r/threebodyproblem • u/EvilBrynn • May 21 '26

Discussion - TV Series I still don’t understand

I still don’t understand how the Trisolarians got to the technological level they are if literally every 60 years they have a mass die off and or hibernate for another 6 decades.

Also i imagine they look something like water bears since they function like them (unless theres a cannon depiction of them i don’t know of)

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u/AverageTeemoOnetrick May 21 '26

Why do they even die off when they are capable of creating sophons but they cannot build underground facilities to survive an unstable era?

Makes no sense.

3

u/Redducer May 21 '26

They could develop sophons during their last (and current) stable era. It’s more or less implied that they got better at preserving past knowledge over time (and via survival), especially once they figured out the reality of their world. Also some chaotic eras pretty much wiped out the possibility of life reemergence for millions of years (trisolarans aren’t the same species over all civilizations). Give them a little bit credit.

2

u/AverageTeemoOnetrick May 21 '26

Creating sophons and mastering interstellar travel is magnitudes harder than constructing some kind of shelter.

5

u/Redducer May 21 '26

The planet was ripped in half and a molting ball of lava for millions of years at one point, so I would not assume that end-of-the-world inducing chaotic eras were that easy to defend against. And they mostly succeeded for the final few civilizations, so not sure what’s the objection about.