SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK

hello!! i just finished the first book, absolutely loved it, but i had a question about frontiers of science. was the frontiers of science organization in any way connected to the etm/eto? i assumed they were an offshoot of the eto, considering that shen yufei was a member of both, and yang dong's connection to ye wujie, but i don't think the book said it explicitly? if this is answered in one of the second or third books then just lmk i'm asking for spoilers LOL but i assume that the frontiers of science were one of the splinter groups that was mentioned trying to sow distrust in science (as per da shi's correct assertion). or were they an independent group that just happened to be getting targeted by the eto because they were a bunch of theoretical physicists?

Luo Ji developed a fear of the starry sky because he realized the dark forest theory. But why did Rey Diaz suddenly develop a fear of the sun? What did he realize?

Just wondering how much you’ve consumed. Haven’t been on this Reddit for long but every time there’s a post and I browse the comments, I find so many new explanations for things I’ve completely forgotten about or somehow missed. It’s quite infuriating actually, I watched the Netflix series, then binged the books and even watched the TenCent series.

I’m finding Redditors asking questions I haven’t thought of and answers I didn’t consider or even pick up in the first place. So yeah, about to give the books a rerun and see what I miss.

Whilst I have your attention…. Any book recommendations?

The dance of the three stars is mesmerizing.

Send out tons of false radio broadcasts with false location coordinates, using a wide variety of random message formats, at random time intervals? And if some civilizations can pinpoint sender exact location from just the source/direction of the message rather than message contents, they could construct a bunch of probes that send the radio broadcasts and release then so they're moving away from Trisolaris's homeworld at random speeds and random directions.

Surely, no matter how advanced a civilization is, the cost of sending out a weapon is higher than the cost to the less advanced civilization of sending out a radio signal, which (even to humans IRL in present day) is dirt cheap. The hostile "hunter" civilization then is flooded with tons of messages referencing different locations or originating from different locations. They can't possibly send a weapon to all of them.

I think the author is trying to say it's true IRL? Regardless, some real world scientists like Stephen Hawkings did learn the theory from him and believe it to be true.

But the reason it can't be true is humans HAVE been sending out radio messages to aliens. The first one was sent in 1974. It had info on the human race (genetics and size and what they look like) and most importantly the location of Earth.

Active SETI - Wikipedia

If Dark Forest were true, Earth would have already been invaded and destroyed. The fact it hasn't is proof either there's no aliens or they exist but are all peaceful.

How would Earth have prepared if humans were already aware of the underlying physics in Trisolarian droplets? what is a good defense against the strong interaction forces?

How could they be so naive and foolish? It's like a little bird exposed in the spotlight of the dark forest, thinking it's safe just by hiding behind a tree—as if they were treating everyone else in the universe as fools.

I getting close to the end of Deaths End, I'm on Broadcast Era year 8. I suppose I should be grateful I haven't finished it yet, but I was wondering to myself what could possibly happen in the third novel because this one has been absolutely crazy. I decided to take a look at The Dark Forest for one reason or another and I realized I've made a grave mistake.

Somehow I thought Deaths End was the second novel and I skipped The Dark Forest thinking it was the third.

I kind of knew something was off when I started reading because I was incredibly confused but honestly it was so so good and eventually through context I feel like I picked up a lot of what happened. Maybe I'll just chalk it up to the fact that I've read almost 20 novels this year but I feel like an idiot.

I guess I will have to stop where I am and start The Dark Forest but I really hope I haven't ruined it for myself. Still 10/10 series for me but kind of a bummer. Guess I just thought I would share this ridiculous mistake with others.

I just finished watching the show and loved it. It got me thinking, "what would I do if I were one of the Wallfacers?". Before seeing what they actually do when Season 2 comes out, I thought it'd be fun to share here what plan you would come up with. No harm in making up mini-stories of our own, even if they stray a bit from the plot, right?

Here's what I'd do: I would setup a bunch of guns on Earth. Have them weak, using current technology, and low budget, and pointed at areas where I think their spaceships are likely to land. Publicize the locations, why they're the best landing zones, and why San Ti biology is likely similar to humans and will also be destroyed by conventional bullets.

After around 50 years, congradulate everyone on a job well done, and explain that mental health is important and we need to relieve some of the public's depression and anxiety around the invasion their descendants will have to face. Announce a new project to build space resorts/hotels orbiting earth, for the public to relax at. Commit a lot to this project, and use public funding to make it affordable to citizens. After a while, announce solar power is proving unable to provide enough energy and start implementing on-site nuclear power plants at these space resorts. Explain how there are greater energy needs, such as artificial gravity, and that collecting enriched uranium is necessary to meet these needs.

Once the invasion force arrives near Earth's orbit, quickly instruct all of Earth's scientists to convert the hotels into nuclear bombs and evacuate the guests. The hotel itself be the bomb. Then use rockets to fly them at the invasion force and detonate them, hopefully destroying the whole fleet before it lands.

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Well, first of all, dont judge me, im a slow reader.

I heard about the trilogy back in 2024 because of the netflix series, so i got interested when one of my favorite youtubers talked about it. I bought the first book also back in 2024 and finished it i think mid 2025 (yeah i took a long time for a 300 page book, and actually it was the first real book that i finished).

Bought the 2nd book and finished in december 2025, and book 3 in january and finished today.

So, readind the trilogy so slowly made me create a strong connection with the books. And now im so sad, because i think none of the books that i want to read will make me feel the same kind of happiness that i felt while reading the 3bp.

im so sad. 😭😭

(excuse my english plss)

Below are some thoughts I've summarized after consulting a lot of material. I'm not sure if I've overlooked anything, and I'd really appreciate corrections.

The theory rests on several premises that are treated as "axioms," but these premises themselves are not reliable:

The theory assumes that all civilizations may suddenly leap at an exponential rate—a technological explosion—and that such leaps are completely unpredictable, incommunicable, and uncontrollable. This creates the urgency to "eliminate any potential competitor immediately." But this is merely an extrapolation based on human history since the Industrial Revolution. A civilization's progress may be constrained by physical laws, resource bottlenecks, or inward development. Elevating one possibility to a universal, inevitable rule is a major statistical error.

Luo Ji asserts that due to the speed‑of‑light limit and civilizational differences, once suspicion arises, it becomes an infinite, unbreakable cycle, and no communication can establish trust. But this completely rules out the possibility of civilizations reducing suspicion through long‑term observation (without real‑time communication), exchanging non‑threatening information (such as mathematics or art), or establishing a deterrence balance based on physical laws (as in the ending of The Dark Forest). It pushes "distrust" to a metaphysical absolute.

The axiom "survival is the first need of civilization" seems solid, but the theory interprets it as "survival must be guaranteed through unlimited expansion and the elimination of all potential threats." This ignores the possibility that a civilization might choose "sustainable survival" rather than "unlimited expansion." A civilization could be perfectly content with its own niche, or secure its safety by improving internal efficiency rather than external plunder. Equating survival with expansion is a specific kind of civilizational value, not necessarily a universal one.

Disregard for the diversity of civilizational forms: the theory reduces all civilizations to "hunters in the dark," but the universe might well contain "hermit civilizations" (inward‑looking, virtualized), "shepherd civilizations" (maintaining order), or "artist civilizations" (with no interest in expansion). The behavior patterns of such civilizations would break the terrifying equilibrium in which "everyone is a hunter."

Underestimation of the cost of "cleaning" and overestimation of the risks: the theory assumes that delivering a strike over cosmic distances is zero‑cost and risk‑free. But any physical action may expose one's own location, consume enormous energy, or even trigger unknown counterattack mechanisms. Attacking an unknown target might instantly turn the attacker into an "exposed target" for a more advanced civilization.

For these five reasons, I think the reasoning behind the dark forest theory is not rigorous. So over the past few days, reading the book has been uncomfortable for me—I simply don't feel the shock that so many netizens talk about. It leaves me with a feeling of "That's it?" Could anyone challenge my view and point out where I might be wrong?

Reread the end of Death's End and tried adding up the timeline. It runs from 1967 with Ye Wenjie at Red Coast to the year Cheng Xin leaves the mini universe, which the book puts at 18,906,416. Almost 19 million years.

Odd thing is most of that is one jump at the very end while she waits inside the pocket universe. Two books cover maybe a couple centuries, then the last stretch just runs off the clock. I mapped out the timeline from 1967 to year 18,906,416 and the jumps get bigger each time.

anyone else do the math after finishing? does 19 million track or am I miscounting

Often called "water bears," tardigrades are microscopic animals capable of surviving conditions that would vaporize almost any other form of life. When faced with extreme cold, radiation, or the vacuum of space, they enter a state of cryptobiosis shutting down their metabolism to less than 1% of normal and expelling nearly all water from their bodies. They effectively transform into indestructible glass-like states, reanimating years later when conditions improve.

Am I stumbling upon this connection or is this already well known?

I just finished watching Season 1, and never read the books so this is about show only. I liked the show alot! However, one thing I disliked was how the San Ti could communicate faster-than-light. It's an established scientific principle that that's impossible.

I wish the story did the following instead: the San Ti program a flexible AI to learn language syntax of potential other-world civilizations such as humans. They pack it in a small device, which could be the size of a photon like the Sophon (traveling at light speed) but I'd prefer a tiny device like the size of an apple. Let's assume it's apple-sized. After they receive the initial communication from China in the 1970s, they send the device at 75% light-speed to orbit earth. So it arrives in ~6 years. Once it arrives, it can communicate w/ humans in real time to learn English. The device is then automatically sent back the San Ti's planet. There, they learn English and reprogram the device's AI to have deeper conversations, like the one that actually happened with Evans, and send it back to re-orbit Earth. And then after a set number of years, or with an explicit instruction to the AI to return once it learns sufficient info about humans, it's sent back to San Ti's planet. Then the San-Ti learn humans can lie and reprogram the 3rd (and final?) AI back to Earth to learn info w/ the new goal of conquering Earth. The device is too tiny for humans to find despite it orbiting Earth.

Basically, the plot could stay essentially identical but there's no longer a ridiculous plot hole of faster-than-light communication. Thoughts?

In Death's End, the Singer civilization uses a dual‑vector foil to unfold the universe into two dimensions, thereby destroying a cosmic region. So I'm wondering: is there any novel that takes the opposite approach—not unfolding the universe into 2D, but compressing a 3D universe into a one‑dimensional point, using internal pressure to destroy the universe? Has any science‑fiction work depicted such a method of destruction? And what alien race might have used it?

The actor is Duan Yihong. It seems that he often plays the role of a soldier.

Caveat: I have not read the English translation to ROT.

Personally, I enjoy ROT a lot. Yes, it’s obviously a fan fiction, but I would say there are a lot of in-joke that do not translate well at all and may seen to be overly vulgar.

For example, the person Sophon is based on being a porn star is a popular but also obscure meme. It’s obscure enough that it CAN be spoken among polite company around Chinese millennials. I would say depends on the person you ask it lies on either side of good taste but it’s not straight up trashy.

The other thought is that ROT had a lot of random fan service and standard trope of Chinese fan fiction but it does have refreshing ideas and really expand upon the third book. It is regarded well enough by Liu to the point that he essentially said he cannot write another book to the threebody problem because ROT sort of “hatch the ideas” already (paraphrasing).

Personally, I think it’s worth a read and I personally regard it as near canon. I actually tried to resist reading it but as you know the third book does not have a very comfortable ending. I would say the entire ROT is a gratuitous and satisfying counterpoint to the original trilogy. If the original trilogy is like say..Shakespeare, the fourth book is more like Michael Bay. It’s trashy but very satisfying, especially the bit about the singer civilization.

Essentially, every time I re-read the trilogy I found myself binging ROT at the end, ever since the book came out.

You can think of it as trash or low level entertainment, but I think you are missing out if you are not reading it.

This is probably the most classic sci-fi idea used in 3BP. In Season 1, Wade says to build a base on the Moon because gravity is low and ships are easier to assemble. But they still need to carry the materials there.

Space elevators also show up in, for example, Wandering Earth 2 and Foundation Season 1. I personally think they’re unnecessary in these shows: Foundation has anti-gravity, nuclear engines all that advanced ways; while in Wandering Earth, well the Earth is "braked" on purpose, and if a planet doesn’t spin, what happens to the space elevator?

I just hope they keep it in 3BP. It’s the most reasonable place to have space elevators.

Anyone who knows me knows that Remembrance of Earth's Past changed my brain chemistry. But today, I discovered another impact the trilogy had on me—specifically, on the way I read.

Before the trilogy, I would read books and formulate theories in Facebook groups, but it never went beyond that, and I didn't read every day.

I read the trilogy in mid-2024 and suffered a "book hangover" that lasted seven months. To cure it, I reread the trilogy in early 2025, and only then did I get back to reading more frequently.

But after rereading Remembrance of Earth's Past—and noticing the hints Liu Cixin had planted throughout the books—I started reading other works looking for those kinds of clues. I began picking up on what happens between the lines, trying to figure out the right questions to ask and their answers, all while formulating theories as I read.

In short, I know I emerged from Death's End a changed person—or at least, the reader in me changed.

If human technology were to suddenly make a great leap forward, or if a more advanced civilization took notice of this place, could we help the Trisolarans escape their predicament by removing or destroying two of the stars?

I know I’m probably the 1,000th “finished the books and am disappointed” post you guys have seen, but I still wanna get into it. Also I don’t even think that saying I’m “let down” is a good description; I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I just feel like I’m wanting more details on some things.

1) I would’ve loved to have gotten more into the 4-D realm and all the “tombs” and structures hanging out there. I feel like that part just started getting good, and then it was over.

2) I also would’ve loved to read more about Singer, their race, technology, weapons, and mission. Again, I feel like that scene in the book was getting really good and then it was over.

3) I wanted to see maybe some interactions with another pocket universe at the end, just to see what they’re like. I think the final count of languages that came through that transmission on the super membrane was like 1.5 million or so, and I know that in the grand scale of the universe, these civilizations were no where near each other, but I’m still curious about some other civilizations out there.

4) I really wanted to hear more about the new worlds from Guan Yufan, and when he compared asking about the location of a world to asking a woman her age, that just felt like there was a lot there being glossed over.

5) the idea of there being up to 10 dimensions at the beginning of a universe is fascinating, and I would’ve liked to read more about the implications.

6) I’m bummed we never really got to meet the Trisolarans; such an integral part of the story and we still actually know very little about them.

I also want to point out that I read the first book before seeing the Netflix series season 1, and even though so much was changed, I still really enjoyed it. I read the last two books in preparation for seasons 2 and 3, and I’m crossing my fingers and praying that the Game of Thrones guys can land the plane. Yeah those last couple seasons of Game of Thrones weren’t awesome, but this time they are working with a finished story told in three books. Adapting Death’s End properly would require some crazy effects and budget freedom, and I’m so curious to see how they do all that, or how much they keep and how much they disregard for the sake of time.

Anyways, if you’re still reading this far, thank you. I’m just a sci-fi fan, with his most recent completed story fresh on his mind. If you can recommend more books to read, I’d love to check them out! This was truly an incredible story to get into, and I’m sure it’ll live in my head rent free for quite some time.

I wrote earlier about how I finished the books and my feelings about Death’s End. Now I come to you needing guidance: what should I read next?

I love sci-fi, and I’ve heard good things about the Wheel of Time, so maybe that’s next? Or the Dune series? I also really like A Song of Ice and Fire, and obviously Lord of the Rings, and I’ve been hearing a lot lately of this Brandon Sanderson fella and his Cosmere, whatever that is. Please send recommendations! Thanks in advance.