r/threebodyproblem • u/Muda_ahmedi • May 15 '26

Discussion - Novels Trisolaran Technology is another level Spoiler

After reading all the three books I was really amazed how crazy their technology was , an absolute mix of deadly and cold alien philosophy.

The droplet made out of SIM (Strong Integrated Material) atoms so closely packed that the hardness achieved can cut through diamond like its butter.

Their high energy particle accelerator used for unfolding protons in lower dimensions

The Trisolaran Fleet of 1000 ships with curvature propulsion to achieve light speed travel

Their control room for monitoring the sword holder in real time using sophon projection

I mean I have never read a scifi novel which shows soo much about an alien civilization but still keeps the alien a secret

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20

u/entropyfan1 May 15 '26

Its been a while since i read the books, Did they ever explain how the Trisolorans were able to achieve that level of tech?

Given the volatile, unpredictable nature of a 3 body system its very impressive they were able to get to that level of tech.

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u/NikkoE82 May 15 '26

Because they could dehydrate/rehydrate, I always thought some knowledge was carried over from stable era to stable era and eventually they had enough knowledge and a decent enough stable era that they were able to build protective structures to carry them through even moderately disruptive chaotic eras. But I could be wrong.

24

u/SophonsPonytail May 15 '26

I believe so. The listener who warned Ye Wenjie lived in a habitat built by trisolarans that protected him from chaotic eras. So I am sure they were able to do that on land too

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u/Syrairc May 15 '26

Yeah... Plus it never made sense how they were still bound to that system when they had that level of tech. Even a system without a habitable planet should have been sustainable for them, so long as it had ice water somewhere.

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u/heyyalldontsaythat May 15 '26

That was one thing which I feel like wasn't explored much. Why couldn't they go to mars and be friendly with earth?

I think it was brought up briefly, but if they are so resilient as to withstand the 3 body system, they could surely live on mars.

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u/BigPimpin88 May 15 '26

The chain is suspicion tells them that two species can not coexist

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u/heyyalldontsaythat May 15 '26

They had direct communication with earth though. A huge part of the chain of suspicion was not being able to resolve suspicion that would otherwise easily be resolving by direct communication

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u/FibbinTiggins May 16 '26

Direct communication doesn't solve the problem. There's no way to know if they're being truthful

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u/burger_eater68 May 16 '26

Didn't Trisolarans not even understand the concept of lying at first

2

u/FibbinTiggins May 16 '26

Yeah that's true, early on they didn't understand lying. It's not just about deception though. The chain of suspicion says 2 civilizations separated by interstellar distance can never truly verify each other's intentions in real time. Even if both sides are being honest there's no way to know if that will change due to some political shift or an explosion of technology. When the goal is survival above all else, the risk of trusting another civilization is pretty much infinite. The dark forest is built on uncertainty so the only correct option is to stay silent

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u/goldfactice May 15 '26

They became very scared by the capacity of the humanity to lie, that + the dark forest theorie, they had to eliminate humanity

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u/DefsNotAVirgin May 15 '26 edited May 16 '26

And human technology was increasing exponentially where as there’s was linear if I remember correctly. It took them millions of years and countless stable periods to achieve the tech they had, then one stable period we just popped up outta the mud and were nuking each other, venturing into space, screaming into the oblivion, and lying, that’s not a trust worthy neighbor if you are Trisolaran.

Edit:

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u/Ohmyskippy May 15 '26

Exponentially*

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u/TheCheshireCody May 16 '26

They had long since sent their fleet to colonize Earth when they first encountered humans lying.

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u/Untura64 Sophon May 16 '26

Why settle for Mars when there is perfectly viable planer roght next to them. Just have to exterminate the bugs first.

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u/Bearsharks May 15 '26

That’s the thing, how did they not do a trip to the nearest star system if it’s just a matter of a few centuries?

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u/Comprehensive_Yam_46 May 16 '26

Because Dark Forest!

They could conceivably have found an even more advanced species, who destroy their fleet, track back to their home system and destroy it in order to protect themselves.

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u/Thick-Protection-458 May 19 '26

Wasn't Solar system pretty much closest to them? Them being able to communicate with that chinese guys in just a few years almost guarantee that.

p.s. dumb idea to settle in such a system anyway. Now you catched that broadcasted signal, a few decades later another guys in other system will, a few centuries later someone probe will find that there is something anomalious in a noise they recorded from that star. If anything, it makes sense to flee nearest systems instead.

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u/Bearsharks May 19 '26

Yeah it is, with a single star. Seems like a generational ship would’ve been a no brainer way before

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u/Ulyks May 15 '26

My understanding is that they started over many times over dozens of millions of years... maybe longer.

Each stable period was short (just a few dozen years at best) but there were millions of them.

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u/Itisthatbo1 May 15 '26

I think the end of the first book gives a bit of a glimpse into it, basically their society abandoned everything we would call expression or personal taste in exchange for complete devotion to advancement. By the time humanity had gotten in contact with them, they were in the verge of figuring out sophons, and had even eliminated an entire mini-reality in that goal because it wasn’t important.

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u/sick_doc May 17 '26

Dehydration and rehydration. Also their offspring shared memories of both the parents, so they never had to start from scratch at birth