Chinese Sci-Fi, "The Three Body Problem"

W

Woodsman

The Living Force
http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765377063

Cixin Liu is touted as "China's Asimov" and "The most popular science fiction author in China".

I couldn't resist; I've never read any modern books from China, let alone one of their top-rated popular authors. The first in a trilogy, "The Three Body Problem" is a story about alien invasion which offers numerous parallels, not just with regard to the sorts of things discussed here, but even to some degree the mode and results of discussion, (one of the story elements includes a fictional interactive website designed to attract certain personality types and shape their views). -Though I get the impression that the author is not clued in to the actual SOTT material.

Included elements are...

An alien race which is in limited communication with different human factions, (some of whom want to sell out humanity, others which want to be 'saved' by the aliens, or want humanity to be punished for its evils), is arriving at a fairly distant future date but in the mean-time is tampering with the evolution of human science to prevent human knowledge and technology from rising to a point which could threaten their invasion plans. Programming the human race in preparation for their arrival, as it were.

It is a very well-written and translated book, engaging and exciting to read, and while it is nothing like any Western sci-fi book I've read, its voice and reflection of the human writing it feels as familiar as that of any Western author. Humans are humans no matter where they live; I know that might sound like a trite truism, but in our heavily propagandized world where the PTB are always trying to polarize us by painting the "Other" as scary and alien, it feels nice to recognize the humane sameness of mind in a book like this.

That being said, the "Three Body Problem" offers a valuable look into the differences of Chinese culture and its approach to problem solving, and how it might receive en masse the concept of alien contact. -A significant portion of the book is also anchored in the events of the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960's, wherein we see the full onslaught of a heavily ponorized society done Chinese style. Fascinating and horrible! The impulse toward Fascism as a human base-setting is a concept threaded throughout the entire novel.

If you can digest the popular ideas running through a culture, you can gain insight into behavioral profiles of an entire population, and this book, like any piece of media, is either programming or sharing. (Or a combination of the two). I haven't quite settled on which it is.

As I'm still crunching through the ideas presented, I have no clear observations yet to share other than this: I get a strong feeling that there's something going on here worth 'solving' and I even get the impression that this book might be an attempt at some level to affect and/or control popular understanding of the work being done here by the SOTT crew and Laura in particular. I'd be interested in what others might think.
 
Thank you Woodsman, seems like a book I should check out.

Since finding this forum, I developed an interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy novels which before I always thought were stupid (in fact, it was me who was stupid). There's really some "world literature" there that should be taught in schools, osit. BTW, I really liked Asimov's Foundation series, but the one that really blew my mind was Dan Simmons' Hyperion series. I think this is really a master piece. With fantasy novels, I really, really liked Stephen Lawhead's "Song of Albion", and many other books by the author (except the most recent series). And of course Michael Ende's "Momo" and "The neverending story".

Thanks for the recommendation!
 
Thanks Woodsman for the synopsis, much appreciated.

Definitely going to add this to my reading list. With regards to your question, just to add a few comments; from experience working in China, the Chinese authorities are extremely careful and thoroughly screen any publications or material released in China, and this covers every book, magazine, newspaper etc, even science fiction. Hence they have definitely allowed this to be published.

Further the internet as well is fully controlled and monitored - you can't access google, youtube, Facebook, twitter etc, and at times Western news channels depending on the news content. When I'm travelling in China, i regularly check Sott & Cass Forum, and these are not blocked, hence the authorities are definitely aware of Sott & the Forum. I guess its still open what the agenda is - maybe the thought police are experimenting with getting these idea's out in the public in science fiction mode just to judge public perception ? Im not sure, but just a thought.....

luc,

Just to add to the favourite fantasy books list; my favourite is the Robert Jordan Wheel of time series; and Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy :)
 
Mr.Cyan said:
Thanks Woodsman for the synopsis, much appreciated.

Definitely going to add this to my reading list. With regards to your question, just to add a few comments; from experience working in China, the Chinese authorities are extremely careful and thoroughly screen any publications or material released in China, and this covers every book, magazine, newspaper etc, even science fiction. Hence they have definitely allowed this to be published.

Further the internet as well is fully controlled and monitored - you can't access google, youtube, Facebook, twitter etc, and at times Western news channels depending on the news content. When I'm travelling in China, i regularly check Sott & Cass Forum, and these are not blocked, hence the authorities are definitely aware of Sott & the Forum. I guess its still open what the agenda is - maybe the thought police are experimenting with getting these idea's out in the public in science fiction mode just to judge public perception ? Im not sure, but just a thought.....
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Wow.

That is one heck of an insight. I can't say I was expecting to hear that.

More to crunch on...
 
Thanks, Woodsman, for the book suggestion. I grabbed a Kindle copy and started reading it. I'm about 1/4 through and it's really good. Well written with a unique Chinese style which is a refreshing change from the smartaleck tone of most Anglo-American sci fi.
 
I'm currently reading the book and must say it's really good!

Two things caught my attention so far (no spoilers): First, the absolute horror of the Cultural Revolution is described in some detail. It's really hard to read, and made me think of this article from Dimitri Orlov's blog: The Rage of the Cultural Elites. It seems that history is again repeating and in Ukraine, the same scenario is playing out as in the Chinese cultural revolution. It's so disgusting.

Also, the book deals with the question of the laws of physics - are they always the same, anytime, anyplace? This reminds me of Rupert Sheldrake's work which I'm also currently reading. One of his great arguments against mainstream materialism in science is this exact question - if materialists assume that everything in the world runs mechanically according to the laws of physics, what about these laws themselves? The materialist argument actually implies that these laws are not part of this world, they must exist in some kind of other dimension, or Plato's sphere of ideas. So the very concept - everything runs mechanical, and there is nothing else - is flawed from the very beginning! I think this is a good argument when discussing such things with people who believe in this mainstream science materialistic ideas without really thinking about what this actually means.

So this...

Mr.Cyan said:
Definitely going to add this to my reading list. With regards to your question, just to add a few comments; from experience working in China, the Chinese authorities are extremely careful and thoroughly screen any publications or material released in China, and this covers every book, magazine, newspaper etc, even science fiction. Hence they have definitely allowed this to be published.

Further the internet as well is fully controlled and monitored - you can't access google, youtube, Facebook, twitter etc, and at times Western news channels depending on the news content. When I'm travelling in China, i regularly check Sott & Cass Forum, and these are not blocked, hence the authorities are definitely aware of Sott & the Forum. I guess its still open what the agenda is - maybe the thought police are experimenting with getting these idea's out in the public in science fiction mode just to judge public perception ? Im not sure, but just a thought.....
Click to expand...

...really makes me wonder.

Great read so far, thanks again for the recommendation!
 
I listened to this “ three body problem”book (audible version)this week. This is one of the best sci-fi book I ever read or listened could stop listening. The concepts that kept repeating, while keeping the suspense intact, while exploring the previous suspense made me listen in long stretches. These concepts made me wonder whether author is reading c’s sessions. Namely, in response to madness of Chinese cultural revolution, people who become nihilistic (lefties), naively look for extra terrestrial help, (either wound or simply possessed by greed or ingnore) who promptly use it for creating a cult that eliminate non-confirmers, human Bodies that can dehydrate and hydrate for hybernation and disposal ( loosely on 4d sts intake mechanism during 3D visits) etc. I don’t want to spoil it with the details, but thank you for recommending it.
 
I read this series and his two other books. The three-body problem had some creative ideas and concepts to think about. His idea to use the sun to make a curse was something I would have never thought of! The ending to the trilogy was just as wild. His latest book “Supernova Era” has some wild angles and I enjoyed it. Would definitely recommend this author.
 
So I went to watch Dune last night and ended up spending this morning going through a sci-fi maze as the movie Dune was quite good in my opinion.

In any case, I landed on some videos talking about this book "three body problem" and the other 2 or 3 in the series and I have to say it caught my attention. Not only because it somehow feels like it isn't too far away from some of the stuff we hear in this forum but also because it expands and touches upon other concepts too. I couldn't also help but think about the covid pandemic and how this could be part of an "alien" invasion strategy. In any case, I've ordered the 1st in the series.

Here's a video talking about the series as a whole which is recommended if you're curious. It contains spoilers! Ps, ignore the whole human driven climate change shenanigans in the end of the video - narrator is misinformed.

 
SOTTREADER said:
So I went to watch Dune last night and ended up spending this morning going through a sci-fi maze as the movie Dune was quite good in my opinion.

In any case, I landed on some videos talking about this book "three body problem" and the other 2 or 3 in the series and I have to say it caught my attention. Not only because it somehow feels like it isn't too far away from some of the stuff we hear in this forum but also because it expands and touches upon other concepts too. I couldn't also help but think about the covid pandemic and how this could be part of an "alien" invasion strategy. In any case, I've ordered the 1st in the series.

Here's a video talking about the series as a whole which is recommended if you're curious. It contains spoilers! Ps, ignore the whole human driven climate change shenanigans in the end of the video - narrator is misinformed.

Click to expand...
I really went down a youtube hole with this video and spoiled the whole series for myself. :lol: But I ended up buying the first book anyway. I thought it was good, but definitely a book you read for its plot and ideas and not for its character development. It's difficult to talk about without spoilers, but it does seem the author picked up on a few ideas that seem like materialist interpretations of some topics discussed by the C's.

Ye Wenjie and Shi were probably my favourite characters. The former was by far the most fleshed out and interesting. And I agree with Luc about the depictions of the Cultural Revolution in China as well.
 
I've been meaning to read this trilogy again.. Hardly remember any details except that I loved it when I read it a few years back.. Some of the scenes of 4-dimensional objects/movements perceived from 3D were breathtaking.. the whole thing with "sophons" ("Sophon, a fictional elementary particle created by unfolding a proton into 2 dimensions and engraving it with circuitry" - a quantum computer folded up into a proton).. And there was a funny bit in one of the later books where one character repeatedly goes into some kind of suspended animation, being woken up in progressively distant future eras.. In one era he finds that all men are completely feminised, everyone is all skinny and pretty and ladylike. And everyone is the same. The people of that time see him, an arrival from the past, as some sort of brute caveman animal guy (and some of the women find a strange and confusing attraction for this).. If I recall correctly! I'm probably missing a lot of details. Can't remember the reason for any of this, if there was one, but it made me go "hrmm"...
 
luc said:
Thank you Woodsman, seems like a book I should check out.

Since finding this forum, I developed an interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy novels which before I always thought were stupid (in fact, it was me who was stupid). There's really some "world literature" there that should be taught in schools, osit. BTW, I really liked Asimov's Foundation series, but the one that really blew my mind was Dan Simmons' Hyperion series. I think this is really a master piece. With fantasy novels, I really, really liked Stephen Lawhead's "Song of Albion", and many other books by the author (except the most recent series). And of course Michael Ende's "Momo" and "The neverending story".

Thanks for the recommendation!
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Hi thanks for reminding about the Stephen Lawhead books, Song of Albion. Read these when I was a teenager, and they still stick in my mind until now, but couldn't remember the author. I know this is an old comment but nice to know someone else knows them and has read them. And that the author has written more too. Really good books..
 
I read the trilogy over three years ago. Fascinating work. I then discovered that it had had been produced, in China, as a 30 episode series. I don't remember which streaming service carries it, Netflix, Amazon, etc., but it's out there as a very high quality and accurate presentation of the books. I watched it on a free streaming service, approximately one hour episode per night. It is English subtitled. I highly recommend it.
 
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