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Chapter 32
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Three-Body Problem, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Technology, Progress, and Destruction
Scientific Discovery and Political Division
Trauma and Cyclical Harm
Theory vs. Lived Experience
History and Legacy
Summary
Analysis
Years later (8.6 earth years, to be precise), the princeps ordered a meeting of the Trisolaran government at the Pendulum monument. Through the freezing cold of a Chaotic Era, the princeps shut off the pendulum; since the pendulum had been designed to hypnotize God, turning it off was a way of thanking God. The princeps explained the good news. They had received a reply from earth—and the timing of the reply suggested that earth was located nearby, only four light-years away.
Rather than finding sustained meaning in faith, the residents of Trisolaris use their pendulum-based religion as merely one more trial-and-error attempt to solve a problem. So when another solution presents itself, the Trisolarans are able to almost immediately give up their faith, showing again their desire to be “numb” and rational above all else.
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Before the Trisolarans could celebrate, however, the princeps went on. Having learned more about earth’s history, he had concluded that human technology was progressing very quickly. Therefore, even though humans were currently far behind Trisolarans in terms of technology, by the time the Trisolaran fleet reached earth, humanity could have far surpassed Trisolaran invention. In turn, humans could likely fend off any potential invasion.
Earlier, the Chinese government had discussed “saltatory” progress, in which science advances through giant, sudden “technology leaps.” Such a thing never occurs on Trisolaris—so even though at this moment the Trisolarans are more advanced than humans, that could quickly change because human history moves in these unpredictable fits and starts.
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Still, the princeps was gratified to know that the message had come from a human (Ye), who was a traitor to her own species. With the help of these “alienated” human forces, the princeps felt it was possible to prepare earth for Trisolaran invasion. First and foremost, however, the princeps believed that Trisolarans must find a way to halt the progress of human science completely.
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To stop humans from making any technological progress, the Trisolarans decided to turn a single proton into a giant supercomputer—a project they called Project Sophon. To do this, the princeps and his science consuls created a giant particle accelerator; they then unfolded a nine-dimensional proton structure into two dimensions, creating a giant surface area.
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The first time the Trisolarans tried to unfold a proton into two dimensions, they accidentally unfolded the proton too far, and it became one- dimensional. The remnants of this failed experiment appeared in the Trisolaran atmosphere as thin strings of light. To the princeps’s dismay, his consuls justified this failure by explaining that “in scientific experiments, there has to be a process in which kinks are worked out.”
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The second time the Trisolarans tried to unfold a proton into two dimensions, they failed again; this time, the proton became three-dimensional. Immediately after the experiment was conducted, giant geometric solids began to appear near the particle accelerator and float into the Trisolaran atmosphere. Even more disturbingly, these geometric shapes then morphed into eyes.
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The princeps asked his science consuls whether the eyes were alive, and they replied that though the proton-eyes were not alive, they likely contained some kind of “intelligence” or “wisdom.” Suddenly, all of the many eyes began to merge into a single eye—and then that eye turned into a giant parabolic mirror. Realizing that this mirror had the potential to reflect the suns’ rays and thus destroy all of Trisolaris, the science consuls directed the princeps to get into his underground bunker.
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At this moment, Trisolaris began to get even brighter and hotter as the mirror reflected the sun, forming a giant cone of light. But before Trisolaris was destroyed, the planet’s nuclear forces were able to split the mirror into many pieces, saving the Trisolarans from certain death. The princeps was nervous to try any more experiments, given how dangerous this one had been. Still, Trisolaris had no other hope for survival. With this in mind, the princeps gave his scientists one more chance to succeed at unfolding a 9-dimensional proton into two dimensions.
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Before their next experiment, the princeps asked his science consuls if intelligent life had been destroyed in this latest try. The consuls explained that in fact, more than one entire microcosmos had been created and then demolished by the unfolding process. The princeps realized that, given how many particles are smashed every day in particle accelerators, thousands of microcosmos and civilizations had been destroyed. He wanted to publicize this fact to the other Trisolarans, so they could “face the destruction of Earth civilization with equanimity.”
Meanwhile, the princeps learned that the alienated forces on earth were growing. But even as some humans wanted to help Trisolarans with their invasion, not all of the Trisolarans were united behind this common goal. Like listener 1379, many Trisolarans had become pacifists. For this reason, the princeps now wanted to control all the flow of information from earth to Trisolaris.
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The third attempt to unfold a proton created another giant mirror—but this time, rather than reflecting light, the mirror reflected the entire planet of Trisolaris back to itself. This was all according to the science consuls’ plan. And indeed, soon after the giant mirror appeared, the consuls were able to wrap it around Trisolaris, creating a giant proton shell. Once the shell had formed, the science consuls could etch electronic circuits onto the proton, creating the supercomputer.
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But because the shell enclosed the entire planet, Trisolaris was shut off completely from the three suns—and a period of intense cold followed. Much of the population had to be dehydrated, and nearly everyone who remained worked in spaceships to etch circuits onto the proton shell. But, at last, the experiment was successful: the Trisolarans had successfully created a “sophon,” or a proton with wisdom. The scientists boasted that “this is the smallest artificial intelligence that we can make.”
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The scientists began to give the sophon a series of commands, and the two-dimensional shape folded itself first into three dimensions, then into four, then five, then six. Once the proton had folded itself into six dimensions, it was able to see “the organs inside everyone, even the organs inside your organs.” One scientist explained that this is because “a sophon observing three-space from six-space is akin to us looking at a picture on a two-dimensional plane.”
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Creating the next three sophons was a much quicker and easier process, and eventually, the Trisolarans were ready to launch Sophon One and Two to earth. The sophons would immediately find the most powerful particle accelerators on earth and disrupt the accelerators, providing false or misleading results. When the particle accelerators smashed the sophons, several more sophons would be created, and these sophons could seek out yet more particle accelerators.
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Because each of the sophons would be capable of multiplying and moving between particle accelerators, the Trisolarans would indeed be able to stop humanity from making any further discoveries in the deep structure of matter. Moreover, the sophons would be able to create other kinds of strange phenomena—including making messages (like letters or numbers) appear in developing photographs or in people’s retinas. And because two sophons would remain on Trisolaris, these sophons could communicate with their counterparts on earth, getting real-time updates about humanity’s progress (or lack thereof).
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While Ye Wenjie finishes reading about the creation of the sophons, the people at the Battle Command Center meet to discuss what they have learned from the intercepted intelligence. Grimly, General Chang assesses that because of the sophons, humanity can no longer do anything without the Trisolarans knowing; the sophons essentially act as a set of “omnipresent eyes.” As soon as Chang reaches this conclusion, Trisolaris communicates with non-ETO humans for the first time. Just for a moment, the same message flashes across everyone in the Battle Command Center’s eyes: “You’re bugs!”
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