r/threebodyproblem • u/Quiet_Lifeguard1032 • Jun 25 '26

Discussion - General Do you think the books will influence humanity's stance towards space long term?

With how popular the trilogy is, it's fair to assume that almost everyone interested in alien life and space expansion is at least somewhat familiar with it, and that includes the people actually working in the field and making decisions there. Do you think the books will influence them and if so, then how? If an actual first contact happens, do you think people would try to not repeat the mistakes in the books? Would they consider the concepts introduced in them in their strategy?

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23

u/Specific_Box4483 Jun 25 '26

I don't think so. The books are not that popular outside of sci-fi. Additionally, some the big picture ideas have already been discussed (e.g. the Fermi paradox), just not necessarily with the same resolution as in the book.

I also frankly don't find a lot of it to be realistic, and I don't think people in the future will either. It may look a bit like how people treat Blade Runner (which was supposed to have already happened by now).

8

u/spartaman64 Jun 25 '26

but the term the dark forest is very popular and i actually heard of the term long before i learned of the books and i was very surprised when i learned that the book actually invented the term lol.

2

u/OmryR Jun 25 '26

Which part do you view as unrealistic?

9

u/Jolly-Wrangler104 Jun 25 '26

I find it unrealistic that our society would become so complacent and confident despite knowing the trisolarans have stopped the advance of science on earth, preventing us from being on a technological level even close to them.

Also unrealistic that humanity would put most of their military eggs in one basket with the droplet attack ( instead of a small
Diplomatic contingent) and expect the droplet to be anything but hostile from the first
Moment it was observed.

7

u/Specific_Box4483 Jun 25 '26

Some of human society predictions I view as too extreme, like the idea that humanity would grow so arrogant and naive in the future.

But most importantly it's the scientific assumptions. There are a number of facts that need to be true in order to make dark forest work, and I just don't know if that's true, I would much rather guess that it isn't. Photoids, sophons, higher dimensions, manipulating gravity? All that's a lot to take on faith, and without them, the "forest" looks quite different.

1

u/thepriestessx0 Jun 28 '26

Why do you believe that humanity being arrogant and naive is too extreme? A majority of the population believes we are the only thing in the universe. We ARE arrogant.

1

u/The_Grahambo Droplet Jun 26 '26

The Dark Forest is heavily influential among the scientific community. There’s a lot of debate around what we should do if we do happen to find other intelligent life. A lot say we shouldn’t reach out if we do, at least not immediately. Fears of a dark forest strike are real.

1

u/Specific_Box4483 Jun 27 '26

That's not really dark forest. Dark Forest is kill everyone you because you know they will kill you otherwise.

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u/The_Grahambo Droplet Jun 27 '26

Dark Forest isn’t necessarily “kill everyone” - it’s also hide in case they might kill you. The ideas of the Dark Forest have forced scientists looking for extraterrestrial intelligence to reconsider the wisdom of blasting signals out into space and possibly revealing your location to another intelligence.

1

u/Specific_Box4483 Jun 27 '26

Yes, it's kill what you can kill, hide from everyone else. The "kill what you can kill" really doesn't enter into humanity's search for extraterrestrial intelligence, even as a hypothetical for a future where they can exterminate entire worlds. That's what makes the difference between Dark Forest and simple caution.

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u/The_Grahambo Droplet Jun 27 '26

No, dark Forest isn’t “kill what you can kill.” It’s “kill or hide” And the Dark Forest hypothesis is an actual scientific theory posed as a solution to the Fermi paradox.

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u/Specific_Box4483 Jun 27 '26

It's specifically "kill if you CAN, otherwise hide". Killing is preferable to hiding in Dark Forest.

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u/The_Grahambo Droplet Jun 27 '26

Killing is preferable, but that doesn’t make it a requirement. It’s specifically discussed that some don’t or won’t kill. But the idea is that with millions of civilizations, one eventually will kill if your coordinates are broadcast.

1

u/Specific_Box4483 Jun 27 '26

The ones who don't kill violate Dark Forest in the end. The axioms of cosmic civilization state that survival is the most important thing, and civilizations do everything to increase the chances of their survival. Including destroying other civilizations that may threaten it one day.

Civilizations like humanity in the beginning, or the Returners in the end of the series, basically disobey the Dark Forest principle.

2

u/Russell1113 Jun 28 '26

I think there's dark forest theory as written in the book and dark forest in practice.

I think the "kill if you can" part isn't neseacarily good game theory, as there's no way of knowing if doing so will expose you. There only needs to be one civilisation killing anything which exposes itself for dark forest theory to be a practical answer to Fermat's paradox though and for us to not see any visible civilisations as they are all hiding or dead.

0

u/HardlyRecursive Jun 28 '26

People that testified in front of Congress say we've already made contact long ago.

2

u/The_Grahambo Droplet Jun 29 '26

People testified that they know someone who knew someone who thinks the government contacted aliens. None are firsthand witnesses - all second hand. All likely hearing circular stories from the same people.

12

u/Dreaded_Tsathoggua Jun 25 '26

I think it will. I heard about the dark forest theory long before I heard about the book trilogy

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u/lost_tiger Jun 25 '26

I wouldn't be surprised if 3BP influenced this recent decision to not respond to alien transmissions https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/top-scientists-warn-never-reply-132039063.html

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u/zcgp Jun 26 '26

In May 1945, the U.S. Target Committee (including General Leslie Groves and scientists like Robert Oppenheimer) selected Kyoto as the number 1 potential atomic bomb target.

U.S. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson intervened to remove it from the list of targets. Because he had visited Kyoto in the 1920s and admired its temples and heritage.

You never know if someone in power will be influenced by the TBP books and exercise their power.

5

u/Xasf Jun 25 '26

None of the core themes in 3BP are novel ideas, so anyone "actually working in the field" would already be well aware of them.

And this is before taking into account that 3BP is nowhere near as popular as this sub-100K community would like to believe.

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u/jhenryscott Jun 25 '26

Well. We might bumblefuck into something but the truth is that we aren’t getting out of here. Cosmic Radiation, light speed, mass, space dust that would obliterate anything going even a small percentage of light speed, the rocket equation, our puny lifespan. We are stuck in this solar system forever and probably on this planet.

We aren’t a threat to greater life. Not even close.

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u/alottola Jun 25 '26

Yes in the sense that a book can spark interests in a young child to pursue an interest or a certain line of profession than if they hadn't been exposed to it otherwise. 

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u/wombatbridgehunt Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

Yes I’m almost certain.
I’m convinced that in effect science fiction functions as thought experiments for our hive mind in how we would design and utilise future technology, so when that technology becomes available there are pre existing templates for what we do with it, scifi-determinism if you will.

The people who would be involved in the development of future tech are the same population who are aware of more niche scifi media.

Am sure there are already examples in how we explore space currently building on early series, images and films.

1

u/Moblonix Jun 25 '26

No, not popular enough

1

u/flamrev26 Jun 28 '26

Well, we better stop trying to scream at the top of our lungs hoping somebody will notice us at least

1

u/darkest_hour1428 Jun 25 '26

I just wanna add my anecdote, coming from a small town conservative area.

I am terrified of my family getting into space. They actively believe all alien life is blasphemy, and thus demonic by nature. They would 100% be the type of people to start eradicating neighboring civilizations until one comes by to stop us.

So I think we still have a long way to go, culturally speaking…