The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)

by Liu Cixin

only solidified devotion and yearning.

At least she died in the throes of passionately sacrificing herself for an ideal.

Its static model of the universe negates the dynamic nature of matter. It is anti-dialectical!

“In China, any idea that dared to take flight would only crash back to the ground. The gravity of reality is too strong.”

“Should philosophy guide experiments, or should experiments guide philosophy?”

against the idea that the truth emerges from experience.

counter to the principles of how Marxism seeks to understand nature.”

streaked her face with lipstick to show how she had lived the corrupt lifestyle of a capitalist.

The rotting leaves made the water appear crimson, like blood.

translating the part that has to do with forests.”

described a quiet town silently dying from the use of pesticides.

this was so, then how many other acts of humankind that had seemed normal or even righteous were, in reality, evil?

Is it possible that the relationship between humanity and evil is similar to the relationship between the ocean and an iceberg floating on its surface? Both the ocean and the iceberg are made of the same material. That the iceberg seems separate is only because it is in a different form. In reality, it is but a part of the vast ocean.…

It was impossible to expect a moral awakening from humankind itself, just like it was impossible to expect humans to lift off the earth by pulling up on their own hair. To achieve moral awakening required a force outside the human race.

The book is a toxic piece of reactionary propaganda.

takes the stance of pure historical idealism and espouses a doomsday theory.

When you make a mistake, what’s important is to recognize it and correct it. Then you can continue the revolution.”

She felt that the entire universe was a huge block of ice, and she was the only spark of life within it. She was the little girl about to freeze to death, and she didn’t even have a handful of matches, only illusions.…

Isn’t discovering fundamental laws the biggest contribution to our time?”

“It’s easy to make ideological mistakes in theory.”

“Did we say anything about it not being legal?

You misunderstand me. I don’t want to be a spy. I just want to prove you’re an idiot!”

The world is full of unpredictable factors, yet you have never faced a crisis.”

“Yes, and the investigation’s scope was global. They should already know that two of the dead never had any contact with the Frontiers of Science, including … Yang Dong.” Ding seemed to have trouble saying her name. “Ding Yi, you know that I am already involved. So … as far as why Yang made the choice that … she did, I’d like to know. I think you must know some of it.” Wang thought he must sound very foolish as he tried hard to disguise his real intent. “If you know more, you’ll only get pulled in deeper. Right now you’re just superficially involved, but with more knowledge your spirit will be drawn in as well, and then it will mean real trouble.” “I work in applied research. I’m not as sensitive as you theoreticians.” “All right, then. Do you play pool?” Ding walked to the pool table. “I used to play a little in college.” “She and I loved to play. It reminded us of particles colliding in the accelerator.” Ding picked up two balls: one black and one white. He set the black ball next to one of the pockets, and placed the white ball about ten centimeters from the black ball. “Can you pocket the black ball?” “This close? Anyone can do it.” “Try.”

The laws of physics are invariant across space and time. All the physical laws of human history, from Archimedes’ principle to string theory, and all the scientific discoveries and intellectual fruits of our species

“It means that the laws of physics are not invariant across time and space.” “What does that mean?”

“It means that laws of physics that could be applied anywhere in the universe do not exist, which means that physics … also does not exist.”

“To accomplish something in theoretical physics requires one to have almost religious faith. It’s easy to be led to the abyss.”

Can the fundamental nature of matter really be lawlessness? Can the stability and order of the world be but a temporary dynamic equilibrium achieved in a corner of the universe, a short-lived eddy in a chaotic current?

The farmer hypothesis, on the other hand, has the flavor of a horror story: Every morning on a turkey farm, the farmer comes to feed the turkeys. A scientist turkey, having observed this pattern to hold without change for almost a year, makes the following discovery: “Every morning at eleven, food arrives.” On the morning of Thanksgiving, the scientist announces this law to the other turkeys. But that morning at eleven, food doesn’t arrive; instead, the farmer comes and kills the entire flock.

believed that technological progress was a disease in human society. The explosive development of technology was analogous to the growth of cancer cells, and the results would be identical: the exhaustion of all sources of nourishment, the destruction of organs, and the final death of the host body.

He believed in the gradual de-urbanization of modern metropolises by distributing the population more evenly in self-sufficient small towns and villages.

“Other than Stable Eras, all times are Chaotic Eras.”

“Traveling during a Chaotic Era is like walking through hell. I can’t stand it anymore.

need to know when the next long Stable Era will come.”

ice over the lake had melted, and sunlight danced between the gentle waves.

But the sun did not rise again.

Total irregularity in planetary motion is impossible.…

told her, Madame Curie was never really accepted as part of that field. Her success was seen as a matter of persistence and hard work, but without her, someone else would have completed her

“But she was a woman. A woman should be like water, able to flow over and around anything.”

astounding scientific illiteracy. “Mr. Wang, I take it you’re not a specialist in the field?” “I work in nanotech.” “Ah, makes sense. But you

“Your lack of fear is based on your ignorance.”

pseudoscience is afraid of one particular type of people who are very hard to fool: stage magicians. In fact, many pseudoscientific hoaxes were exposed by stage magicians.

Wang guessed were dehydratories, but they were of a different design than the ones he had seen last time.

“The sun will probably not rise again. It is like at the end of Civilization Number 137,”

“As far as the Cultural Revolution is concerned, I was pretty lucky.

Everyone likes to reminisce, but no one wants to listen, and everyone feels annoyed when someone else tells a story.

But our world is still flawed. Hate exists, as does prejudice and war. Because of conflicts between the forces of production and the relations of production, wealth distribution is extremely uneven, and large portions of humanity live in poverty and misery.

“The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a unique discipline. It has a profound influence on the researcher’s perspective on life.”

“There, I witnessed the destruction of two civilizations, one by extreme cold, another by a blazing sun.