Astrophysicist Reacts to 3-Body Problem, Episode 2

[@hillclimb2196]

In the book, the language issue is hand-waved by saying that the transmission from Earth "contained a self-interpreting coding system." Sounds a bit far-fetched but at least the author acknowledged the language problem.

[@hoos3014]

Yes, the "self-interpreting code" is like the next-gen version of the "Golden Record" we put in the Voyager probes.

[@Hunpecked]

Yeah, I saw one post (on Reddit?) emphasizing what a monumental (and implausible) achievement that coding system was. 🙄

[@cthulhuwu_]

This is why I love the books tho, the creative ideas don't just end with the spaceships and technological hardware.

[@jingbow7496]

Every single idea has a reasonable scientific explanation. It is really a joyful experience for people who like physics.

[@San98520]

yes, and according the book, every civilization with basic algebra would be able use this self-interpreting coding system. additionally signal rating of 'A' meant that message was from alien intelligence, AAAAA rating meant that aliens used that humanitys own self-interpreting system to send their message,

[@snthd]

Re: amplification - the book goes into details of how it's supposed to work: she discovers that Sun's inner layers form a natural resonance cavity and if you hit it with EM waves of a particular frequency and above some threshold, you can amplify them x100m. Still fictional, but I think it's pretty cool and original. My question though is: how come nobody on Earth detected her transmissions? If they were so powerful, you could probably pick it up on your car radio 🤣 Some people on stackexchange pointed out that it might have been inspired by this paper from 1995: "Direct amplification of electromagnetic waves by beam-plasma instability and its application to solar type-III bursts". Love the show and your commentary btw ❤

[@jsbrads1]

What if scientists did detect it and were bothered by the radio disruption created by the sun when they were trying to measure something else.

[@DomboMe]

The second signal will help them measure the distance between here and there.

[@Hunpecked]

Not to mention over eight years of proper motion.

[@jsbrads1]

@@Hunpecked the signal coming from a star would mean they can look up that star in their catalog and see how far it is as all local stars would already have been measured in many ways.

[@Hunpecked]

@@jsbrads1 According to the novel, the San-Ti can't resolve the signal down to a single star. The pacifist's message reads "There are tens of millions of stars in your direction." Of course "in real life" these advanced aliens would have multiple observatories in deep space that could quickly triangulate a single transmission. Not to mention they would have already detected planets around Sol, and probably know the approximate temperature and atmospheric composition of Earth. They're always coming here, signal or no signal.

[@paulchaisson8301]

​@Hunpecked They may have detected planets around Sol, but had no way of knowing if it contained a civilization capable of wiping them out.

[@Hunpecked]

@@paulchaisson8301 Assuming no signal from Sol and no sophon space magic, the San-Ti send a probe (or some dehydrated astronauts) at about 10% light speed to check out the system first. Scientifically they're hundreds of years ahead of us.

[@garangkiariga1855]

I believe the book she had at her side had an encoding system to and from chinese and they attached the encoding system to the transmission. Or it might add into the element that they are advanced enough to decode the language that fast

[@crbielert]

Alright, I'm officially intrigued. Thank you for the reactions and minimizing spoilers.

[@MOK9888]

I’m enjoy your input of the series, both pointing out of the accurate and inaccurate. One of my favorites is Arrival. Have you made a video about that movie. I heard you mention Contact, another favorite, will look for that.

[@DiamondWoodStudios]

Amazing insight into the underlying science of the show, it’s really cool to hear a professional speak about and watch this show! Looking forward to the finale and your final thoughts on the season.

[@hbkslush]

I could be wrong, but I believe this episode makes a reference to an old X-Files episode. When the cop & his supervisor are talking about the Wow signal, the supervisor asks who it could be, and the cop replies, "little green men". This happens to be the title of an X-Files episode (S02.01) that deals with alien contact, and also discusses the Wow signal. If so, that's a cool little nod to an influential TV show whose fingerprints can be seen on this show, along with so many others.

[@lianghao7128]

Perhaps we can have a way to broadcast information to the universe through the sun or other celestial bodies that can spread far enough. Like through gravitational waves, electromagnetic waves, or it could be just a large barrier switch blocking a area of light. We only need to broadcast 0 and 1, and if there are someone out there, they can at least determine that it's not a natural signal.

[@williamblakehall5566]

Thanks, continuing to look forward.

[@archstanton1628]

Shouting loudly into the dark forest

[@Thinkcrown]

“Jupiter big dish. Sun BIGGER dish!” Regardless of how efficient bouncing an electromagnetic signal off a gas giant vs a fusion plasma giant, the gas giant at least isn’t continuously sending back the equivalent of 6 trillion electromagnetic random-noise “messages” (which I assume would break apart completely the Chinese message or completely obscure it in useless noise).

[@amexred]

I’m riveted by your commentary and I’m so looking forward to each episode you bring .

[@louisuchihatm2556]

I am assuming that you are targeting audiences that are aware of the series & have therefore watched it already, so I'd personally appreciate it if you talked more. I appreciate your scientific insights and I feel that we could get more of your commentary on the events of the episodes. Looking forward to more of this.

[@matisiekierka6105]

I’m always intrigued by interesting people’s bookshelves. That’s always the first thing I walk up to, when I walk into somebody’s house for the first time. I love to find out the “make up” of that person and obviously get several book recommendations off of them. I’m loving the Stephen King shelf you have haha (yes, I did zoom in on the vid 😂)

[@hoos3014]

Great reaction. Thank you for rebutting the notion that scientists are perfect angels who couldn't possibly curse, drink in a bar, smoke, or even have sex (gasp!)

[@ANDREW-y2q2d]

1st book the protagonist is wang miao 2nd book is Luo Ji 3rd book is Cheng Xin if I am not mistaken

[@ANDREW-y2q2d]

In the tv show its wang miao and the detective who is playing the vr game

[@jeh58]

I worked in Military Satellite communications a I don't know if the Sun can amplify certain frequencies but I do know when the sun is aligned with the viewpoint of the Dish antenna & the satellite the sun overruns the signal from the satellite and makes the signal useless. We were working in the 'X' & 'Ku' band frequencies. Back in the 60s I don't think they operated in anything higher than the 'X' band. It would be nice to know what band the Red Coast was transmitting at.

[@MichaelSiegel14]

It's probably stated in the series but I didn't write it down.

[@Bliss467]

I’m glad you’re not pulling apart the scientific liberties the story has to take in order to make the plot happen.

[@MichaelSiegel14]

That's coming ...

[@Bliss467]

@@MichaelSiegel14 hahaha, alright. I’ll let you cook, then.

[@stephenloughery5367]

Did you recognize Keiko O'Brien ?

[@MichaelSiegel14]

No I didn't! But now that you mention that, I see it. She did an amazing job.

[@adamlibre2908]

Great channel 👏

[@lkxtlks]

The book (and also the Chinese Tencent version of the show) is super detailed on the science part and will answer some of your doubts about the signal amplifying and language decoding thing. The show just simplified way too much both on science and plot/characters developing (mainly about Ye Wenjie)

[@Funnysterste]

I think I've spotted a logic error or continuity error in the TV series, and I'm wondering if that's the case in the books as well. In this episode the first message from the aliens is shown, "don't answer", the sender of which calls himself "the pacifist". Later in the series (spoiler alert), it is explained that the aliens do not know the concept of lying. But the “pacifist” lied in the sense that he kept the message secret from his people, right? It is also explained that the aliens communicate telepathically with each other, which may make it impossible or at least difficult to keep secrets. Does this all agree with the books?

[@lkxtlks]

⁠@@Funnysterstethe pacifist didn't (also couldn't) hide what he did to their authorities, he was put on a trail right after sending the response and was sentenced into forced dehydration (which should've been a death penalty according to their laws but the leader decided to give him an exception for wanting him to witness the destruction of earth with his own eyes)

[@Funnysterste]

@@lkxtlks The pacifist warned against responding to the message because it would lead to the invasion and conquest of Earth by his people. But in the series, the aliens apparently only decided on war after they discovered that humans were "occasionally" telling untruths, which scared them. Until then, it seemed like they were seeking mankind's help.

[@lkxtlks]

@@Funnysterstein the original book their intention was to conquer earth all the way froming the beginning. The part about finding out that humans could lie was just the reason they abandoned ETO (evans' cult).

[@Funnysterste]

@@lkxtlks Oh, thank you. Maybe I seem to find logical errors by just not paying enough attention.

[@Rik77]

It makes me laugh when people say that scientists don't look like that or cuss. Scientists are just normal people, and its exactly these assumptions about what a scientist is that creates barriers for people going into it as a career.

[@Quzga]

Especially these days getting into science is very popular and not really seen as that nerdy. I know ppl who are the biggest science geeks but they party like crazy and aren't awkward or weird in the slightest.

[@aspect57]

As a field biologist, I swear like a fucking champ.

[@1voluntaryist]

If I were asked, "Aren't you worried extraterrestrials might be hostile, a threat to our species?" I would reply, "I'm much more worried our species might be a threat, based on our history." As a "Trekkie" I had to forgive the invention of the universal translator. It was needed to speed up the story. I think this might always take time because it deals with new intelligence.

[@Beluga_Too]

3 body is that there are 3 stars!

[@MonirZamanMon]

Great reactions!!! Just a minor curiosity. By any remote chance are you related to Ethan Siegel?

[@Hunpecked]

3:55 "... put two pieces of information together ..." Odd that nobody outside of China, where both pieces of information were freely available, put them together. 🙂

[@Funnysterste]

If you found a package containing such a VR-device in your home, could you resist?

[@MichaelSiegel14]

Nope. :)

[@Quzga]

I once wrote a loose script about a dream "device" that let's you record your dreams and re experience them, but it becomes so addictive people stop going to work and just dream all day. Eventually dreams start seeping into reality and it's a total disaster for all governments to manage. I wonder if these headsets would have a similar impact on society, could people really resist not using it? I think such advanced technology to us would almost be seen as magic by many.

[@Funnysterste]

@@Quzga I had an idea for a short story about a drug that gives people lucid dreams instantly. Same problem.

[@Quzga]

@@Funnysterste Glad I'm not alone! Dreams are so interesting aren't they? I love space but something about dreams always fascinated me on a scientific level. I think dreams is more important than people give them credit for too, not that they have meaning but dreams has helped me find solutions to problems or simply make see things in a new way.

[@Rik77]

I think as with all these stories, they are svience fiction so theres always a line where the science breaks into fiction to move the plot. The sun is one of those, and another is the language issue. I believe plasma can be used to amplify a signal but the sun doesnt work like that.

[@garethlawton5278]

I find a high rate of swear words tends to be one of two things. People who use the generic ones often who likely do so out of habitual how others around them say it and then people who have a wide vocabulary will often throw swear words out that most folk don't even know is a swear word and those people pretty often it's just more varied than "Fuck", "Shit" and "Bugger" lol. Stephen Fry for example swears quite often, but he's not in anyway vulgar or of lower class for doing so, he falls into a man who knows so many damn words that he is aware sometimes a "cockwaffle" or a "shitgibbon" is applicable where other words would fail to convey the level of frustration the speaker is feeling.

[@danielearley5062]

I get the issue around them all being young but accept that it is for tv. Most of the scientists I watch are generally middle-aged or older, you can't beat a bit of experience.

[@김용진-y4o]

you are the man know what you doing

[@billross7245]

When Ye pressed the send button, I had the same reaction - who the hell do you think you are making the decision for humanity. It's not the first time I had that reaction to characters in this series making stupid unilateral decisions.

[@androidandroid2966]

You should read the book after, then do a video comparing the two.

[@MichaelSiegel14]

I might do that.

[@liquidsonly]

I can confirm that British scientists swear a lot. Cough. Maybe smoke too. Also drink. Also the Tencent version is better.

[@naizi7777]

good！！！！

[@MzShaybutta]

The language barrier could be solved with mathematics couldn't it? We know they know Morse code. Translated that fast was unrealistic, but math is universal.

[@MegaDave123123]

Actors are attractive, who knew?!

[@everdinestenger1548]

Too young and attractive? Now at 79 everybody seems young😁

[@Beluga_Too]

Masters Biologist here, I swear like a fucking sailor! Prefer people who do likewise.

[@mikcurius3779]

I have already forgotten the series, it's nothing to remember

[@Dularr]

Yeah, the constant pot smoking really bother some.

[@Funnysterste]

I've only puffed on a joint three or more times while passing around a party and found little to no effect. But I know people who use pot like other people drink water, and I find these people very strange. When they ring my doorbell and I open it for them, they give a whole speech before they've even entered the apartment. There's this general idea of drugs as something that expands consciousness. But I'm afraid that this only seems like that to people when they're intoxicated, while after they've sobered up they either can't remember their "lofty thoughts" anymore, or then see them as complete nonsense.

[@hoos3014]

The character is supposed to be extremely cynical and "checked out" of the profession. The pot smoking is used as a way to illustrate his current state of mind.

[@liquidsonly]

Clearly people who've not met many scientists.

[@self-transforming_machine-elf]

You might benefit from reading an essay on the topic penned by Mr. X, also known as Carl Edward Sagan.

[@Dularr]

@@self-transforming_machine-elf why would me reading that, effect the public perception?

[@archstanton1628]

Shouting loudly into the dark forest