
Liu Cixin, China’s hottest science-fiction writer - bootload
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/08/08/why-you-should-be-reading-liu-cixin-chinas-hottest-science-fiction-writer
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ThePhysicist
Warning, spoilers below.

I recently finished the first book of the "The Tree Body Problem" series (the
second one will be translated to English soon) and I really enjoyed the
beginning and middle part of it, which are packed with interesting scientific
ideas and an intricate and captivating plot. Towards the end the book tends to
become a lot more unrealistic and even a bit "cheesy" though. An example would
be the hyper-dimensional computers that the Trisolarians send to Earth to
hinder our scientific progress. Still, it is a very good read and packed with
fascinating ideas that will make you think.

Another example of very good contemporary science fiction is Ramez Naam's
"Nexus Arc" series of books, which I actually liked much better than the
Three-Body Problem, and which are a bit more plausible and realistic as well.

~~~
wangii
"The Three Body Problem" is a nice book, but far from great. However, the 2nd
instalment, "The Dark Forest" is going to blow your mind. It's the best sci-fi
book ever written in Chinese, and IMHO the best since Isaac Asimov's
Foundation series. I have long doubted if any Chinese could write a great Sci-
fi. It's such a pleasure proven to be wrong!

~~~
jweir
Would one enjoy the second book without reading the first?

~~~
wangii
Yes. I read the first one after finished the second.

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Gys
One interesting thought:

"... there are many civilizations in the universe, they all want to survive,
and there is only so much space out there. Follow the logic through, and it’s
clear that every civilization must regard every other civilization as an
existential threat, leaving attack on sight as the only safe strategy. All
that keeps technologically inferior civilizations safe is the ignorance of
others about their existence."

"And here is humanity firing messages into space, building bonfires and
standing beside them screaming, “Here I am! Here I am!”

~~~
adnzzzzZ
This assumes every other civilization thinks like humanity does. While there
may be many that do, there may be many that don't. And it seems that
humanity's progress points towards a direction where people are much more
peaceful than they are now, simply because the resource allocation problem
might be solved with technology. And it also makes sense to assume that
civilizations that don't move towards more peaceful existences would end up
killing themselves given that technological progress usually gives individuals
more power to be destructive.

So another interesting thought is that if there are civilizations out there
who are more advanced than us, it's likely that they are by default peaceful
and not aggressive, because if they were aggressive they would have stopped
existing due to escalating internal conflicts aided by advanced technology.

~~~
V-2
@adnzzzzZ obviously we have no way of knowing, but for argument's sake, I
believe for every assumption you make there's an equally compelling rebuttal.

"This assumes every other civilization thinks like humanity does"

Survival of the fittest is a fact of life, and whatever mindset one has about
it may be irrelevant.

As game theory proves, the majority, or even all players may dislike the game,
but they have to play it all the same.

"the resource allocation problem might be solved with technology"

Perhaps there are resource allocation problems that can't, eg. the scarcity of
habitable planets.

"it's likely that they are by default peaceful and not aggressive, because if
they were aggressive they would have stopped existing due to escalating
internal conflicts aided by advanced technology"

Or it could be a bell curve with a self-destructing "war of all against all"
on one side, "peaceful but defenseless monks" on another, and the middle-of-
the-road compromise of "disciplined legions where backstabbing is forbidden"
being best fitted for survival, preying on less efficient civilizations from
both ends of the spectrum alike.

~~~
fsargent
Scarcity of habitable planets is absolutely solvable with technology - space
ships, stations etc. Sufficiently advanced technology may also allow people to
switch to more efficient bodies, or upload their consciousness to computers,
or simply different forms designed for 'uninhabitable' worlds, or space
itself.

~~~
wlesieutre
One series (that I'll leave unnamed to not spoil anything) suggests that the
limiting factor isn't habitable planets, but wars ended up being fought over
limited availability of metal in the universe. You can build your own space
ships and stations, but eventually the raw materials have to run out no matter
what you're making.

There are of course other limits that may or may not be solvable, like most of
that metal being stuck in relatively deep gravity wells. But it's still an
interesting thought.

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ak1394
I don't think this book deserves that much hype. I have mostly read it (hasn't
quite finished the last chapter) but really didn't think much about it.

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CountSessine
SPOILERS - don't read unless you've read the book:

I read the book earlier this year and I loved it. One thing I had been
thinking about though was the carbon nanotube wire and the ship.

Single-atom-thick wires used as knives have shown up in science-fiction
before. In Ringworld, for example, a character is decapitated when they run
into a nano-wire strung across a path.

In The Three Body Problem, I don't think you could ever 'cut' metal like that
with carbon nanotubes - you'd have to overcome the cumulative bonding energies
of all of those iron atoms in the ship and I doubt even the ship's engines
running at full blast could push hard enough to do that. And that's assuming
that a string of nanotubes has the strength to resist all of that tension.
Apparently carbon nanotubes can resist about 100000N of tensile force (about a
10000kg weight in earth's gravity), so perhaps it wouldn't break - but I doubt
that the metal in the ship would cleave, either.

Is there anyone who knows more about chemistry/solid state physics/materials
science to comment?

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fsloth
The description of the plot strongly reminds me of relationship of china with
the industrialized nations in the 19th century - huge technology gap and
threat of effective colonization from 'alien' barbarians. Is it popular
because it's inspired by a historic national trauma or because it's actually
good?

~~~
pavlov
The science fiction genre is often so much about ideas that the difference
becomes moot.

For example, Robert Heinlein's books are hardly "actually good" in any sense
understood by conventional literal criticism, but they certainly have made a
lasting impression by extrapolating upon some very American political ideas
and national archetypes.

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zeroonetwothree
I'm pretty sure that if we faced an alien invasion in 400 years we'd spend the
first ~350 of those doing absolutely nothing about it. After all, everyone we
know will be dead long before that happens, so what's the point? Most people
would probably just ignore it.

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blacksmith_tb
I'm surprised they didn't mention his translator, Ken Liu (no relation), who
recently published a very entertaining fantasy epic of his own, The Grace of
Kings.

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aaron695
Warning this review is quite spoloilery on his books.

What I found most interesting with the first novel 'The Three-Body Problem'
was it to me shows an immature view to science by the Chinese.

This is assuming I'm guessing correctly how this book sits with the public and
scientific community there. Maybe it's not considered Sci-Fi in China. I'm not
saying it's pulp either.

An interesting and entertaining read anyway.

~~~
zariskij
This is absurd. How could you judge view to science by just a fiction? Do you
consider star wars as a mature view to science?

~~~
gaius
Star Wars was not vetted by any government officials for its ideological
purity before publication, is the difference. Anything that is published in
China, by definition _is_ representative of the opinions of the Party.

~~~
shaobo
It doesn't work that way.

For example, from [http://gking.harvard.edu/publications/how-Censorship-
China-A...](http://gking.harvard.edu/publications/how-Censorship-China-Allows-
Government-Criticism-Silences-Collective-Expression)

"Contrary to previous understandings, posts with negative, even vitriolic,
criticism of the state, its leaders, and its policies are not more likely to
be censored. Instead, we show that the censorship program is aimed at
curtailing collective action by silencing comments that represent, reinforce,
or spur social mobilization, regardless of content."

~~~
hackuser
In the last month, off the top of my head:

* Mass arrests of human rights attorneys and dissidents: [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/world/asia/china-arrests-h...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/world/asia/china-arrests-human-rights-lawyers-zhou-shifeng.html)

* Online political dissent shut down: [http://www.afr.com/technology/social-media/how-china-stopped...](http://www.afr.com/technology/social-media/how-china-stopped-its-bloggers-20150701-gi34za)

~~~
shaobo
No one is saying that there is no censorship or repression, but rather it
works differently than most people think it does. Though I will concede that
the paper is quite a few years out of date.

The point I was trying to make is that, a sweeping statement such as "Anything
that is published in China, by definition is representative of the opinions of
the Party.", simply isn't true.

It is not even true for the mainstream media, nevermind a work of fiction.

------
abrookewood
This is actually a great book. I read it a few months ago and can't wait for
the release of the sequel.

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FLUX-YOU
>A high-ranking U.S. official thinks that suicide tactics might be effective
against the Trisolarans. He visits the leader of al-Qaeda to propose an
alliance, but the terrorist boss tells him that his organization has renounced
violence and is lost in ennui.

al-Qaeda™, Suicide Consultants

------
wineisfine
Or, maybe this planet (Earth) is another planet's hell.

------
untilHellbanned
Washington Post is now a flagrant Amazon marketing machine.

I'm calling it now. Facebook buys the NY Times.

See you later journalism.

~~~
toephu2
Not sure what you're talking about, I didn't see a single amazon link in the
article. They even link to google books instead.

~~~
untilHellbanned
Bezos owns the Washington Post. Bezos owns the biggest book seller in the
world.

------
yc1010
"... the Trisolarans, are en route with a giant fleet of warships. It will
take them 400 years to reach Earth, leaving our panic-stricken species in a
state of fevered war preparation. From afar, the Trisolarans incapacitate our
scientific research and monitor our communications. We can’t bridge the gap in
technology, and the second we discuss anything, the enemy knows all about it
... "

Sounds like the author is tapping into the fear of being invaded by USA? with
the NSA listening in on everything? and preparations for an inevitable war
having to be made

I will pick up this book to read once I can find it on shelves, sounds like
good sci-fi albeit its obvious who the "Trisolarans" are meant to be ;)

~~~
mhurron
Yep, it's all about the US. Everything, everywhere is all about Americans.

~~~
yc1010
So be cause you disagree with my theory you have to go down-voting me?

sci-fi is often based on current geopolitical fears, just look at Battlestar
Galactica reboot few years back reflecting on the wars in the middle east.

~~~
mhurron
> you have to go down-voting me

First off, stop whining about downvotes. Second, I don't downvote anyone.

> sci-fi is often based on current geopolitical fears

And you provide no proof of your ideas other than it must be based on the US.

Lets assume it MUST be beasd on current events, and not the fact that nations
have used espinage to monitor and sabotage other nations progress since there
was a second nation to spy on. Why does it have to be the American's this is
based on? The British spy. The Canadians spy. The French are well known
practitioners of industrial espionage. The Russians spy. North Korea spys. The
Chineese government themselves spy. If this has to be based on current events,
why could this not be looking at Chineese spying from the other side?

But no, it MUST be based on the Americans. Everything is about America. There
is nothing else to write about.

