Astrophysicist Reacts to 3-Body Problem: Episode 5. The Big one!

So this is the big episode I've been promising. We finally get an explanation of what the San-Ti are up to and how they are accomplishing their miracles? Does their explanation hold up? Could you turn a proton into a computer? Why is Dr. Mike's kitchen so echo-y? We have the answers to all this and more in the blockbuster episode.

[@dexterdr.7020]

when 3body was written back in 2006 real-time communication through quantum entanglement was quite a trendy topic

[@terryzn-fb]

Yeah, and that the book is written by a non-profession engineer really adds up to the amazement

[@KeithRowley]

And, unfortunately, it's STILL popping up in sci-fi stories. Ugh. Get over it already, sci-fi creators!

[@coffeeveins]

Yeah, quantum bit communication using entanglement was used in the Mass Effect series as well I remember(that was 2008-2012, but I think it was 2010 when it showed up in the games).

[@CantankerousDave]

Way before that. It was used in Orson Scott Card's Ender books.

[@un_lupo_con_le_pantofole]

​@@KeithRowleywell, scifi is scifi because it isn't real. Otherwise would be just "sci".

[@enokii]

Oh, I really appreciate the numerous attempts at explaining the shows complex concepts including all the additional time you spent researching. Love that dedication, this would be fun. =] And a demonstration?!? Hell yea, let's get it!! Fantastic, I didn't and I still don't understand every concept discussed in The Three Body Problem but I relish every opportunity to discuss it with others. Good times.

[@RobotoXiong]

That r2d2 joke came out of nowhere when I trying my best to comprehend the multi-dimensional problem.

[@karabomasibi2331]

I died laughing, great bit of humor there

[@rickyricardo9710]

The sophons are probably the most "fiction" on the science fiction spectrum of anything in the series, they don't make sense for several reasons but you kinda just have to accept it and suspend your disbelief

[@anthonyscott3758]

This. I see to many people (not saying this audience) getting upset over fiction being in a science-fiction story. Interesting debates, but....

[@IamNinjaOfNinja]

he didn't say he hates it and even appreciate it..

[@user-eb5gd4gm2w]

It's not a fact... it's more of a speculation about what alien technology might resemble - (just like how our science is largely comprised of theories rather than facts, as they can evolve and change over time as new evidence emerges). It could be something entirely beyond our current understanding, we've never discovered (yet? as science and technology advances, we often correct our past misconceptions and realize what we once thought was impossible may become possible in the future) or understood before, perhaps something we may never comprehend due to our limited capabilities. We might not be on the same level of comprehension. Since we don't know everything, the possibilities are endless

[@konerik]

"They were told from the beginning that this was a race that would conquer." The only person told this was Ye Wenjie, and I don't believe she ever relayed that information to anyone else. Her guy on the ship is certainly a fanatic, but I believe from a more optimistic point of view.

[@Hattori_F]

Mike Evans certainly knows the San-ti are going to conquer if not destroy humanity, he's just an even bigger misanthrope than Ye Wenjie and accepts it.

[@konerik]

@@Hattori_F I don't doubt that he believes it to be true. But the only one who "knows" it to be true is Ye Wenjie.

[@athanatic]

"No, there's too much, let me sum up!" - Inigo Montoya and Michael Siegel!

[@lynnchance8219]

Great Reaction! FYI, the visuals for unfolded sophon are based on "Calabi-Yau manifold" used in string theory to show the "unseen" spacial dimensions. Looks like the show runners have done their homework.

[@telmavpires]

Thanks so much for the explanation of these concepts! I really appreciate how you go through each bit of what the episode throws at the viewer and you explain why they go in that direction and what isn’t feasible according to today's science.

[@roastpork5437]

Cixin Liu was a computer engineer and his day job was working at a dam. He wrote this incredible trilogy at night after a long day at work. Writing was his side gig, a hobby even.

[@MichaelSiegel14]

As someone who writes late at night after the kids have gone to sleep, he is an inspiration.

[@jasonhu7995]

Well, he probably wrote it in the day time, his day job just like Ye Wenjie's job in the Red Coast base, boring.

[@rickyricardo9710]

it's fascinating to me that he was a computer engineer because the video game elements were always probably the least realistic of all the science in the show lol

[@TheChappaai]

This is inaccurate. It's a coal power plant, not a dam. People get confused because the plant is at a canyon so the name is like "... Canyon Power Plant". Also, back when Liu was writing the first novel, the plant was scheduled to be shut down due to high carbon intensity, which explains the shading of radial environmentalism. He was BLOWING OFF STEAM.

[@un_lupo_con_le_pantofole]

​@@rickyricardo9710the least realistic for our current technology. But I guess in 200 years Videogames will be exactly like that

[@mocmocmoc13]

"I don't mean to be pedantic" No, please be pedantic.

[@YiranHu]

An interesting fact that regrettably doesn't survive the translation is that proton and sophon is a a word play in Chinese. Proton aka 质子 has the same pronunciation as sophon aka 智子. The latter literally translates to "intelligent particle". My guess is that one of the reasons Liu chose proton over a fundamental particle is because of this.

[@praiha]

And I guess the way Sophon is written is also similar to some Japanese woman's name, so the connection to Japan is already there in the name.

[@TheChappaai]

​@@praihaExactly. The name in Japanese is pronounced "Tomoko".

[@Tallenn]

I have been struggling to understand these concepts (string theory, quantum entanglement, higher spatial dimensions, and so on) for years, since I first heard of them. I can't say that I really understand them yet, but what I can say is that I think I understand them better than I did before watching this. Thank you!

[@MichaelSiegel14]

No one understand them, TBH. :)

[@RocketSurgn_]

I have a relatively solid physics background (for it not being my career!) from my Aerospace engineering training and yeah, even on a “lay person” level far far below Michael’s astrophysics perspective, a lot of these concepts are entirely counter intuitive and often the closer you get to being able to follow what the current consensus is on how they more you “understand” about the rest of the world it can contradict. Not that either one is wrong, but the blend between normal human experience of time, dimensions etc and those foundational theories is just… stunningly complex. I can follow the broadest concepts of a lot of it, but very quickly get to a point that I just have to take the theorists’ word for it and smile at hearing the explanation.

[@xantiom]

The sophons part can be interpreted as Clarke's law: "any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic" They have an understanding of physics too advanced that it's way over our heads. So their handwavy explanation with the vocabulary from our current understanding of quantum physics is the equivalence of using a cut basketball for an imperfect dumbed down approximation for our primitive minds. We are talking about a civilization so advanced that we might not even have the proper vocabulary to describe their true understanding of the physical laws, several millenia ahead of us.

[@ionsilver557]

As a layman in particle physics, I had not previously considered the actual area of the sophon quantitatively. Really informative and interesting explanation! From a sci-fi point of view, I can understand the plot setting of a civilization with a level of science and technology far beyond ours, achieving some Clarketech that seems impossible to us. Previously though, aside from FTL communication via quantum entanglement, what bothered me the most was the fact that the sophon could unfold into a macroscopic object capable of reflecting electromagnetic waves, and the fact that with its maneuverability it was essentially a perpetual motion machine. Combined, these two facts would allow San-Ti to build something like Shkadov thrusters, moving their planet or even stars, to trivialize the three-body problem they face. This doesn't involve science beyond our understanding, it's just a bunch of huge engineering difficulties that happen to be completely solved by sophon's demonstrated abilities (huge ultra-lightweight mirrors with unlimited delta-V). What amazes me about this trilogy, though, isn't that a single idea is good or bad, but that a whole bunch of such interesting ideas are waved randomly through it like nothing. Even rather small and one-use things like armies are arrayed to form a functioning computer is, I think, a brilliant idea worthy of its own novel.

[@Tekdruid]

One of the questions I have about the nanofiber ship slicer is what did they attach those fibers to the metal frame with? Even if the fibers themselves could stand the strain of cutting through hundreds of meters of steel, I highly doubt the frame or the attachment points could.

[@busletic]

You could make ends of nano fibers thicker and then attach those thicker ends to whatever. Although, what process would you use to make them thicker is beyond me.😜

[@hoos3014]

They had anchors made of the nano material.

[@RubbittTheBruise]

You would ball the ends up, and hold them with a trap that allows only the single fibre through.

[@kayyoung3187]

Wow great video! I appreciate the effort you put into the explanations.

[@everettharris967]

Thank you for the effort you put into this. I've been looking for a video like this going into scientific details from this series.

[@danchapman4759]

Fantastic video. I enjoy your reactions, and especially appreciate the time you spent explaining concepts in this episode. I hope in the future as similar sci-fi series and movies come out you'll cover them in this format.

[@GiuseppeB88]

Amazing video and explanations. Thank you!

[@robxsiq7744]

Its not how entanglement works, but its a fun sci-fantasy way to think about it. :) this is the suspend disbelief bit of the sci-fi.

[@katmorris4392]

These reactions give me so much joy on so many levels. Thank you for the demonstrations very very cool.

[@KeithRowley]

Thanks so much, Michael, for the clear explanations of both multi-dimensions and quantum entanglement. This is exactly what I was hoping for when I tuned into your channel. I've seen all of your 3-Body Problem reactions, and this is the one I've been waiting for!

[@user-qn9cx8sc1e]

I appreciate the research, the preparation and the time you put into this video. Excellent content from a ,what seems to be,very competent teacher! Greetings from Greece.

[@hoos3014]

What a fantastic post-episode discussion! You have no idea how happy this makes people who have read all three books 🎨🖼️🖌️

[@Hunpecked]

Wow. The best episode of the series (the last three are anticlimax) produces the best reaction so far. Thank you.

[@neoxochitl]

Incredible explanation. Thank you!

[@asdabir]

Not only did you take so much time out of your day to offer the explanations but you cut your basketball in half! That’s above and beyond!

[@MichaelSiegel14]

TBF: I bought a really cheap basketball specifically for this demo. Might use it next time I teach!

[@KaliahSheDevil]

that was great, thank you so much for taking the extra time with it! I have a question for you, Michael: what is an interesting scientific concept that you know of that you wish science fiction would depict, but hasn't yet (to your knowledge)?

[@richardcoughlin8931]

Thank you for a very clear explanation of the scientific issues in the book and Netflix series. You’re very talented teacher.

[@XieQiu]

Keep these coming!

[@karabomasibi2331]

Keep doing what you are doing, as someone who wanted to study Physics but had to go the Actuarial Science route I always love when physicists explain stuff. I was a little disheartened by quantum entanglement not being a thing we can use for faster than light communication. But what I love is that not only do you explain this you understand that liberties have to be taken to make the story possible the Fiction in Science Fiction. Keep going man, also hard science Fiction writers need a new concept for this communication since quantum entanglement gets broken when you observe that one particle. I learned something

[@einherjar4902]

Your science discussion was really enlightening. I was aware of those concepts and I also knew that my understanding of them is wrong but i didnt know how and why.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

You know, it IS because of these huge explanations that I subscribed to this channel. In fact, when I discovered it a while back I binged everything you had posted. Of course, that wasn't everything and the ranking of ship captains and ships themselves was really cool. So this extra dimensional stuff was really interesting. Thank you!

[@mertsaracoglu4459]

Great video ty!

[@Sporemaniac777]

One thing about the show, is that they make the sophons a lot more powerful than they are in the book. When they are folded up into their original size, they really can't do all that much, they can interfere with fundamental physics research and project images on the retina, and that's it really. To do the universe flashing thing (which in the book also didn't happen on a visible frequency of light, but with the cosmic microwave background) they had to unfold into 2D and cover up the Earth, and then adjust their permeability for the light. Them seemingly hacking every single screen in the world at once doesn't happen, because a pair of protons couldn't really do that on their own. Also, it's actually pretty dangerous for the sophons to unfold into lower dimensions, which is demonstrated in a chapter which takes place from the Trisolaran POV, when they are first creating the sophons. At one point they have to fire nuclear missiles at an unfolded proton, and that destroys it. The sophons do not unfold again after humanity learns about them.

[@NSE_Foden]

I thoroughly enjoy your breakdowns of films and shows and the science concepts they contain as I usually feel like I have learnt something, or that i have a better understanding of something i was already aware of. I read the book a couple of years ago and the idea of the sophons blew my mind, but I wasn't convinced that they could do what was described, even though I didn't know why.😅

[@cstone3178]

Thanks so much for your explanations and demonstration! I love physics, astronomy, quantum mechanics but am too stupid to really study them. So, for laypeople like me, your explanations really help to get at what is (or not) behind/underneath some of the concepts in the book/series. I admit that I kind of went down the Michael-Siegel rabbit hole and watched a bunch of your other videos … all very informative AND entertaining! I so wish I had had you as a teacher/prof! 🙏🙏🙏

[@christopherlambert5264]

Why does it not surprise me you have your own white board at home?

[@MichaelSiegel14]

It's actually my daughter's. But I find it useful to steal it on occasion.

[@karabomasibi2331]

@@MichaelSiegel14 That laugh at Jin's white board in previous episodes made sense but is a little more endearing now to find out your daughter has one too. Cool and cute

[@waldorfstatler3129]

Excellent explanations. Loved your "Flatland" demonstration.

[@jaredf6205]

Woah, didn’t expect to hear my name lol.

[@6Churches]

What's funny is that phonetically sophons and cellphones sound really similar and when I first watched this I was like, "huh?" Mean phone apps!

[@Ablestron]

the "let me explain, no there is too much, let me sum up" xD literally a line from princess bride I love

[@PrinceEntrapto]

Without getting into spoiler territory, the San-Ti's inability to understand human thought processes, emotions, deceptiveness or the psyche leads to them making numerous major mistakes in their attempts to engage in psychological warfare on Earth that blows back on them hard, initially I believe they were open to the idea of cohabitation and sharing the planet until the confusion with Evans took place and that's the moment they decided their conquest would be a militaristic one - I also don't understand why nobody on the human side attempted to propose a planet-sharing arrangement or even offered cooperation with terraforming to allow the San-Ti to settle on another relatively stable planet like Mars

[@billross7245]

The idea that one or two people would exclusively communicate with the San-Ti on the fate of the world was extremely frustrating. Ye responding to the message in spite of being warned against it, or Evans total botch up and misunderstanding of the San-Ti's concepts and using fairy tales as a guide to humanity. Maybe they should have shared that information with the world and let the "professionals" handle the diplomacy. Of course, that would open up another can of worms and maybe lead to even a more negative view of humanity, lol. Contact did it right, imo, and the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still" showed us the consequences if we don't come together as a planet.

[@brianoneill4480]

You just reminded me of The Princess Bride! One of characters says something like, "I will explain it to you, no, that will take too long, I will sum it up."

[@BryanLawlor]

Great explanations! One other reason you can't communicate with quantum entanglement is that you can't control the random result. When you observe a particle it's a coin toss whether you get spin up or down. If you get spin up, you know the other one is spin down, but you can't send a bit of data by forcing your particle to be spin up.

[@williamblakehall5566]

You are doing yeoman work, good man. It's easy to say "Hey, extra dimensions!" but the version I've always heard is, just like you say, negligible and tiny. This show may break new ground, even good ground, but it is encouraging to know that there are new horizons of "hard" science fiction still ahead.

[@meetgadhvi3185]

Finally ❤

[@jpotter2086]

Liberties are taken with pop sci (mis)understandings so the story can happen. In the book's "defense", it goes in for all 26 dimensions ... because of course it does! The sophon creation and abilities are tuly magical in hte book, which brings to mind Clarke's observation about advanced technology. It was interesting to me that with all the pop-sci "indulgences" the book took, the author chose against the most common, FtL, and even this super advanced species was limited to crawling through space. Lastly, if our host thinks this is dark so far ... wait until the series expands this human v san-ti example into the general rule. The 3-Body Problem is the Anti-Star Trek!

[@mhm2908]

"The fact that topology remains intact even as entanglement decays suggests a potentially new encoding mechanism that utilizes entanglement, even in scenarios with minimal entanglement where traditional encoding protocols would fail."

[@CantankerousDave]

Thanks for bringing up the whole "How do they DEcelerate the particle?" issue. And how are they supposed to move around freely as depicted? It's like they tucked an inertialess drive in there under the hood before re-folding them down to size, but if the aliens had that tech, it wouldn't take them 400 years to get here. My local university, the UIUC, has something called the Public Quantum Network, with a node at the public library. The graphical web interface originated here, so it's kinda fitting.

[@drvkizecodex8083]

First netflix show for some hard science, and first YT reaction that I can learn some quantum physics.👍

[@aikanikuluksi4766]

How do they move around? According to the books, the AI-infused sophons are able to intelligently tap into the so called 0-point energy. No particle accelerators needed, but highly fictional, of course. Concerning protons, their complex internal structure apparently goes way beyond three quarks, also containing a dynamic multitude of gluons. But still, a fundamental objection to something like the sophons could be the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which at that scale might seem utterly inconsistent with any rational functionality like an AI.

[@buzzy-ears]

Dress codes are for tools, wear what you want and express yourself ❤

[@DTan-sz3we]

thanks for the effort record for three times... :)

I would like to hear more what they got right. More positive and interesting this way. What they got wrong is what everyone is doing .

[@gordonbrinkmann]

R2-D2 😂 Loved it! 👍

[@Thinkcrown]

Question. How can String Hypothesis or Loop Quantum Gravity rely on entanglement to bind spacetime together if entanglement is so easily (and permanently) undone? Are they referring to some other kind of entanglement?

[@phillipplays4965]

Perhaps I am wrong but as far as I understood you a one bit info transfer would still be possible via entanglement. Or does measuring the other side lead to a reorientation of the spin before the spin it curently has is observed like the collapse of the wave funtion on the first. In that case how do we know it even takes on the spin at all. It could still be undefined and the entanglement is just broken as soon as you seperate them. Might be wrong though. I would love some insight on this

[@eternal_napalm6442]

Book 3, "Death's End", goes much, much deeper into the dimensions. In the fiction of the series, suffice it to say, the universe is currently only 3D space due to technology from other apex species. They will actually discuss what it is like viewing 4D space with a mind evolved in 3D

[@misterfixit9515]

Um, just an armchair physicist here but I think there's a flaw in your explanation of how the 2-dimensional creatures could prove the existence of a 3rd dimension. For us, light intensity falls as the square of the radius because we can measure it in 3 dimensions. That is, we can place a 2D screen perpendicular to the radius and capture photons that travel above and below the 2D creatures' plane. They can't do that. They can only capture photons travelling in their plane. For them, intensity of light from a 3-dimensional star would indeed be measured to decrease linearly. By the same token, it seems to me that our measurement of light intensity decreasing as the square of the radius does not mean that any extra dimensions are extremely small. To measure light intensity from a 4D star falling as the cube of the radius, we would need to construct a 3-dimensional screen set parallel to a 4th dimension that is perpendicular to the radius.

[@misterfixit9515]

Having said that, I love the series and I am really enjoying your reaction videos.

[@gordonbrinkmann]

But when the 3D sphere is in 3D space, the light travels in 3D space. Meaning even if the 2D creatures cannot perceive the third dimension, that will not emit more photons into their 2-dimensional plane, the falloff would still be distance squared and not linear to them - because they cannot measure photons that aren't there.

[@libarax]

Loving all your reactions to this fantastic show. Would you recommend the books to a fairly new sci fi book reader? I'm currently making my way through The Expanse books and they are fantastic!.

[@RocketSurgn_]

Know Michael’s the target of your question, but having grown up with hard sci-fi (and loving the Expanse), the 3 Body Problem series is… very different. A lot of the difference, I think, comes from the authors very different cultural perspective vs western sci-fi authors. I don’t see a lot of the sociological and political responses in the 3 Body Problem series as being as grounded/plausible as for instance the Expanse. But that is based very much in my own view of priorities and human tendencies having had a western upbringing and been raised on western futurist sci-fi authors like Heineken and Asimov. It also takes much broader views of events than Expanse and strikes me as a pretty nihilistic view of not just humanity but in its assumptions of how aliens would think as well. Comparatively, for all the self interest and flaws of Expanse characters and politics I think the Expanse is a far more hopeful perspective on human behavior for what that’s worth. I’d also warn that the 3 Body Problem series gets painted as quite a bit more “hard sci-fi”/keeping to known physics than it really is. Not a knock on the work but worth knowing going in, expanse has a magically efficient Fusion Drive and the gates, but a lot of people go in thinking all the science in 3BP is “real physics”. When written it was closer to known physics, but I’d put it as breaking known physics a lot more often and directly than the Expanse does.

[@RocketSurgn_]

The books raise some very interesting questions/unique concepts, and it’s an interesting exploration of one possible (EXTREMELY nihilistic) solution for the Fermi Paradox, so I’d say it’s worth at least giving the writing style a shot. Though there’s a ton of other foundational sci-fi out there that is also worth exploring so I’d say something that appeals, 3 body problem or otherwise, and give it a shot!

[@RocketSurgn_]

A couple other suggestions if interested you can take or leave, science leaning novels/series that I think have some similar questions to 3BP or Expanse- the 3 Body Problem series gets compared to The Foundation Series a lot, and rightfully so. It’s incredibly influential throughout SciFi, and has a lot in common with the breadth included in the Three Body Problem. It’s very good, though also can be an intimidatingly complex work since it covers tens of thousands of years of civilization. It has a LOT in common with the Dune novels in the theme/scale/setting, with Foundation being a much more hard sci-fi take and Dune being closer to a fantasy take on the same (still complex) ideas. I personally grew up on some of the more one off hard novels that helped define hard sci-fi, though, like Citizen of the Galaxy by Heinlein, really a stand-out work I suspect you’d like if you’re loving Expanse. I can’t recommend that one enough. On a last personal favorites end that’s less broadly known and leaning more to the politics than the science, I really enjoyed the mix of politics and “age of sail in space” of the Honor Harrington series from David Webber.

[@jsbrads1]

Much easier than entering eyes would be to create light in front of someone’s eyes.

[@KaliahSheDevil]

THIRTY EIGHT MINUTES LETS FUCKEN GOOOOO

[@BOBisjustBOB]

Firm believer in facts are real till another factor is discovered. Universe is big, we are minute and I always think what if and but? Contradiction and confusion, oh yes and I love it!

[@KrisCarter]

Hasn't string theory been completely disproven and abandoned as a potential view of fundamental physics?

[@RolaiEckolo]

Largely debased on the applied level, but mathematically it still has some helpful additions to our understanding of physics, more as a lens than the whole scope it was originally proposed/suspected to be.

[@stonkus15]

When they say they were able to expand a proton to something massive by manipulating a higher spatial dimension wouldn’t this make sense? If we think of how many 2d squares could fit within a 3d cube that both have the same length and width would the answer be infinite? And even if the Planck length was used as a constraint for how thin the 2d square would be that would still allow 10^35 squares within the cube. Applying this to the size of a proton would then make sense for how large it could be, no? I have no background in science or mathematics so I’m likely missing something but just curious if this line of reasoning is correct and could apply to taking something within 3d space and expanding into 4d. Thanks

[@ScrivoQualcosa]

the energy is used to compute seems pretty obvious to me also unfolded they could be decelarating easier

[@ridethewind3099]

Your right, nothung is as it should be, the red glow that never ever shows??? GBBs Gamma Ray Bursts, Cosmic Ray's, Plasme Bursts....

[@Ablestron]

mm in regards to them "unfolding upper dimensions" of a proton, wouldn't the implication be that them unravelling the dimensions would change the fundamental appearance of the quarks in the proton? So if you had a cube, you wouldn't just be making the cube bigger if you unfolded its dimensions higher than 3, it would begin to look very different from a regular 3 dimensional cube, it would appear more complex wouldn't it?

[@6Churches]

So the sophons can hack the visual display screen of a voice-recorder .... but they don't do anything useful like: turn off all the power plants or encrypt all the data on Earth into San Ti level encryption

[@jameshawkins6201]

I understand Wade but he does it with out any second thought or remorse or even "I wish there was another way."

[@velfad]

I have an objection about unfolding of a 10d proton into giant 2d area impossibility. Area of sphere's surface is the minimal possible area of a 3d object's surface, but you can increase it by a lot, let's say if you turn it into a cube or add needle-like structures on the sphere. So if we can increase this 2 times for example, in 4d space we can do the same and so on, and then you can easily get to a huge area in 10th dimension.

[@jsbrads1]

When you unfold the higher dimensions of basketball, you don’t just write on its outer surface, you “slice” it as many times as your technology’s resolution would allow you to “print”. If you can “slice” it many thousands of times, you would get more much more each time. And even tho going from 2D to 3D the change from a known area to a known volume, going from 3D to 4D is a much larger ratio, and much larger again going from 4D to 5D…

[@christopherlambert5264]

Question: I got lost at 20:41. I thought a 2d being would see a line not a circle. Also I may be the only one who thinks this way, but when I see a sphere, I don't see a sphere I see a circle. Granted two circles at the same time slightly offset allowing my brain to know it's a sphere.

[@FerdinandJosephFernandez]

They would perceive a curved line, but when they notice this curved line connects to itself, that's probably how they'll come to understand a circle. They definitely don't see all parts of it at the same time, but if they have spatial awareness like us, they can keep a mental model in their heads about its overall shape of being a circle. Same way with how we perceive a sphere with our eyes.

[@christopherlambert5264]

@@FerdinandJosephFernandez danka

[@francoislacombe9071]

I am completely indifferent to what people wear, as illustrated by the fact that I didn't notice your change of apparel until you pointed it out.

[@franzandr2152]

I just finished book series and I'm really interested if Netflix will try to adapt book 3. Because there's a lot of almost magical science and events that happen there. Thanks for this reactions, they are very interesting for me. Like to see your thoughts on science behind this series (even if it's already pretty unrealistic)

[@roastpork5437]

It's been announced last week that they will adapt all 3 books. Netflix is committed to the end of the book 3, until the end of the universe.

[@aliarshad6906]

Yep they renewed the show for 2 more seasons that will adapt the remaining 2 books

[@franzandr2152]

​@@roastpork5437I'm really interested to see how it will look. I'm excited, I hope d&d will not give us a bad final like game of thrones

[@roastpork5437]

@@franzandr2152 You can't blame D&D for Game of Thrones ending entirely, they were given plot points by GRRM for the intended ending and nothing else. If you have to really blame someone, blame GRRM for still not finishing the books. At this point, I think GRRM gave up writing and just plan on not finishing it. Why go through all this trouble if he's already got everything he wanted (Fame and money). 3 Body trilogy already has an ending and I noticed so many ending pieces being moved in season 1 already. This is the advantage of adapting a literary work that has already been completed, you can plan for the ending from the beginning and not 2/3 way through the story and suddenly had to scramble to set up an ending that they were hoping the author would finish.

[@RocketSurgn_]

@@roastpork5437I mean, I do fully blame them for being bad at finishing a story they’ve lost interest in and don’t have a solid published version of that they need to at least sort of follow- I’d be VERY suspicious of them making anything totally original, haha. I’m not convinced they are very good at understanding/keeping characters consistent when given free reign. However! they do seem pretty great at adapting complex, grounded sociological drama in a very firmly established world (as with GoT) IF they also have established character and story arcs all the way to and end. So blame for not giving that to them does fall on Martin, and I give them much more benefit of the doubt with 3BP than I would an original series.

[@1voluntaryist]

When humans began evolving they were quite savage. Slavery was accepted without question. Was this due to the lack of ethics, or lack of an effective ethics? As the ions passed, we got more humane, but why? Was it by reasoning out ethics or was it by observing each other's societies and noting some lifestyles that were more peaceful were more enjoyable, more productive? War, the practice of killing/dying to obtain materials, was a common practice, even if its goal was hidden, e.g., The Crusades. But, when Aristotle's philosophy was made public, reason, science spread, making prosperity possible. That was countered by the old superstition, a faith in force. That is where the final battle of ideas needs to be resolved. Will reason reign or will superstition? Reason leads to non-violence, communication, cooperation with consent. Will it finally replace fear, delusion, the momentary emotion? Will humanity boycott "The Most Dangerous Superstition" (Larken Rose)?

[@Aelthiest]

Is the probability wave real? Isn't it describing the probability of what spin, but the particle in actuality already has one? It's not exactly provable it doesn't already possess one, it just seems like some physicists treat what's unknown and physically nonexistent when in reality it may just already be determined at entanglement but not observed.

[@jamesdye4603]

As a blue collar guy who gets filthy for a living repairing the machines that make modern life possible, I can't judge anyone on what they wear. Pull an engine and get dirty, make sure when you rebuild it you do it in a clean place, like laboratory clean, then get dirty reinstalling it in the vehicle. Forty years doing this.

[@jamesdye4603]

Thinking that appeasing the enemy will save your hide is so Neville Chamberlain.

[@ridethewind3099]

In Aramaic??? Its a pale green horse and Hell followed with it (ATLAS C-2019 is 💚💚💚???).His spoken tounge...Pons is ATLAS....

[@ridethewind3099]

Magnitosphere is weakening at 8 times the normal rate, and its cracked - Thats where all the "beautiful" colors are coming from??? Those beautiful colors??? Radiation...

[@ridethewind3099]

Radiation poisoning symptoms are runny nose, congestion, chest infections??? Sound familiar????

[@SachinJames89]

Would agree with some of the general principles that would be applicable to regular proton... But in this case it's more of a sentient proton which they unfolded and etched circuits on it and called it sophon!!! Regarding the dimensions, the books explain it much better. Also you can think of protons like google maps geometry 2d can be represented in both flat and spherical form if wrapped around a spherical surface...Another thing is 11D proton is unfolded to 2D form but is still in 3D space... It's impossible for us, not impossible for them!! 😂😂

[@Oi....]

Quantum Physics gets banded about way too much by movie makers, just like Nuclear did in the 50s. I guess in the same way Magic or God was used to explain what we didn't know or understand hundreds of years ago.

[@user-lo1yj7kc1c]

Technically trisolarians is much higher tier civ from us so their concept to things esp science are different from us.

[@jsbrads1]

No nano fiber can cut like that from materials we have today. In theory a material that is much stronger than modern materials of today could theoretically cut.

[@sergioaccioly5219]

I think the N-dimention woks differently. They just pile up pennies into the thrid dimension, so they occupy the space of a single penny but have the capabilities of a hundred of them. Comments?

[@Hunpecked]

Wouldn't the whole have a mass of 100 pennies?

[@sergioaccioly5219]

@@Hunpecked Probably. Quite an interesting point. Of course, that's a metaphor, and there are limits to how closely it mimcs reality.

[@Hunpecked]

@@sergioaccioly5219 Well, if our hypothetical penny is like a sophon, it's "unfolded" (or maybe hammered 😅) into a vanishingly thin surface that can be etched with countless computer circuits and maybe nano machines, but still has the mass of a penny. Then it's "folded" back into a penny. But without specifying in some detail how the whole thing works, it's just space magic. 😆

[@raabaddler5802]

Zathras likes this zathras

[@marknovak6498]

Yeah the books and the shows start verging into science fantasy at this point. But still fun, it is the deceleration that is the killer.

[@arlenesobhani8739]

Basic Flatland.

[@santoshr2984]

String theory: Cheerleaders like Brian Greene trying to sell you Noodles :0) .. Ed Witten is our LORD GOD .. the AlMIGHTY. Now, do you want to be a BELIEVER .... hehehehe

[@user-lo1yj7kc1c]

Maybe the understading of trisolarians to science is different from us so it does not make sense to us it makes sense to us. Hay its fiction the beauty of fiction you can go crazy on your ideas.

[@Nanakiyami]

They dumbed it down extremely for the show. The book goes into a lot more detail on the subject of the sophons.

[@charlotteguan4701]

阿拉斯加州

[@dipi71]

11:19 … aaand like a bad James-Bond villain, she spills the San-Ti's plot. So, not sorry for not enjoying the first book, nor the first four episodes. I'll always appreciate your videos, though. Cheers!

[@fanghur]

Not gonna lie, when I read the series, more than almost anything else, the sophons just shattered my suspension of disbelief in the series. Even setting aside the fact that they are literally magic without actually being called that, the mere existence of such “technology” just leads to so many gaping plot holes that it completely obliterates it in my opinion. Like, so the sophons are able to expand into gargantuan two-dimensional sheets that form perfect mirrors. Now what useful applications of such a thing have for the Trisolarans in their home solar system? Solar blocking when the stars get too close, solar focussing when they get too far away. And that’s just one example. And for that matter, they easily could have used that same application to cause a mass extinction on earth by either blocking out the sun at a safe distance from the planet or becoming a massive solar death ray. Something similar to that actually happens in the books when the Trisolarans were first trying to make the sophons; it nearly wiped them out by doing precisely that.

[@hoos3014]

Yikes. Please edit out the massive future book spoilers. You're forgetting that the Sophon is extremely fragile when it is unfolded and would be vulnerable to attack. Also, the risks to the San-Ti home planet are greater than "too hot" or "too cold". At the end of the day, the Sophons are fantasy elements than enable the rest of the story's science and philosophy to play out; we should be able to suspend disbelief where appropriate.

[@user-eb5gd4gm2w]

It's not a fact... it's more of a speculation about what alien technology might resemble - (just like how science is largely comprised of theories rather than facts, as they can evolve and change over time as new evidence emerges). It could be something entirely beyond our current understanding, we've never discovered (yet?) or understood before, perhaps something we may never comprehend due to our limited capabilities. We might not be on the same level of comprehension. Since we don't know everything, the possibilities are endless.

[@fanghur]

@@user-eb5gd4gm2w the fact that we don’t know everything does not imply that we don’t know anything.

[@user-eb5gd4gm2w]

@@fanghur it does... as science and technology advances, we often correct our past misconceptions and realize what we once thought was impossible may become possible in the future

[@ismeahlim]

How to react so sci-fi, seriously

[@tonydejesus2134]

Dramatically, I think the show missed an opportunity to have a great scene with Ye Wenjie once she’s confronted with the evidence of her betrayal of all of humanity. They just show her with a perturbed expression on her face. This could have been a real emotional breakdown.

[@sawcery587]

The series will probably age poorly as real science advances, because the author takes enormous liberties with parts of science that werent well understood when it was written

[@roastpork5437]

Not if you read book 2 and book 3 lol... Book 1 is just a prologue.

[@sawcery587]

@@roastpork5437 the science in 2 & 3 is even more fantastical/magical, not sure what ur talking about

[@jmchez]

Jules Verne?

[@dexterdr.7020]

it was written back in 2006, the fist book

[@roastpork5437]

@@sawcery587 Exactly,, because Book 2 and 3 materials are so far beyond our current science, then it won't age because it can't be proven or disproven either way. Oh brother, i am talking to a "ur" person. I am wasting my time.