Consider My Mind Blown (Away By Your Ideas): A Review of 3 Body Problem
How plausible is the science behind Netflix's high-brow sci-fi epic 3 Body Problem? Let's take a look.
Suitability for Kids: Yes for older teens, except for a video game nude scene in Ep. 2 and a scene of mass violence in Ep. 5. You can fast forward these scenes.
Suitability for Adults: Yes, if you like aliens.
All migrants know this: there has to be a big push factor to force you to leave your home.
Parents with children also know this: if one of you survives, you all survive.
Those of us with teenagers may also know this: Physics is the hardest science with the most mind-bending concepts.
First, what is the 3 body problem?
We live in a “stable” system because our solar system has only one star, the sun. Such a system with a solo star is relatively rare.
Two objects (the Sun and the Earth) whose gravitational fields interact will always form stable orbits along a predictable, unchanging path. Isaac Newton (played by Mark Gatiss in a hilarious cameo) figured this out in 1687.
The “3 body problem” surfaces when there are three stars. No scientist has been able to predict the orbit of 3 gravitational objects in relation to each other.
The result is gravitational chaos.
The aliens in question in the series come from such an unlucky star system.
Are “sophons” that transmit information at once from across the universe possible?
Quantum entanglement is a seriously long distance relationship, where a change in one subatomic particle causes another particle a billion light years of space away to also change at once.
The particles are '“entangled” with one another.
This was discovered in 1964, called the Bell’s Theorem.
In the Netflix series, a pair of “entangled” particles are key to the aliens’ nefarious plot.
Can a tiny particle be unfolded into 10 dimensions as big as a planet and a supercomputer folded into one of the dimensions?
This is one of my favourite YouTube videos talking about a 4 dimensional ball and how it would appear to 3 dimensional beings in reality.
The idea of 10 dimensions and multi-dimensional unfolding is possible, at least in quantum theory.
Conclusion
So, it took me a big effort to write this, because I had plans to watch the Tencent version of 3 Body Problem on YouTube.
The 30-episode Chinese production reportedly hews close to Liu Cixin’s Chinese sci-fi novel trilogy. It is a fuller exploration of the story compared to Netflix’s 8-episode viewer-friendly production.
The “Oxford Five” group created in the Netflix series was a boon — their idealism and humour returned me to my college days.
Liu Cixin’s epic has mind-blowing ideas. Do yourself a favour and watch either production.
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