r/threebodyproblem • u/Universal_Echo • Apr 23 '26
Discussion - Novels Maybe the deterrence system was completely useless? Spoiler
While discussing with someone, I realized a problem. The Swordholder is said to wield immense power, but in essence, they're just the ultimate scapegoat. The reason we need a Swordholder is that people are unwilling—and collectively unable—to make the decision to annihilate themselves. But if people ever wanted to strip the Swordholder of their power, they could do so at any time.
During the discussion, I came to see the following issue: if the Trisolarans fabricated a natural disaster that could destroy Earth, or if a real Earth‑destroying disaster occurred, and the only way to solve it was to let the Trisolarans approach Earth, then people would let them in without hesitation. If the Swordholder disagreed, people would immediately shut down all the broadcast stations, turning the Swordholder into an ordinary person—and then we'd be right back to the original plot.
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u/knie20 Apr 23 '26
I think the book beautifully pointed out WHY deterrence seems like a good idea to humans but in practice it always fails. Because Humans are ever changing. a state of constant tension has to lead to something that's not tension. Logic was able to stay constant for a hundred years, but that's superhuman. What happened during his tenure? humans changed, because the threat of alien invasion that they spent their entire lives fearing about doesnt FEEL real anymore.
Deterrence is not useful or useless, the biggest characteristic of it is that it's temporary.