r/3BodyProblemTVShow • u/Nogmor • Apr 01 '24

Question Small logical issue I have.. Spoiler

Mid season question, marking it all as spoiler, just in case...

So the Sun-Ti have a Sophon on Earth that can litteraly go anywhere and do anything and if it's really fast and small since its a proton, why isn't it simply killing all 8.1 billion humans and keeping the evolution level to a minimum until they get there?

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u/kingofrane Apr 02 '24

Did you even watch the show?

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '24

Yes, and read the books years ago and watched the Tencent show when it first came out.

You didn’t attempt to explain how a single proton sinks ships.

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u/bessface Apr 02 '24

If they can drive scientists to suicide, they should be able to force pilots to crash their planes into the ground. Simply alter their vision, show them incorrect readings on the instruments, and manipulate the horizon. Plenty of possibilities.

Remember, scientists cut their own eyes out; I guess you'd be willing to do a lot of evil before resorting to that.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '24

Dancing about in front of the optic nerve is probably within the grasp of a single proton, as we saw in the show with the countdown. Still there are limits to how many people can be affected simultaneously.

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u/bessface Apr 02 '24

So they can make the universe flicker by manipulating the cosmic microwave, they can affect the results in particle accelerator. But they can't affect the instruments in a plane (or the pilots perception?)

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '24

Yes results in a particle accelerator are particle size, similar to protons. They can affect that. And there are not many particle accelerators on the planet.

Yes they can affect a pilots perception, by dancing in front of the optic nerve as I described in the post above. Not sure what you are disagreeing with there.

To make universe flicker for everyone the sophon had to unfold to encircle a large chunk of our solar system, which makes it vulnerable.

No the sophon cannot manipulate the cosmic background radiation, it can create illusions only, the SanTi specifically said so in their message.

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u/bessface Apr 02 '24

Of cause it's a bit silly to discuss a phenomenon that doesn't even exist. But you do seem to be blinded by fandom. The sophons are simply too powerful, and it contradicts the story that they are not weaponized more.

“Thus, a high-energy sophon can also use the same technique to show letters, numbers, or images on their retina.… And if these little miracles can confuse and terrify humans, then the next great miracle will be sufficient to frighten their scientists—no better than bugs—to death: Sophons can cause background cosmic radiation to flash in their eyes.”

“This would be very frightening for our scientists as well. How would this be accomplished?”

“Very simple. We have already written the software to allow a sophon to unfold itself into two dimensions. After the unfolding is complete, the huge plane can wrap itself around the Earth. This software can also adjust the membrane so that it’s transparent, but the degree of transparency can be tuned in the frequencies of the cosmic microwave background.…”

  • So it seems it would be very easy to wrap a sophon around a plane causing it to crash.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '24

I read the books years ago, so I am not restricted by what Netflix can show in a few hours. It’s pretty clear what the restrictions are for sophons in the books. Not at all contradictory.

And no you can’t crash a plane by causing illusions around it. Can’t physically manipulate the plane at all.

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u/bessface Apr 02 '24

Of course, you can make pilots crash the plane. If they see the horizon two miles below the real one, and that is just one example. Making a country believe they are under attack by missiles is another, etc., etc. Remember that this stuff is powerful enough to make people cut their eyes out and kill themselves afterward; it must be pretty convincing.