But satisfying at the same time...

@@transforgoku I guess it would be a temporary satisfaction for maybe just a few secs because soon after people would realize that the enemy got erased by a far more powerful alien civilization and that civilization is coming for them

@@eddielin6081 Gotta turn super saiyan 💥💥💥

That's the reverse idea of fermi paradox...those alien planets were obliterated to dust by more advanced alien and those who were appear on our sky just the remains of their species..

The entire series is terrifying.

Meanwhile, Luo Ji is literally "fuck around and find out" lmao

Haha so perfect I thought the exact same thing

She had no chance Her job was not to push the button, her job was to look like she could, out of vengeance and spite alone Those who messed up are those who elected her, they knew what kind of personality a sworholder should have but chose otherwise

She was the worst conceivable pick. You don't want a kind Swordholder, you want a vengeful one. You want someone who looks like they're waiting for an excuse, any reason at all. Cheng Xin never had that in her and everyone knew it.

@@shortlivedglory3314 it’s crazy for sure, we the reader can see that electing her is completely insane. But The people at the time were just tricked ya know? Everything was a long con by the TS. They were straight up a wolf in sheep’s clothing.. lulled humanity into a false sense of security.

How much of a gamble is that, though? There's an insane implausibility in the Trisolarans even thinking that it would be possible to keep the existence of other aliens a secret. Think about it. The Alpha Centauri system is OUR CLOSEST NEIGHBOR. And it turns out to be inhabited. Any humans which do NOT immediately assume there are lots of aliens in the galaxy are ... just stupid, really. And anyone assuming the Trisolarans are the most advanced out there ... among how many thousands or millions ... again, just stupid, really.

At that point of the beginning of the deterence era, however, it had been proven for quite some time that there was indeed a "bigger fish" and they were indeed hostile.

It wasn’t a gamble - that’s the whole point. It was proven when they earlier made said bigger fish annihilate a random star system by faking an intelligent broadcast.

​@@Ett.Gammalt.Bergtrollthey didn't fake an intelligent broadcast. They broadcast the location of another star to test the Dark Forest hypothesis, which was proven to be truth. Either an intelligent and quickly advancing civilization was present there and reckless enough to expose themselves, or someone else was saying that there was something notable there. For any sufficiently advanced civilization, the safest option upon recieving the coordinates was to destroy everything there, because even the slightest possibility of a threat eventually emerging from that system was unacceptable.

Their home system was uninhabitable due to the "three body problem", so they had no choice but to leave. They should have been less aggressive though.

@@thomascrabtree It's extra ironic as at this point humanity was totally looking forward to welcome the trisolarans as friends.

@ Mr. Death Just like the Borg from Star Trek had to learn the hard way.

@@thomascrabtree But far more of their civilization could have survived. Bunker erra shows us just how low level a photon attack is. The Trisolarians just continue to make blunder after blunder in understanding humanity. There was almost 0 reason to have to have humans cut off from electricity and eat each other, they did that just for cruelty sake. Without the 100's of years of delay for their fleet then humanities ability to have scientific explosions meant nothing. They did it all just for the sake of cruelty. At so many points they could have have easily formed an alliance but let their fear stop them.

Both sides should just have left their star systems while they could.

Such a very Chinese way of looking at the world: humanity requires an ultimate dictator to save it.

@@URProductions a dictator rules using coercion. The first swordholder was chosen by the UN, the 2nd by a democratic election. The word dictator is an oversimplification

​@@URProductions Not exactly I‘m afraid. Among Chinese readers, Cixin Liu was often criticized as a “ social Darwinist ” because of his overly pessimistic depiction of humanity. Liu has expressed his frustration in several occasions. During an interview, he said that the world in the three body problem series is like an ant farm, especially a hash one; as a author, he was curious about reactions of humanity under extreme conditions, that doesn't mean it mirrors the real world.

The CCP is a cancer on this planet and needs to be eradicated.

@@URProductions The entire point of 1 was that the educated elite of Earth were the biggest threat to us.

The name of sophon in chinese sounds like a japanese female name, hence the association and avatar of choice by trisolarians to make of their android

Tomoko is complete waifu material tho. She (or a version of her) ends up helping and protecting the main characters in the end.

lol the author said in interview that the plot to a certain extent resembles the recent history of China. Also the driving factor of Japan to invade through wars, according to many scholars, is the bad island habitat which also earthquakes a lot. Correspond to the trisolarians, right?

@@hongjian3714is that her name in the original Chinese version?? I must be forgetting that editors note because that’s such a cute name. And yeah, she was Cheng Xin and Yifan’s like… friend/maid type companion in the pocket world. She genuinely seemed so nice and interesting until she revealed her true nature. But then she went back to being kind and friendly. Very odd character arc, but I liked her honestly.

@@Kingbimmy Tomoko in Chinese is 智子，which means Sophon.

honestly i cant believe people fell for it when its so obvious

@@colorpg152 people tend to fall for comforting lies, especially when they lack personal experience

Two things, 1. I don't know if I'd consider it pathological to play a ruse like that if the purpose was the survival of your species. and 2. I'm not sure there interest in human culture was entirely made-up. Sophon, who no doubt reflects genuine Trisolaran sensibility when she is being her true self, seemed to genuinely appreciate some of it even after there was no longer reason for pretense.

The Ridiculous part is that trisolaris didnt need the earth as much as they needed the stable system that the sun upheld. They could have created habitats and living spaces all over the solar system. There never was a need to antagonize humanity any more than locking their technology up.

It was another case of collective hubris of humankind. It was equally bad as putting their whole space fleet at tight formation around the probe from Trisolaris.

The notion of a on its own monolithic model of existence, being in fact nothing more than a filter for another, is a terrifying concept. Just, the scale of it.

I think the implication is that in the early universe, the conditions for life were mostly in higher dimensions. As those older races fought and dimensionally striked themselves out of existence, they unintentionally made the lower dimensions hospitible for life. This happened again and again until finally three dimensional life became possible. It is also implied that Singer is from a race who escaped the collapsing 4th dimension, so its race could be considered an older race.

I thought about it too. It seems that the point of maturity is when a race finally master lightspeed travel. Once a race master that ability, it is virtually not possible for that race to be wiped out. Because of relavistic time dilation, it is possible for lightspeed travelers to reach anywhere and anywhen in the future while only experiencing a short passage of time from their pown perspective. A hundred light year journey at lightspeed would only take a few minutes from the traveler's point of view. The book even talk about "Ultimate Ships" that goes on billion years long voyage to the death of the Universe, which would only be 10 years from within their own frame of reference. There will always be survivors of a lightspeed traveling species somewhere in the Universe. For example, say a Dark Forest attack happens which wipe out all members humans within the Milky Way. But that's still ok because there's a lightspeed traveling ship carrying humans on a million year long voyage to a distant galaxy. From their frame of reference only several months has passed because of time dilation. Those humans will reappear in the universe a few million years later where they can start anew.

@@Sikarius3403 I agree and the mastering of light speed also seems to determine your ability to defend your self from attacks. It's really very interesting how just messing with light speed can change so many things also. The scary part of the whole physics being weaponized, is that for many races they simply wouldn't know the laws have been altered.

@@Sikarius3403 your using the term wrong light years stands for the amount of years it takes for you to get somewhere at lightspeed. 24.000 light years are still 24.000 years traveling at lightspeed.

Cold logic is what lead to WW2. You sure its the best choice in the realistic world? The trisolarians are pure logic and they got xenocided by someone else. If you play the game of cold logic, there is always someone smarter and better than you. You wont survive natural selection with cold logic only.

Chengxin can also mean “deliberately (do wrong stuff)”🤪

Wade in Chinese correspond to “Violate morals”. Eventually, human chose true heart over immoral but effective advancement

This… makes a lot of sense. Thank you for this info.

There's a lot of such contexts that's lost to the Western audience and completely removed in the Netflix adaptation

Considering how they really aren’t allowed disposing thought most likely didn’t want peace. The arts were very likely a plan set due to the brain they received. We see some bit of humility when the first broadcast is sent but even the lone trisolarian acknowledges that most won’t be so kind. So it’s very like most wanted to capture that world. Especially since MAD deterrents would likely feel like antagonism. No one usually looks to the one holding self destruct buttons as a friend. Someone earlier said the same thing about Luo ji being hated by his own people despite saving the world for a bit longer.

I think of two possibilities. One is that that all the art and such was AI generated to fool humanity. We later learned that they learned deception and were teaching humans fake physics. Another is a possible cultural rift between the Trisolarans on the homeworld and the ones on the first fleet who had been separated from them for hundreds of years. They were the ones who revived Yun Tianming and knew him personally and they were the ones who built the pocket universe to save a few humans at the end of time. We know both branches controlled the sophons at different times.

Me too, the whole atmosphere he creates in these videos makes replaying the videos worth it.

Quinn is better than the books :P

You know they’re like actual books you can read? Dune is objectively better than Quinns readings. That’s not a knock on Quinn, it’s a compliment to Frank Herbert.

Read the books! I knocked out all three in a few weeks. Absolutely worthwhile

@@Malchiar010695 well duh😂 but if I’m exploring new series without buying a book these videos are GREAT introductions. They don’t give all the details just enough to peak my interest and help me understand once I do!

Human beings are portrayed as suicidally dumb in this series. Another good example is the rejection of escapism. Clearly the correct response in the face of the Trisolaris crisis and rejected based on some very strange "moral principles".

tbf, it was like 1 or 2 generation after Luo Ji Threaten Trisolarion. The world is basically peace for decades, Kids won't know the horror of war, they will just appreciate how beautiful trisolarion's art and movie is.

To be fair, Trisolarans were previously established as being completely incapable of lying, so it makes sense that people thought their redemption was also honest. No one expected that the race who's defining trait aside from determination and fascism was honesty would be able to fool them for a century.

just think of how many of you think your alone now? that the aliens arent here already. that they havent been here all along and are manipulating you from the shadows already. you think they cant hide from you? that you would know about them if they were here. your arrogance is your downfall not necessarily your lack of intelligence

The aliens can't lie right? Why not ask them "Do you still want to conquer earth?"

The Netflix what now??? Please tell me they aren't making a series of it?? Not against the idea but Netflix are clueless.

Oh believe me, Netflix doing the Three body problem isn’t the problem. Netflix doing the Three body problem with David Benioff in charge IS the problem. And filming is already in progress, if not completed.

Lets not ruin death notes reputation, Netflix death note officially does not exist, I feel disgusted just thinking about it

Noooo!

The first Chinese version of the three-body TV series has been filmed and will be aired soon. Chinese three-body fans have also animated stories about Luo Ji and Zhang Beihai

🤣🤣

A book about how everything is fine in the future would be really boring. Existential dread is the fun part!

Gene Roddenberry.

a good and utopian outcome doesn't allow for conflict and thus no sales but dystopian sci-fi is exactly what we want. Who would've read a book about how nice it is to live in a perfect society where we all agree and love each other? Add in that we are using ground up people as food and BAM! It becomes the stereotypical hidden dystopia

The truth is always painful, but not everything that hurts is true.

If I remember correctly the broadcast vote was not unanimous, but most voted in favor and the vote that was important was just the one that put them over the edge.

There's a theory that this is a result of "River" civilizations like Chinese and Egyptian, basically the ancient Chinese had to live off the fertile Yellow River but periodically suffered catastrophic desasters from the river's floods. So ALL the tribes along the river had to work together under 1 leadership to build defenses and irrigation to tame the Yellow River. Legend has it the Chinese people were first ever brough together by the Yellow Emperor by combining all tribes to fight a .... well biblical flood. So Wandering Earth is just a modern retelling of that story.

@@weepingcamel1 Pure Nonsense !

@@agaragar21 the what is?

this book is not worth spoiling. ive always been the type who doesnt care about spoilers but this book needs to be experienced firsthand.

What about the CCP?

I read it and I never ever read I was one them people that go to sleep after 10 mins after listening to multiple vids of his I brought the series, and I finished the first book in about 4 days! You and your son will love ut

@JIMI book will have better feels n shock without previous spoiler, specially well crafted stories like this. Try 'Zindell ' Requium for homo sapiens series for you n your son, another space science fiction of high quality n interest

@@relaxbay5660 i took 3days one for each

Still think the third book is the best due to being so out there

@@jonbaxter2254 I cannot agree. If the central figure wasn’t as much of a coward and the author was able to do some more world building that really mattered sure. Lots of the ideas and themes are great but the girl MC made the book unbearable.

@@NotSoSerious69420 I agree, I kind of hate the main charatcer as she doomed Earth TWICE. However, the scale of everything gets dialed up to a million, eons pass in the blink of an eye, even the Trisolarans no longer become a threat. The fact the Trisolaran second fleets gets demolished by an even greater threat made me realise just how massive the scale of these novels are. They are such small fish in a large ocean. The Dark Forrest is a horror book. Death's End is world-bending, galaxy spanning Sci-Fi.

​@@jonbaxter2254

@@NotSoSerious69420 A coward? The whole point of the book is that radical love is perhaps stronger than any force. She acted again and again with integrity and humanity and perhaps blind faith in a better future. Cowardice would have been to push the button and jump to war.

It's really grim. I wonder what was the artist's state of mind at the time.

Spoilers: I think at the end, where they sit down with their last food it's hinted that they missed a city with people. The people aren't shown, but it looks lived in. Of course it makes it all the more sad in another way. They were so close.

Sounds awesome

Well if its a boy and a girl not all is lost......

I love this manga, it is a great and also somewhat strangely optimistic read about the meaning of life and the last people on the world.

It wasn't, blue space wasn't able to activate a broadcast, it needed a star, gravity (the name a different ship) was able to broadcast without a star. at the time humanity was against blue space and worked with the droplets to pursue blue space, the pursing human ship was named gravity and was escorted by 2 droplets, but humanity didnt want the dropets 2 immediately kill blue space 4 reasons (it's complicated), the droplets where there to make sure that blue space couldn't reach another star to broadcast incase gravity failed. However at the end of deterrence the droplets tried to annihilate both blue space and gravity but blue space destroyed the droplets (the way they did it is complicated and not important). So gravity now realising trisolaris' had turned on them teamed up with blue space and used it's special antenna that blue space didn't have to broadcast.

@@MagikarpMan god damn that was some awfully good insight in this book (which I haven't read, and just watch videos). Thanks for that, really makes me want to read this book sometime soon.

I gave a friend of mine Blindsight and he thought it was absolutely awesome. Asked him to explain me what it's about without much spoilers and he told me it was pretty difficult and couldn't do it, but he also suggested Villeneuve should've make it into a film. What is Echpraxia about? I might go for Blindsight audiobook in the future.

@@sk8shred I couldn't see it being made properly into a film, if simply for the fact that most people today are not wired for the concepts in the book (extreme intelligence without consciousness, for exmaple).

Freeze Frame Revolution by Watts is also amazing

@@sk8shred Neill blomkamp is actually working with peter watts right now to adapt his books into a movie

These books are brilliant. Also Starfish, which was amazing and occasionally nightmare inducing.

Basically they didn't want more than one. They didnt really want any and didn't really consider the tri-solarans as enemies any more, this is implied to be facilitated by the tri-solarans shift in attitude.

This writing isn't great...

I hate when the monster in horror stories win via inaction or halfassedry, I really find it infinity more interestingly if the monster wins after humanity tried everything or made a mistake that actually makes sense or even when the monster loses but there is greater threat, its like a deus ex machina but for the monster its robs the story of meaning

@@colorpg152 yep I 100% agree. If the protagonist or antagonist has to be incompetent for the plot to work then its just a bad plot.

@@henry6896 Not really, the universe Liu describe is 100% coherent in itself.. It's more "hard science" than "space opera" in it's storytelling.

that's a cool concept but it sounds like an absurdly one sided fight, can I ask exactly how humanity holds its own against the Xelee?

@@Jakey_-iz9tw so the Xelee are still far stronger but ultimately fighting humanity with one arm behind it's back? While humanity has grown powerful enough through years of advancement to serve as a nuisance to the Xelee?

@@Jakey_-iz9tw Damn, I think you just got me hooked, I might have to check it out for myself some time, thanks for the context

@@Jakey_-iz9tw Humanity wasnt a threat as much as a nuisance, the Xelee only "left" because humanity was threatning the cosmic string life in the black hole, the xelee value all normal matter life and attempts of eradication are... not apreciated, The Phontinos on the other hand well in the end they kick the shit out of the Xelee

@@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120 >well in the end they kick the shit out of the Xelee Do they? I thought it was kind of a draw, and constant back and forth, but the xeelee decide to peace out in another universe instead

Yeah, I liked the part when the Galactic Humans told her that "it is considered bad manners to ask anyone you meet out there where he comes from", implying that different alien races do have occasionally cautious, but peaceful encounters with each other within the Dark Forest.

Part of me likes her because as a human being she's a beautiful and kind soul, the other part of me realizes that humanity fell because of her incompetence, they should've given the sword to a spiteful cold and calculated animal of a man, one of those people that would rather kill themselves than help others.

@untreated ADHD wouldve been better

I wouldn't call putting people in harms way kindness or helpful.

I always got the idea that she was wrong for the right reason. Yeah we could have survived in each of those situations, but it would have required someone to breach some really important human ideals. Kind of like those spaceships that left the solar system, the changes to humanity would have been quick and horrible if those ideals had been breached. So the species suffered at unimaginable levels but the people remained human and maintained the things that we consider important for humans. As opposed to the spaceship people who became something new.

She was the most irritating character the author created, from a legion of irritating characters, for many reasons. The madness started with the very first woman who called death upon us in the first place and ends with this utterly futile and ineffective waif. Don’t forget that he created her though, and orchestrated every word, thought and action. That was one thing that reveals a lot about the author. His one dimensional characterisations throughout the trilogy made this story almost unreadable for me, his lack of understanding of how important it is to make people even believable, let alone act with humanity and logic, vastly detracts from what could otherwise be the most compelling plot I’ve read. Why on earth would they have picked someone like her in the first place, even if such a weak and stupid character could ever actually have had the history of experience he made up for her to justify the choice? It is totally unbelievable. It’s like a really socially imbecilic incel had one great idea, but none of what was required to express it adequately or to any sense of satisfaction. It’s actually not even logical at that point. We have a race of super intelligent almost immortal critters, living in an environment so harsh that they are looking to migrate, suddenly caring that the home system that was destroying them would be destroyed by the sword holder. Why would they say they were not going to kill humanity? Was this a lie? These same critters that can’t understand deceit? How did they then use deceit? We have a sword holder elected that navel gazes and muses on art, a representation of the times he created, who acts like someone concerned with how beautiful the water is that comes out of a faucet while she sits in a bathroom on board the sinking Titanic. I found the last book almost unreadable for these reasons. The only explanation that would make the whole experience meaningful would be if it turned out the author himself was trisolaran, and therefore gets a free pass for misunderstanding people so badly.

Same here!

@@ApacheMagic Some novels focus on ideas more than they do character development, that's true.

@@ApacheMagic Its called an archetypal character. She and Wade are meant to be archetypal ideals struggling through the eons as opposing forces. It is very much more a philosophical work than a typcial character study. And Im not sure where you are going in SCIENCE FICTION for detailed character studies... Most characters in classic science fiction are far more wooden than these. Its part of the genre IMO.

@@ApacheMagic The author Cixin Liu told that he does not care for character development, as the characters are only vessels to tell his story and concepts. So the characters acted the way they do, just to propel the story telling.

Yeah that "you're surrounded by food" bit officially pushed me to the opinion that the entire trisolaran species needed to be annihilated. Humans gave them so many chances to live and cooperate together, their response was evidence that shared existence wouldn't be possible.

@@KingRidley Damn right.

Same, I thought, this civilization is so ruthless, they could've been the responsible for the universe collapsing if they had the technology, but again it's the point of the dark forest theory, you must kill or be killed

@@KingRidley And at that moment I remembered the words of the Listener: “I am tired of Trisolaris. We have nothing in our lives and spirit except the fight for survival.” “What’s wrong with that?” “There’s nothing wrong, of course. Existence is the premise for everything else. But, Princeps, please examine our lives: Everything is devoted to survival. To permit the survival of the civilization as a whole, there is almost no respect for the individual. Someone who can no longer work is put to death. Trisolaran society exists under a state of extreme authoritarianism. The law has only two outcomes: The guilty are put to death, and the not guilty are released. For me, the most intolerable aspects are the spiritual monotony and desiccation. Anything that can lead to spiritual weakness is declared evil. We have no literature, no art, no pursuit of beauty and enjoyment. We cannot even speak of love.… Princeps, is there meaning to such a life?” “The kind of civilization you yearn for once existed on Trisolaris, too. They had free, democratic societies, and they left behind rich cultural legacies. You know barely anything about them. Most details have been sealed away and forbidden from view. But in all the cycles of Trisolaran civilization, this type of civilization was the weakest and most short-lived. A modest Chaotic Era disaster was enough to extinguish them. Look again at the Earth civilization that you wish to save. A society born and bred in the eternal spring of a beautiful hothouse would not be able to survive even a million Trisolaran hours if it were transplanted here.” “That flower may be delicate, but it possesses peerless splendor. She enjoys freedom and beauty in the ease of paradise.” “If Trisolaran civilization ultimately possesses that world, we can also create such lives for ourselves.” “Princeps, I’m doubtful. The metallic Trisolaran spirit has infiltrated each of our cells and solidified. You really believe it can melt again?"

@@KingRidley Theoretically, with the help of sophons, it would be possible to avoid war altogether. By manipulating public opinion, taking into account the fact that the whole earth was under surveillance and adding to this an instant connection - in 200 - 250 years it would be possible to achieve that neither people nor trisolars would perceive each other as strangers. But they just didn't think about it. Their mentality didn't allow it.

And don't trust bitches, they ain't shit...

Er I mean it's kind of the opposite though, sadly... It's more like, "shh, don't make too much noise and turn down the lights, or else our neighbors will know where we are and kill us."

Here here! ♥️

@@JustinMarshallElias2 🙌🏿

I think they actually did, but all of those plans were figured out and stopped.

You wont get what you want

Thomas Wade is goat

You're not thinking from the perspective of a Chinese author who is annoyed that they haven't nuked Japan and the USA and Russia and all the other countries, but mainly Japan to start with, and instead millions upon millions of Chinese people actually watch and enjoy Japanese media - I mean you're right that they should have taken centuries to even openly watch Japanese "propaganda" but instead, there they go watching Pokemon and playing Mario like some stupid naive fools or whatever. I mean, of course democracy is stupid because I'm sure that if the general Chinese population voted on whether or not to allow imports of Playstation game consoles those insanely suicidal anti-global-thermonuclearwar-niks would vote to allow Playstations.

Maybe humanity already has fallen. I do see a parallel with how a public relations company in the USA was able to shift the public view that influenced politicians around the world to ignore the danger of global warming, classifying it as natural and calling it as "climate change". The science demonstrated since the decade of 1980 that the problem was real. A group of companies where able to make mankind ignore a real problem, and now with the consequences being visible there are still deniers. So is not far fetch that aliens could influence the whole of humanity so they not see a problem that will happen.

@@OdnaropX Even then, Global warming is one of the most contentious issues there are in the world, and the division between deniers and acknowledgers is stark and sometimes violent, which is not what we see here. On top of that, Global Warming is a nebulous, faceless concept. The aliens which obliterated our space force, killed hundreds of thousands, and whom we have been demonising for decades or centuries, are not faceless. This bullshit "mother of mankind" swordbearer would not have won her vote, and if she did, there would have been intense civil unrest. She is demonstrably and openly the worst possible choice, and the fact that they exposed her to the Sophon when the previous swordbearer was almost defined by his isolation, is just a walking lobotomy of an idea. You do not ELECT someone for this. We do not Elect our soldiers or generals, we TRAIN THEM for their roles. We do not elect diplomats or police. We do not elect doctors or firemen, we fucking train them. But sure, lets hold a popularity contest for the highest possible, DIRECT military role in all of ape history. And let's also pick a giant softy who could be accurately predicted by an armchair psychologist after one or two of her televised interviews. Sure. Yeah. Fuck me, so much of that whole process was a mess that its hard to even know where to begin.

Yeah, your not really wrong. When the MC wakes up, mankind has become androgynous and feminine, and the message is basically that this made us pretty weak and pathetic. We are gullible as a monolith in this story. Not only that, but, you know, we could have just destroyed our own planet ourselves. Thats what they are after, and it would actually be easy for mankind, after being given the Australia ultimatum, to destroy the world before the aliens could get there. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot stop all destructive endeavors with battering rams. The idea that those ideas were not seeded throughout the earth long ago in various forms is pretty unrealistic.

In spite of the cursing, you definitely nailed it. It made the whole story hard to take seriously. We basically walk into the open jaws of an obvious monster, just because its warm there. Its hard to take seriously how helpless and lacking in canny, critical thinking skills very nearly every human being is after Cheng appears in the story.

Well, their existence is already exposed to the human civilization, and according to dark forest theory, that makes humanity an existential threat for them. The Trisolarans are depicted as hardline survivors and they could never trust that humanity would simply forget about the contact and leave them be. They'd always live in fear of a technological explosion taking place on Earth and then humanity hunting them down in retribution. They cannot expose Earth to the dark forest either, given that the two star systems are so close to each other. The argument goes the other way as well, once again due to dark forest theory. Trisolaris cannot really know what humanity thinks they think about humanity and whether or not they'd prepare a preemptive first strike (like in the battles of darkness) once they are sufficiently developed technologically. The dark conclusion is that you can never really trust anyone and your safest bet for survival is to stay hidden and eliminate life on sight, if you are capable. Hide well; cleanse well. Only after the broadcast is sent to they back off and decide to flee, as the threat of the dark forest is orders of magnitude above that of humanity and the two systems are guaranteed to be destroyed in a short time.

Maybe, but also they probably though that humanity wouldn't be capable of using the broadcast after the first sword holder. They were right in this, but they couldn't foresee that a 4th dimension bubble would allow their probe to be destroyed.

They could not let humans alone. Because we were a treat. We knew about their location and existense. In the dark forest theory your go is to stay hidden from everyone else.

Absolutely this; the books are pretty bad to be honest. The tension is lacking, the atmosphere is sterile throughout, the characters are paper thin... The ideas are really all that's left to carry the series. Shame because there's something awesome here buried beneath the mediocrity.

Just curious if you read the original Chinese version or the translated English version?