Questions tagged [the-dark-forest]

For questions about "The Dark Forest", a sci-fi novel by Chinese writer Liu CiXin. The second novel of the "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy. Always use in conjunction with [remembrance-of-earths-past].

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1 answer
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Why did the droplet allow itself to be inspected?

In The Dark Forest (second part of the Remembrance of Earth's Past series), the Trisolaran 'droplet' probe was briefly examined by humans before it began its systematic and devastating attack on their ...
StayOnTarget's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
3k views

Why is a wallbreaker's success implied to be "final"?

In Cixin Liu's Trisolaris novel trilogy, in particular in the second book "The Dark Forest", a small number of humans acts as so-called "wallfacers". They are supposed to devise a (...
O. R. Mapper's user avatar
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10 votes
2 answers
5k views

Why didn't the droplet kill Luo Ji in Dark Forest?

I just finished reading The Dark Forest, second part of the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. My question is, (spoiler alert): It seems like it could have done away with him once and for all. A ...
TheGrapeBeyond's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why did the Trisolarans announce their one weakness?

Early in the novel, Ye Wenjie makes a brief appearance and suggests to astronomer Luo Ji that he consider creating a new branch of science, the sociology of interplanetary society. This would be based ...
Batperson's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
549 views

What American film was mentioned in Cixin Liu's "The Dark Forest"?

In The Dark Forest, p. 298, Cixin Liu's character, Rey Diaz, described a dead man's switch. Rey Diaz brought down his left hand and covered the cradle with his sleeve. "I was taught this ...
Invisible Trihedron's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
796 views

Did Luo Ji know Yang Dong?

In The Dark Forest, Ye Wenjie passes along the "axioms of cosmic sociology" to Luo Ji while visiting Yang Dong's grave. Why was Luo Ji at Yang Dong's grave? Did they know each other?
paleozogt's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
595 views

Why did the Trisolarans share information with humans during the Deterrence Era?

They shared, at least, the science behind gravitational wave transmission and neutrino communications. Possibly other things. It is not clear to me what their motivation for this was. Although for ...
StayOnTarget's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
406 views

How did Ding Yi and the Lieutenant Colonel know what was going to happen?

All they had deduced is that: Did they simply mentally exhaust the other potential reasons for its behaviour?
Marvin Irwin's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why did Ye Wenjie give Luo Ji the axioms of cosmic sociology?

In the prologue of The Dark Forest, Ye Wenjie has a conversation with Luo Ji in which she reveals the "axioms of cosmic sociology" as well as the concepts of "chains of suspicion" ...
Null's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
280 views

What is the meaning of "the mouthpiece of certain power"?

From Joel Martinsen's English translation of Liu Cixin's The Dark Forest (page 231 in my paperback edition): Einstein said, "I have thought this over for a long time, and I believe that the Lord'...
Quuxplusone's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
268 views

How is this fission-drive supposed to work?

In the second installment of Remembrance of Earth's Past (AKA the 3-Body Problem series), The Dark Forest, one of the scientific advances is a fission-driven spacecraft. That is that a "non-...
AdamO's user avatar
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