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Recently I had the pleasure of reading what is likely the most terrifying science fiction book series I’ve ever read. I’ve always enjoyed scary stories. As a kid, I read anthologies like goosebumps or Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. But I didn’t know true fear until I encountered the works of Stephen King, and H.P. Lovecraft in my teenage years. Lovecraft’s works opened up such terrifying vistas of thought that I would while reading them become transfixed and filled with ultimate existential dread. The cosmic terrors he wrote about in his stories struck me as somehow more real than the monsters and ghosts of goosebumps and that is probably because in truth Lovecraft, being the flawed man he was, was expressing a very simple fear, fear of the unknown. And what is more unknown than the blackness of space. I must admit that not since my early teenage years have I felt such poignant terror while reading as I did when first encountering the work of Lovecraft. That Is until I read the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy.
There are three books in this series, The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Deaths End, there is also an additional book not written by Cixin Liu himself, called Redemption of Time. The first books in the series The Three-Body Problems start off as a mystery. As the story unfolds it starts to feel as though we are reading the unfolding of some grand conspiracy, a conspiracy written into the fabric of the universe itself. Early on in the story, you find out that scientists around the world have been killing themselves. A note left behind by one of the late scientists, Yang Dong ominously added to the mysteries, saying only:
All the evidence points to a single conclusion: Physics has never existed, and will never exist. I know what I’m doing is irresponsible. But I have no choice.
We base so much of our own perception of what we consider to be a reality on what we can observe. We look upon the universe as it is and extrapolate from that point. But what if we will never be able to know the truth about the universe. What if the universal constants are not constant. What if the laws of physics are not laws, what if reality isn’t real. Before we get any further into the video I have to give a spoiler warning. If you have not read the series I highly recommend you stop this video and do so. If you’ve read the series, or just don’t care about spoilers then continue forth. Now we won’t be getting into all of the details of the series, I’ll be giving context to why exactly I think this series is so unnerving.
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The Cover Art to this video is by Marc Simonetti. The wrong attribution is given in the video, my apologies.
One of the core ideas here is that humanity isn’t special, fair enough. Though I would argue that everyone else being quiet over humanity which is somehow differently sociable is itself an assumption of humanities uniqueness. If humanity ISNT unique, then our desire to speak with other aliens would be mirrored in other examples
Science Fiction is always amazing! Take a supposition, an idea, a notion. Let it fly in a direction and you can see what obstacles it hits, what it effects and what potentially stops it.
I am right there with you, the ideas expressed here are quite horrific. Fortunately they fall back a little when one puts other factors into the equation. The Tri-Solar System created a massive need for escape for the Trisolarins, a thing probably not needed by other systems. Then there's the physiological needs of other species, which might not fall within the same window of temperature and chemicals we possess. I say all this more or less to comfort myself. 😉 The writing style did an exceptional job of prolonging the horror, which is also my sole criticism of the series; It was mentally stressful to read and I know some people who would probably break down if they read it!
I really enjoy your videos, and this one made me appreciate the books much more than I had initially. To tell the truth, Cixin Liu strikes me as a guy with amazing ideas who is not very skilled with exposing those ideas… His way of presenting humanity in general and characters in particular is way too simplistic, you just end up thinking 'why does he hates humanity so much?', like when the entire human fleet goes in a perfect formation to meet the alien droplet and you are thinking 'come on, nobody is THAT stupid'… It is the main critic I have with this series, it becomes increasingly less believable as pages go by. Still, as you very nicely exposed, the ideas are thought inducing and very interesting.
There is a Killing Tree, adorned with nooses and built upon the gallows wood;
it is a dark overlay, a negative copy of the Tree of Life.
Its sap is the sacrifice of blood,
and its mirror is a hell of our own making.
Fascinating. Earned my sub.
The scientist all spoke like truck drivers! Lol! F….g this, f….g that. Grabage.
400 years is too far away to have this effect on humanity. I belive that if it does not happen in a lifetime of any present person and their kids – humans wouldn't panic like that. What's the point of stopping producing food today if you won't be destroyed by aliens in your lifetime but you will be starved by the next week.
19:40 in regards to nation states rejecting the notion of socialized technology: its just dark forests all the way down, then, isn't it?
my first genuinely scary story was machen's the great god pan which, funnily enough, I read in a lovecraft themed collection.
Some of them know we are here.
TicTac. TicTac. TicTac.
Oh my god.. awesome! So glad I found your channel
Most horrifying? Enter Warhammer 40k.
1:37 holy, I almost smacked myself in the head cuz I thought a mosquito was there
This is the video that got me to start reading the three body problem, a novel I just finished and loved. This is also the first ever thick sized novel I ever finished, which is impressive to me. Great stuff, definitely will consider The Dark Forest.
Hardly any new ideas in these books. Just a long dragged out self indulgent depression probably derived from the true horror of the Chinese cultural revolution.
After reading comments I'm kinda scared to read this series 😅
IMO the most horrific moment in this entire series is when the Solar System collapses into two dimensions. Unparalleled cosmic horror and beauty. I’ve never read anything else like it.
JUST SUBSCRIBED 🎉❤❤🎉
I find the Dark Forest idea to be overly pessimistic as proven wrong by life on Earth as it is based on life on Earth. While life is based on competition for limited resources, it is also just as much a showcase of cooperation. So much of life is not organism fighting for limited resources, but species working together to access and stretch those resources. The irony of the Dark Forest is that these species are all civilizations, and all civilization exist upon the foundation of this cooperation. So this theory is essentially saying that life will inevitably and xenophobically kill everything but itself, but it will only be able to do so because it can cooperate so well.
Beautifully read and produced. You are a professional.
Its*
Cool video
Interesting ideas and I guess the book and perhaps even the recent Netflix adaptation did it's job on scaring many. But at the same time is in our nature to be scare or fear what we do not understand and some time even what we understand. However, if there is a civiliazation that highly more advanced out there or a force that for whatever reason want to eleminate us because for some reason we are on their way. What is stopping them from doing so if they are so advanced? The book even describes the possibility of humanity destroying themself even before the invation arrives. If they exist and want to wipe us out there are so many ways to exterminate humanity without even be here or even know it. And there would be nothing any of us can do about it. So why even worry about it. At the end to me this good science fiction entertainment with thought provoking ideas. Nothing else.
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W vid
Meh, this is dumb. What's really terrifying is AI; the next stage of evolution and our inevitable extinction. All life is extinguished by its artificial replacement. A leap greater than multicellular life, as great the inception of life itself… And it doesn't have to find us, or get here… We'll make it. As all intelligent life does. Incentives are too great. Universal extinction. The true and inarguable solution to Fermi's Paradox.
This video convinced me to attempt to read the book, but this video is a million times more interesting than the book is. Good ideas but flat characters, horrifically stilted writing, and just generally boring and nonsensical as hell. Wish I could get my money back for the book.
I’ve finally finished the 4 books and I’m here to watch your videos about it ❤️❤️
I think you have to relate to find it horrifying. The characters seemed to act as alien as the aliens.