmperorMato The point is they didn't even need to use their real weapons, the droplet was just a unarmed probe. We were bugs to them.
It's been a while since I read those books but I remember that scene being great. That old doctor/scientist guy (please forgive me) tells them something like; "They're probably going to have technology that is so advanced, we won't even be able to recognize it for what it is." which foreshadows the annihilation nicely.
Actually there is a shot film on youtube called “ Waterdrop :the fans movie of The three-body problem", which done rather well in capturing the atmosphere, that uncanny calm before storm.
@@MsCuirassier I love that video! It definitely shows the beauty and upcoming violence excellently
Aliens are crossing centuries worth of space to annihilate you and conquer your planet, they sent incredibly tiny intangible computers to stall your technology and have not shown a single instance of mercy.
"This menacing tear must be a gift!" Those billions of dead must've included all the skeptics.
Soon as I learned an alien race was coming, and they have a way to stall our technological growth....
Time to look for a new world people, lets see how much we can strip from this one to make ark ships!
@@lostbutfreesoul sadly, in the dark forest trilogy, humanity literally memetically engineered themselves to have a phobia to strategically run away.
Yep, in fact it was punishable by death to even try to make a way to escape.
@@lostbutfreesoul Escapism was banned by human governments in the books, because no matter how hard they tried there would never be enough spaceships to get more than a miniscule percentage of the population of Earth off planet. They realized that squabbling over who gets to go and who has to die would mean nothing ever gets done and might even lead to civil wars or class wars between different groups trying to make sure their great great great grandchildren get to leave. So they just said "If not everyone's leaving, no one can," and forced everyone to stand their ground. Very extreme and they definitely took it too far, but sadly they were probably right about the squabbling. Not that it really would have mattered since Trisolarans would have just sent Droplets to intercept the escaping ships, dooming humanity anyway.
@@lukred6271 or maybe they’d strip it down to the bedrock for all its resources and then dig through the bedrock to harvest the earth’s metal core.
@@lukred6271 If Trisolaris had their way they would literally have made humans eat each other until only a few million humans were left, who would then live short, miserable lives on preserves as savages. That kind of atrocity is not what I would consider a good thing.
(spoilers for all 3 books)
It's pretty interesting that the military strategists were worried about facing antimatter weapons at the doomsday battle, and then ultimately, the only time any humans were threatened by antimatter, it was Wade's soldiers in the 3rd book. Humans always speculating on how to counter technology that they wind up turning on themselves. The cold war-like deterrence state and technological creep in this series is so so well done. Always tense and constantly evolving.
wade was cool.
Wade is lowkey my hero in the book. Saw what needed to be done and was willing to do it. Even stood by his word. Such a dichotomy or ruthless pursuit of the greater good and honor. Was an interesting contrast to Cheng Xin.
@@OberynTheRedViper contrast
Bruhh i hate that shit chin
Wade was right all the way like zhang raiz etc
@@oneminsol7418 no
@@davidsplooge14 ???
the teardrop only became hostile once someone truly understood that it was hostile. that's the creepiest thing...
“Shit, cover is blown, gotta start now!”
Imagine being a safari guy driving a well supported jeep and a gun in your hand, all is chill until the leopard on the side of the road start to dodge away from where you aim your gun.
What about trojen... The famous story we alll alll heard
@@hangmingzhang5067 Clever girrrl
Maybe they should have sent some Buddhist monks to inspect the droplets
Honestly there were so many impactful moments in Book Two that still gives me chills to this day. Lets just say that if A Storm of Swords had the Red Wedding, Dark Forest had like 6 Red Wedding tier moments, it's crazy 😂
Impactful...ha ha. I see what you did there.
This was BY FAR the most riveting and engrossing part of the whole series for me… Just the utter devastation and humiliation of the human fleet after all they thought they had accomplished…Fantastic. I compare this part to the end of the last book when the entire solar system is being consumed by the dimensional object thing, but that part had such a sense of prolonged dread because it happened almost in slow motion compared to the Droplet attack. Anyway, both scenes were absolutely devastating and epic in scale. Wonderful writing.
Totally agree. I so, so hope this gets put on screen with a solid budget to do it justice. Super epic.
Dual vector foil
The earth go hard. Hard, with a whimper.
@@MrBobby35790 I don't think we (human) have the ability to do it justice, not right now.
@@MrBobby35790 I hears that the guys who adapted game of thrones ( and ruined it in the final seasons ) will adapt this one. Let's hope for the best....
I started the series because of you, and finally finished it yesterday.
I cannot wait to start reading the last one. I finished the first two already.
@@Helios.vfx.started the first book yesterday afternoon and im already almost half way through, already addicted lol
Mateee you've got a lot to read about lol. No spoilers, obvioiusly. I finished the whole original 3 series, except by the 4th by another author. Really great series. I recommend you the "Project Hail Mary" from Andy Weir. You'll love it. @@puckles7585
Remembrance of Earth's Past is well written but so laden with doom that I actually felt existential despair after reading it. Not about the real world, just how the books left me feeling. For a lot of reasons I don't think I'll ever read them again but I'm glad I *did* read them, and love your videos analyzing them.
yeah, fascinating but dark
It puts things into perspective for sure. We see ants and we douse them in chemicals until they are annihilated. The horror begins when we find out that we are the ants.
That's a great review to be fair .
The 🌎 is slowly being destroyed,not to mention that the age of deterrence is ending, with nuclear weapons ready to be used 2022
Me too, I thought they were genius but the vibe was not enjoyable. I don't want to feel that dread again, but I'm glad that I experienced it. The book really changes one's perception of the world.
Hey, Quinn. I understand your idea that wishful thinking doesn’t solve humanity’s problems and that we need to apply better strategies to help mitigate our global crisis, such as, climate change, poverty, etc. But our species greatest assets that has helped us overcome problems that seemed insurmountable are our ingenuity and tendency to hope for a better future. This has been our bedrock for centuries and moved our society towards a brighter era of wealth and prosperity.
This was one of the most psychologically devastating moments of the book for me... even after all those years past, when I watch this video, I suddenly went back to that feeling of hopelessness and fear. Brilliance in imagination and perfection in writing...
very nice playlist by the way, keep up 👏
I’m so happy someone is making 3BP content. I still haven’t reached the highs of this sci-fi series since I’ve this series a couple years ago. It’s a masterpiece
hello
Totally!
Salvation Sequence by Peter F. Hamilton. That did it for me. ;)
@@eurybaric read the synopsis and definitely going to pick it up, good looks
It is the single greatest piece of fiction I've ever read. And I have a home library of more than 5,000 books. This trilogy utterly changed the way I look up at the stars. I loved every moment I spent living within its pages.
Quinn, I'm angry I found your channel so late into your content. You're an amazing dude and deserve an intergalactic award. I understand more about the world. My naivety was transmuted into knowledge, thank you... honestly
Quinn...THANK YOU for continuing to cover this trilogy.
did you know him back when his channel was called "Idea's Of Ice & Fire"? now that I think back I think I found him around season 2-3 of "Game Of Thrones" him & a few other YT people convinced me to read them.
The color of his skin put you off. The white mans extreme obsession with color blinds him to other colors
Right. Like he's THAT surprised to find a black guy who can do book reviews that he's in total bliss. Weird as hell. No disrespect to Quinn obvs
@@esecallum :::pats you on the head::: what a good little woke joke parrot you are. Polly want a cracker?
The sense of eeriness and hopelessness is incredible. I may check this series out. Thanks for the great vid.
Thanks for all the Dune and TBP videos!
One of the best series I’ve read, maybe the best. The end of the Universe is pretty big. I thought the Dark Forest was incredible and then the end of Death’s End blew my mind.
One of my favourite sci-fi battles that I know, its so unique and different compared to other sci-fi battles. So glad more people are talking about this series.
Most humiliating part is when you think you are advanced. Trisolarans defeated you by a tactic you used in the stone age. Throwing a hard object at you.
To be fair, most military innovations since the Stone Age have basically amounted to new and creative ways to throw hard objects at people
@@Paraphen that tells a lot about earthlings technology.
There’s something to be said for the KISS principle. Not everything needs to be super impressive…
The worst part is humanity was only 20 years or so away from developing a countermeasure to the probe, as explained in the 3rd book. They were on the verge of creating the same kind of supermaterial, that could be used as shields and projectiles against probes.
@@xahbal yea, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. IMPROVE IT.
Example: Unga bunga! Rock-hurt. Rock in sling. Sling rock-MORE HURT! UNGA BUNGA!!
We sharpened the rock&put it on a stick!
We took the rock on a stick&put it on rope attached to a piece of wood to make it faster&hurt better!
We replaced rock with metal!
We replaced the string with boom-boom powder, the metal no longer needs wood to fly through the air!
We made bigger boom-boom sticks&metal balls.
We put them on boats.
We made boom-boom sticks easy to reload&higher capacity.
We made exploding boomers.
We made rolling boomers.
We made FLYING BOOMERS.
Some schmuck made an atomic boomer…..let’s tell the world to ease it on back a bit with that one, but no one that was researching&actively developing them really will.
We also made napalm.
Apparently napalm violates a checklist. Note to self: flying chunks of metal-okay, exploding chunks of metal-okay. No chemicals…..
The Three Body Problem has lived rent free in my brain since my first reading. Love your videos, thank you for sharing your thoughts
I am not a book reader😢 and I am glad people would go out and do this kind of video. I'd like watching graphical stories.
I usually dont like sci-fi fiction but i breezed through the trilogy in 5 days. Give them a try trust me
I will! @@Starrypaws64
I recently re read the droplet section. The buildup to the scene, when you know what's coming, is intense as hell.
I literally just finished The Dark Forrest and am about to read the third book. Impeccable timing and great video as usual.
same! I'm nearing end for the dark forest too!
"The Dark Forrest" or "Humanity Getting Kicked In The Dick Repeatedly"
The Dark Forest is the best of the three books imo!
@@KaitlinLuksa thus far it's my favorites too.
Prepare your mind. It will be blown.
Children of Time is a masterpiece, one of my favorite sci fi books of all time. Somehow, a book that centers giant spiders and humanity on the verge of extinction managed to be incredibly uplifting multiple times. The narratives of one constant protagonist + thousands of years of history of a civilization, interwoven, was masterful. I'm so glad Quinn is boosting it, it kinda flew under the radar when it came out.
Oh ya, that's a sweet book! Haha but I'm not sure winning the Clarke award is exactly flying under the radar :)
Amazing read, the Children of ruin is pretty cool too. Check out the Koli trilogy by M.R. Carey - just brilliant
Loved it, the sequel was good too, weird as the first, but somehow not as compelling. The first was so good, and i am sitting there going, I am reading about a giant spider society, and it doesn't feel strange. The humans feel strange.
@@thej3799 That’s a great point. It’s the humans that feel strange - I didn’t realise that was how I viewed it until now. Thanks !
After watching your videos for the last year or so, i consider you a great authority on scifi and fantasy. Thanks to you, my interest in reading scifi has peaked in a way i didn't think possible since i was in high school. I would just like to say thank you.
Grow up and be a man
Just when you think you've heard every scifi idea, There's always one writer out there who has the potential to surprise you with a new concept you never see coming. Thank you so much for sharing, I'm excited to read the books!
Why i love scifi, thanks for the post
I stumbled upon this video at random. I watched it because i love good Sci fi. After watching it i went out and bought all 3 books. I just love the depth of thought this story provokes. Epic doesnt even come close!
Its weird that humanity didnt use at least one of those ships to leave the influences of the sophan to conduct scientific experiments away from her influence, knowing the limits of space travel, this would be a reasonable action
The sophons could move at the speed of light, making them inescapable, and it was not known how many there were on earth
@@bucketmisser3210 SPOILER FOR ANYONE READING
iirc blue space was being pursued by a ship as well as one of the tear drops (which was planning on backstabbing both human ships) until they entered the 4d rip which allowed the crew to dismantle the tear drop, it was extremely important for the trisolarans to get rid of the ship otherwise their new home would be under threat, if sophon's could reach that ship then they would've warned / reprogrammed the tear drop to avoid the 4d rip / attack as soon as the 4d vulnerability was known by the crew.
Also i'm pretty sure its directly mentioned that blue space left the ranged of the sophons influence.
@@BadVoodo0 but the 4d bubbles were drying and moving through space, they were also far from the solar system, building a particle collider in such circumstances so far from home would be hard. Also people loose all sense of direction inside them.
@@itobin2957 i know but that doesn't change the point, if sophon was observing blue space they would've noticed them slipping into 4d and the tear drop would've been better prepared, in fact (forgot the ships name) but the fact that the trysolarians allowed the human ship to perusing blue space in the first place rather then skipping diplomatic formalities shows the lack of threat aweness which ultimately cost them the war.
Also
>building a particle collider in such circumstances so far from home would be hard
yes, but not impossible, you would need a bigger ship for sure. That said i just realized you'd need at least 3 ships to factor out stuff like local noise / filters / space-environmental factors, and said 3 ships would have to have some communication to compare results. But considering iirc the human race had 1000 ships, its not that much of a tall order to fulfill.
Leaving Sophon range would mean leaving the solar system. That's dangerously close to Escapism, better watch out before you get shot for cowardice and betrayal of the human race!
I can't stop thinking about it either. I just finished Ball Lightning which the authors says inspired a lot of ideas in this trilogy. I loved that as well. Great video as always!
Awesome Story. I have bought and read the three books in January, after watching your video "The Most Horrifying Science Fiction Series of All | The Three-Body Problem Series".
The books are very interresting and I couldn't stop reading.
The droplet part reminds me a tad bit of the start of UC timeline Gundam, when mobile suits first made their appearance and started zipping around the battlefield - A skilled pilot could take out multiple warships because they were smaller, quick, carried alot of firepower and couldn't be spotted by conventional radar detection due to the Minovsky particles their reactors emitted. Warships had to wait until mobile suits were right in their face, and by then it was often too late.
Wait'll they see what happens when you paint one red
@@jlshel42 a red tear drop!? It's 3 times faster!!!!
@@wesbrannick8269 Da red wunz go fasta!
@@Hunfleder MOAR DAKKA FOR DA SHOOTA
Warhammer-Gundam logic initiated.
Engineer: This is the RB-79 ball. On paper, it should be able to out accelerate and out turn a Zaku. It also has a big gun, but we haven't figured out how to fit it with plot armor so it does diddly.
Federation: How many can you get me?
Engineer: Refitting civilian space pods, about 1200 in a month...
Federation: That's a whole lot of diddly.
I'm not so sure you qualify as a "hidden" gem anymore but this is the best channel most haven't heard of. Thanks for the great uploads, we'll be out here sharing your work!
You posted a video five months ago and because of that I've read all 3 books by now. One of the best examples of sci fi I've ever laid eyes on, thank you for that.
As a huge fan of cosmic horror and someone attempting to create cosmic horror short stories, I'm so glad I found your channel. Please keep making content, I love it!
I came across this trilogy by accident, It is the most amazing read ever. I have read it all twice now, and in a year's time, I will read it again. This is the Lord of the rings of science fiction - I still can't get my head around how he came up with the ideas and then wrote them down, just amazing. If you never read another book in your life make sure you read these. Great channel, by the way, nice hearing your opinions on this literary masterpiece. His other books and short stories are also pretty good.
I'm a 40k lover and now fell in love with this series. Great piece of work indeed
Same! I'm not a fan of super optimistic settings where all the aliens are friends so I liked TBP and 40k a lot.
I was intrigued by your videos so I picked up the books. I just finished the series and... wow! Thanks so much for the recommendation Quinn. This was the smartest piece of Sci-Fi I've ever read. Dune, Foundation, and Code of the Lifemaker (Highly recommended) were among my favorites. As far as highly thoughtful fiction, this series trumped them all. The concepts it introduces alone were mind boggling, but the way they were presented to the reader really was the icing on the cake. Thanks again for igniting my interest in the series.
Also started this series because of you. Not disappointed at all. thanks Quinn !!!
This scene features some of the most masterful translation in the whole trilogy. At times it can be a little clumsy, but the droplet scene reads like it was written in English natively.
I'm nearly finished with the first book and honestly I'm loving it. So glad I found this channel, it got me into dune, foundation, Hyperion and now the three body problem.
Quinn, your channel introduced me to this series, and it's been an amazing read. I just finished dark forest, and it's been one of the best reads I've ever had. Thanks for your content. On to Death's End!
Thank you so much for making this series of videos. After watching the first 5 minutes of your first video a few months ago, I was so intrigued that I wanted to read the whole series before watching your videos. I just finished Death's End and I just want to say thank you for putting this out there. This book series is amazing and your videos are the reason I discovered it.
This series was one of the best things I have read in a while and I found it thanks to this channel.
Thank you for your Three-Body Problem reflexions, I really love them! You made me read the trilogy after your first video on it, but I don't have any friends to talk about it. It's style is too "hard", complicated or downright grimdark for anyone I know to enjoy. So listening to you is like having a great discussion about the books and it's super sweet. You are officially my imaginary best friend :)
I love hard science fiction. It's great when an author acknowledges real issues, like the fact that high speed would kill everyone. The Forever War did it well, and also dealt with relativistic time dilation. I've known of the Dark Forest books for a while, maybe I'll check them out.
I do love these videos. So well put together and the amount of time to edit must be enormous. Great job and highly entertaining 👍🏻👍🏻
Even without having red this book series, I can't stop admiring the great choice for a title. I encourage anyone to watch an explanation of the real life "three body problem" and realize how well it fits the content of the story. While the "dark forrest" should be a no-brainer to any sci-fi fan.
dark forest is also a scientific term.
@@bluezachary4118 which should be a no-brainer to any sci-fi fan
omg there is a channel talking about this series!? It's my favorite sci fi. I read it in Chinese when it came out and was completely blown away by its sheer imagination and great narrative. I'm a big fan of how the author talks about the impact of invasion to the general population and the society as a whole. I definitely recommend the series to any sci-fi fan.
8:42 If they wanted to negotiate, they would have TALKED to humanity. Unbelievable arrogance of underestimating an enemy they knew little about.
I'm so glad this is out there. By far the most comprehensive sci-fi series I've read. As you said, the scope and sheer amount of information is staggering, that's not even getting into the plots and how each book is kind of its own brutal slab of doom. I love it!
I have not read this trilogy yet due to academic reading requirements, but I have watched the netflix series. I love listening to you videos because it makes me explore even if im quite left behind. Thank you!
Cixin Liu really knows how to play with the readers feelings. Although it was already pretty clear as a reader that mankind would not just overcome the Trisolarians technology and be able to defeat them, Liu perfectly brings across the the human optimism as they thought they had advanced to a technology level way beyond the Trisloarians. Thus even the reader became optimistic that humanity would be able to defend them self. This quickly turned into a feeling of hopelessness and depression after humanity encountered the droplet.
Imagine being a human after the droplet attack and how hopeless and little you must feel. Like an ant that was stupid enough to think it is smarter than a human and can fight the humans just to see how a human destroys a big ant hill, with millions of ants that worked so hard for to build over years, within a few seconds.
After this chapter I somehow also felt somewhat hopeless and pessimistic for a few days and I think I have never been touched by a book in this way.
The French may have a similar feeling when recalling their Maginot Line😂
Berserk did for me when I first read it
Some ships survived the droplet attack and fled into deep space. Then things took an even bleaker turn.
very stupid to put all ships next to each other. its was pretty obvious the droplet was a TROJAN HORSE
@@esecallum To us, maybe, but these were people that grew up in a time of peace and technological prosperity after ages of sophon stifling. It must have felt like technology was escalating too fast for trisolarans to catch up.
If I remember correctly, they did try and take common era military personnel to command fleets.
Though many commanders were too eager to be the first to make first contact. Fleets weren't united under a single country so this was the agreed upon plan to give each country equal opportunity to make history.
@@DeskToyStudios nah, I see where you're coming from, but they supposedly ran simulations and what not. It's just too much incompetence from too many people to leave all ships close by (and lined up at that), specially when the explosion of a ship can trip the systems of the other and you're literally dealing with aliens who were already capable of doing a lot of crazy stuff a long long time ago
@@user-sl6gn1ss8p we'd definitely do something like that though. I mean, we're burning and banning books en masse and "witches" are being outed, one was murdered recently (not a real witch obviously) but we'll always be this primitive in our thinking especially with this atrocious education system. Welcome aboard to the new dark ages and techno feudalism as we leave late stage capitalism behind :) it doesn't even look cool like blade runner lol
@@Junksaint I do agree we do lot of dumb shit, but this is just not comparable. I'm not even saying this is the dumbest thing ever done by humans, but it's just of *another kind*, that I find forced in context (my context being just this video, it might well make sense in the books for all I know).
Like, it's takes a special kind of naivety for all of the worlds militaries to think "you know what, we should just leave all of our ships in the same place and in straight lines in space while waiting for a literal alien attack". Specially given that we know that they ran "simulations". Shit happens and the pandemic for one has shown that, but this strains my suspension of disbelief : p
Quinn you are one of the best sci-fi storytellers around.
The explanation of the story- the way people reacted feels so real! Congrats, you've convinced me to read my first book in almost 5 years. Thank you ^_^
Quinn....
Thanks bro. You've single handedly reinvigorated my love for sci-fi books
It's a good day when Quinn uploads. Your's is one of the only channels where I keep checking to see if there's a new video.
This book series has been so much fun! Listening on Audible. Thank you for introducing me to the three body problem.
i honestly found the books very hard to read because of the incredibly dry prose... but man, the ideas within are amazing. the way you read the passages injects them with such drama and horror. i wish you'd do an audiobook series!
I sampled them on Audible and passed because I didn't like the narrator. To me, his voice made everything sound even drier and I wanted the opposite. This guy, I would love to hear those books read by him. He's the one who got me interested in the first place but I'm kinda stuck bc I basically gave up real reading years ago 🤣
What do you mean by dry? Bruh there's tons of metaphors
I have been binge watching Quinn’s videos since reading and watching 3 Body Problem. Phenomenal content my friend! Liked and subscribed!
Just started the first book in this series because of your videos and I'm hooked. You do good work and I love your collection of books. I'm subscribed and working through your videos. You've got another fan!
The Great Ravine is no reference to the Great Depression here in the USA. It's a reference to something far closer to home and far far worse - the Great Chinese Famine. It's widely regarded as one of the greatest man-made disasters of all time, although ... well ... let's just say, "so far".
The author is Chinese, so his family might have had first hand experience with Mao’s famine.
I assumed this would have happened centuries ago before researching. Was not expecting it to be so recent in 1959
My buddies fiancé is second generation Chinese, both parents survived the famine and escaped. We had all read the series recently and this was her take and mine as well.
The Great Ravine is an amazing synthesis of historical allegory, future portents and cosmic horror all in one
China made big mistake.This is also related to the US grain embargo against China. If China could buy grain internationally, this would not happen.
Big fan, Quinn - your Three Body Problem videos are what convinced me to subscribe, and every upload related to the series is a treat. Like you, I could not get the Remembrance trilogy out of my head after I put down Death's End. It has quickly become one of my favorite literary trilogies of all time, and the last book specifically might be in my top ten books of all time. To put that into context, I am a professional academic (college instructor, specifically) and all of my degrees involve literary study. I have to basically read for a living, and I've read a lot - out of all the books I've absorbed in my lifetime, Cixin Liu's trilogy easily sits near the top tiers of literature. I hold it in the same regard as I do many of the classics. Granted, my opinions on great books are my own, but I hold the series in such high regard because it achieves something Richard Dawkin calls "raising consciousness." It didn't just thrill me with a tremendous story - it expanded my imagination and truly impacted the way I see the universe today. I came to view humanity itself a little differently after Death's End.
So forgive me what is probably going to be a very long comment, for which there will be story spoilers. It's just rare to meet sci-fi lovers who adore the books as I do. I know the Remembrance trilogy is still considered a truly epic work in this particular genre, but I've noticed that there are a lot of cultural differences and character motivations that stymie readers who lack in-depth knowledge of Chinese history or who expect pro/antagonists to behave in predictable ways. Case in point - the sizable percentage of readers who absolutely hated Cheng Xin but loved Luo Ji. I think those unexpected story elements endeared the novels to me even more. At the end of each book, I required time to reckon with what I had just read. While the trilogy isn't often considered part of the sci-fi horror genre, the longer I reflected on key plot elements the more unnerved I became starting the next title. The Doomsday Battle in The Dark Forest and the true nature of the Trisolaran droplet is a great example; Cixin Liu's descriptions (aided of course by Ken Liu's masterful translations) evoked both awe and fear. That something so beautiful, so perfect, so emblematic of a Platonic ideal could hide such terrifying power really stuck with me. Humanity's entire war fleet, massacred with such mathematic precision - it definitely had the same emotional impact as Game of Throne's Red Wedding but with far, far greater stakes.
I think part of what made the Trisolaran droplet such an iconic reveal was humanity's hubris during the encounter. This is a phenomenon we see all too often. So proud, so sure, and so united a front is rare in human history: the fleets assembled to confront the droplet represented the collective will of humanity. Our entire civilization had finally dropped its petty political and religious squabbles and come together with unified, noble purpose - that unity meant nothing against the droplet. And of course, the droplet only revealed the ultimate power of the Trisolaran race - The Dark Forest made clear that the Trisolarans are but one hostile civilization in a universe filled with them! We eventually see even the Trisolarans laid low by their technological betters, and when the scope of the threat zooms further out to encompass even more of the galaxy, it's easy to finally see just how insignificant and brief our existence might really be. Even after Earth finally achieves victory against Trisolaris (if you could truly call it "victory"), the sensation of being an insect in a universe of giants only grows. If the universe could produce a race capable of constructing droplets, strong-interaction objects capable of unimaginable speed and power, so much power that entire planets are at risk of annihilation, what else is out there?
We, of course, find out in the last book. (SPOILERS) No exaggeration, no weapon in ANY book I've ever read terrified me as much as the dual-vector foil responsible for the Solar System's destruction. Your average sci-fi reader probably has a slightly deeper understanding of dimensional space (or at least the principles underlying its study), but very few had probably imagined what a shift to a two-dimensional universe would do to us, to reality itself. Here's a good selection from the horror that unfolds following the vector's "detonation, edited to include the most horrific parts. This scene describes what happens to a human space city (containing 3 million people) as the space it occupies is collapsed from the three dimensions we know to the two-dimensions we did most certainly did NOT evolve to live in:
"A black belt of cloud's appeared along the city's axis...Cheng Xin and AA were shocked to see that the black cloud was formed from people drifting in the middle of the city! Some of the weightless individuals had pulled together into a cluster; some had linked hands and formed a line; but most floated alone...Cheng Xin felt as though she were looking down upon an ant colony, and the black people-cloud looked just like a drifting swarm of ants. Someone in the people-cloud screamed. A glowing dot appeared at a spot on the city's equator...That was where Europe VI first came into contact with two-dimensional space.
The space city now resembled a giant ship whose bottom had been breached, sinking in a flat sea. The plane of the two-dimensional space rose like water, and everything that came into contact with the surface instantaneously turned into two dimensions...On the rising, expanding plane, gorgeous colors and complicated structures flashed by and zoomed away in every direction, as though the plane was a lens through which one could see colorful beasts running. Because the city still possessed air, they could head the sound of the three-dimensional world falling into two dimensions: a crisp, piercing series of crunches, as though the buildings and the city itself were made of exquisitely carved glass and a giant roller was crushing everything.
As the plane continued to rise, the people-cloud began to spread out in the opposite direction, like a curtain being lifted by an invisible hand...Some people had begun to fall into the plane by now. Like drops of colorful ink, they spread open on th plane in an instant, and each appeared as a unique figure in two dimensions...they saw a pair of lovers leaping into the plane while in an embrace...Nearby there was a mother who lifted her baby overhead as she fell into the plane, all so that the baby would survive for an extra tenth of a second.
The lonely, three-dimensional island continued to sink and melt into the two-dimensional sea. In less than ten minutes, all of Europe VI had turned into a painting...it was a dead city...the two-dimensional bodies did not move at all, and gave no signs of being alive...This was a dead world. A dead picture."
Sorry for this ridiculously long quote in a ridiculously long comment, but I could not get the two-dimensionalization of the Solar System out of my head. I don't know if the physical laws of the universe or the science in the Remembrance trilogy is "realistic" necessarily, but as a hard sci-fi series much of Cixin Liu's narrative hinges on verifiable physical constants, so it was easy for me to think that there may be technology out there in the universe that really WOULD terrify us. It's the not knowing that ultimately unnerved me. Either way, thanks for your awesome uploads Quinn, and for allowing this essay of a comment.
Thanks for sharing your opinion. I find it interesting. It makes me ponder what sort of weapon would be terrifying or compelling to me, because the scene you describe does not inspire any emotional reaction from me at all.
I mean ... it seems so small scale to me. I had been assuming that dimensional collapse was something like false vacuum decay - something that affects the entire universe, spreading out at the speed of light from the nucleation point. Maybe it's a cultural thing. I grew up with MAD and nuclear winter, and stories all about the end of all life on Earth.
I think different people took different attitudes to cope with the threat of global thermonuclear war. A lot of folks, I suppose, just chose to ignore it. Others, of course, tried to do something about it, like protesting nukes. I was just a kid who had no power to do anything about it (or at least that's what I thought, or chose to believe). I guess I just chose to accept it as a possibility. The dinosaurs died. We could die. That thought holds no horror for me.
I'm not sure what would, in terms of cosmic horror. I still like cosmic horror anyway, regardless of whether or not it inspires a visceral emotional reaction from me, though.
@@IsaacKuo Liu does establish that the dimensional collapse is total - it does not stop and will eventually reduce the entire universe to 2-dimensions. Granted, the implication is that it's a long process given just how massive the known universe is, but I think that is what terrified me - not that the dual-vector foil was capable of collapsing the 3rd dimension in the first place, but that it was an unstoppable process pretty much guaranteed to destroy every 3rd dimensional organism in existence (so, for us...all of them).
I think I see where you're coming from with regard to the dual-vector foil, though. The process of dimensional collapse, once it reaches humanity, is more or less painless (or at the very least, almost instantaneous). I think it's the dread of knowing that unsettled me - not just that people would die, but that the extinction would extend to even the water-bears and microbes that so impress us.
Liu's descriptions of "dead worlds" and "dead paintings" felt very depressing, because who would even survive to know anything had existed in the first place?
(I definitely understand why a slightly different fear - of being the ONLY survivor of the dimensional collapse - would terrify people, too.)
@@blackpajamas6600 To clarify - I find it interesting more for what it says about myself than anything about the quality of Liu's writing. I just don't feel the sort of dread that I used to feel about some things.
I do remember that I once worried about being forgotten in the mists of time. But I don't feel that existential dread any more. The idea that all of humanity ... all of life on Earth ... may someday be completely gone. No legacy. No memory anywhere. No monument...
I do remember a time when that would have been worrisome to me.
But I don't feel that way anymore and I haven't for many years. Both viscerally and intellectually, it just doesn't bother me. Our time may be finite. If so, what of it? That just makes it so much more important for us to strive to make that limited time fulfilling.
The thing is ... there are plenty of things that still viscerally horrify me. Stick me in Mariupol and I'll see plenty I wish I hadn't. But my question (to myself) is ... are there things which count as _cosmic_ horror that affect me that way? I don't know, but it's an interesting question to me.
The Remembrance of Earth's Past is my favorite Sci-Fi book series of all time. Thanks for diving deeper into the lore.
I have read the Dark Forest series. It gave me troubled thoughts for a long time. It’s easily one of the best science fiction series I’ve ever read and I’m 57 years old. Thanks for a great video, my friend.
Your excitment for this book series has really sold me on it. you've got good production values and a great voice for narration. keep up the good work.
I... LOVED this series. Blew my mind. Can't wait for your next video!
I LOVE your voice, especially when you read. Please!!! read more of the sci-fi that you enjoy. Thank you
I have a hard time reading due to being neurodivergent. At some point, I might be able to get back into it, but first I need to become sufficiently intrigued and curious. Watching your videos is definitely nudging me in that direction.
I can't tell you how meaningful that is to me, so thank you for what you are doing. You're great!
It is slow as molasses to start.
People here complained about the second book being slow but at least you know what is going on.
Tbh I had the best time listening to this book series through audiobooks. I have ADHD and this book series replaced music for me for a while
Yeah I audiobooked it.amazing!!
I have adhd and had no problem reading this series. Try harder.
@@wobblecrash 'Neurodivergent' is not only ADHD and also includes many other conditions involving cognitive dysfunction which can share traits of ADHD and either way can benefit from having baseline engagement with material before committing to interaction with it. And there are multiple types of ADD. Not everyone is you. I'd say "good for you" but as you also seem to suffer from Rabbit Up My Ass Disorder [R-U-MAD], I'll leave it at "so sorry about that" instead. Try Less. Twit.
Man I'm so glad I found your channel. I also read a lot and really don't know anyone else who does so finding new stuff is hit or miss
Can I just say I love the way you narrate things and your voice is very soothing, my first video I saw from you was the first one you did covering this trilogy. My first video in this niche and you had me completely hooked in a existential crisis. So happy I've found you channel. Legend
Really like watching these videos about sci-fi book on my quieter drinking nights, I'm 100 percent focused on music production, so I'm either learning music tech, making music or working physically. I don't have time to read books like these anymore, who has time to do everything though
The best sci-fi ever!!! Along with the Hitchhiker guide.
Having read the trilogy about a year ago, your excellent video motivates me to read it again. Reading it the first time blew me away. Now with your videos I can figure out why.
Your impressive quantity of videos exploring this book series is the greatest compliment you could give to the author.
Finally subbed. Idk what took so long because your opinions and likes in novels are so close to mine. This is the first new series you brought to my attention, and I fucking loved it. Thank you for your opinions and videos. And thank you for bringing light to more content like this when I run out.
Just started reading this book series because of your videos!
People should remember that the title of the series “The Three Body Problem” is based off the real scientific principles on the difficulties of creating true real time orbiting models of more than two celestial bodies! The title is most certainly a nod to that and perhaps his inspiration for why the humans of his story fail to understand reality.
The title is based, but the series is the disgrace to all of the scientific community. It is an incoherent mumbling of somebody who have heard scientific words over the TV, having literally nothing based off real science with a lot of topics that are completely absurd from the viewpoint of modern physics
@@sirlight-ljij I have not read 3BP but most sci-fi has at least a few invented space and pseudo physics jargons unique to the series and plenty are filled with the alternates science. What makes this stories use of it so egregious to you? Actually curious 🧐
@@sirlight-ljij Its fiction, not a scientific essay…
It's called the Three Body Problem because the aliens are from a triple star system.
@@volcryndarkstar I understood that to begin with from watching Quinn’s other videos, but I was suggesting that the title was referencing multiple things lol
I love reliving the books through your videos.
Thank you for this! I don't read as much as I used to, in my old age I have less patience to find the good stuff, but I'm reading this trilogy now because of your fascinating discussion of it. It's excellent!
Didn’t realize until about episode 4 while watching the Netflix show that this was the same series. LOVE your videos. So interesting and detailed. Thanks for your content!
I’ve never even heard of these books, but after your incredible recap it’s all I want read right now.
That's one impressive weapon, a guided kinetic kill missile with the density of a neutron star.
It might not even be a weapon. Just coincidentally had the ability to be used that way.
@@silverhawkscape2677 I’m pretty sure that’s the case. Ramming IS the simplest form of destruction when your projectile can’t be damaged but had they been real weapons I’d imagine they’d have just lit up all the ships before they got there.
Me too. Ever since I read Liu Cixin's trilogy, The Three-Body Problem, I can't stop thinking about it every day.
The first book was interesting. The second was very… fascinating. But the third… the third. Heartbreaking. Obsessive.
Arf, damn! Now that I've talked about these books, I absolutely have to reread them.
Incredible.
This is one of my favorite videos. I watch it over and over. Someone make this into a movie please!!!!
I also read Children of Time but couldn't get through the second book. It just didn't hook me the way the first one did. I'll be interested to hear what you think in future videos.
Yea it was a pain to get through.
I really liked the second one. I listened to the audiobook and really liked the narration. Hoping for more in the series
Children of Memory will be spectacular. I wonder what eight legged sapient animal will feature this time.
I just wish we could’ve seen the real invasion of the entire fleet.
Yeah but the technology features of the fleet would be too exotic to be able to imagine by a human from earth
Read the trilogy ove Dec / Jan due to your passionate response to it. Its a fabulous piece of classic-style Sci-Fi
Thank you for this video. I,too, cannot stop thinking about this book series even years after reading them. It haunts me and impresses me.
I like how Issac Asimov foundation trilogy is on your bookshelf next to the earth’s remembrance trilogy because listening to Issac Asimov foundation trilogy lead me to more audiobooks but also to your videos via the algorithm. I’m so glad I started watching your vids keep up the good work from a fellow sci fi enthusiast!
Stalenhag's stuff is absolutely wonderful; he's also the one who's behind the Tales from the Loop universe, too.
Fantastic. Just finished The Dark Forest. Great book and fun to revisit it! Thank you 🙏
PLEASE continue to to cover this series. I love these videos.
Thanks to your video, i became aware of this series... and listened to the audiobook for the last two days, just so i could watch your video without beeing spoiled.
I am a huge scy fi fan, i have read the whole dune series 5 times and many others, but i had never heard of this series, after watching your videos i am really looking forward to reading them. i just found this channel and i am loving it, thanx.
Quinn always has his finger on the pulse of Sci Fi novels that eventually gains massive popularity. Quinn is who we should all turn to for incredible content and in depth analysis of these amazing works.
I truly wish that The Great ravine was explored more in the remembrance of Earth's past series. Missed opportunity for lots of existential dread.