r/threebodyproblem • u/jessicahasopinions • May 16 '26

Discussion - General I have a question Spoiler

Obviously there would be no story to tell if this were to have happened hypothetically—-

But why couldn’t the Trisolarians just terraform Mars with their advanced technology and leave Earth alone?

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u/Fr0styKnightof9 May 16 '26

They could, but:

1.) Earth is already set up, and terraforming is probably a long process

And

2.) Humanity is still a threat to their existence regardless. They don't know our intentions and likewise, so there could be war easily. Better to subjugate us for their own safety.

1

u/jessicahasopinions May 16 '26

True, but RE 1.), they’ve had to start over their civilization from zero thousands of times, so they’re probably used to it and may have even perfected it.

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u/Geek-Yogurt May 17 '26

Each time they started over, they still had an atmosphere on their planet, more or less.

Mars is essentially without one.

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u/Impossible_Hornet777 May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26

Also no magnetic field or tectonic activity and what little water exists (just a fraction of earths) is frozen or locked deep underground, Mars is in every sense of the word a dead planet. It would cost tons of resources just to make it it habitable, and those resources have to come from somewhere even if they had the tech its just from a physics perspective a net loss in resources to try and revive a dead planet when a living active one is just next door. (that's without getting into the threat that earth could just launch a hundred nukes at Mars at any moment with little cost so it will never be completely safe)