Text taken from the Live Journal account of smertnyy
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
The Netflix series "Three Body Problem" is an excellent adaptation of the book. Star Trek TNG alum Rosalind Chao is one of the main characters.
[ColonelCassad] In a recent conversation about understanding quantum mechanics, it occurred to me that the essence of Liu Cixin's novel "The Three-Body Problem" is to show the modern problem of physics: the irreproducibility of results ruins scientific activity.
In the novel, aliens ruin the scientific activity of earthlings, making it impossible for them to obtain reproducible scientific results. Scientists all over the world are either quitting science or committing suicide, because it is becoming impossible to do science. This reflects the problem of modern physics working with the quantum world. Modern physicists talk about the irreproducibility of experimental results in the quantum world.
For example, Feynman: "One philosopher said: "For the very existence of science, it is absolutely necessary that the same results always be obtained under the same conditions." Well, this does not work. You can accurately reproduce all the conditions, and still not be able to predict in which hole you will see an electron." There is also a problem with scientific activity in modern physics. There is no development of physics.
The refusal to reproduce results has led to the impossibility of developing physics, the impossibility of developing a theory. And the impossibility of reproducing the results of experiments is a refusal of causality, i.e. a refusal of determinism. It is impossible to reproduce the results of experiments, which means it is impossible to draw conclusions. No conclusions - no reasoning. No reasoning - no theory.
And modern physicists eloquently demonstrate this to everyone! Everything that they produce in experiments in the quantum world is interpretation. In fact, these are fantasies. It was shameful to write that these are fantasies, so they came up with a replacement word - "interpretations". Yes, of course, these fantasies are limited by the results of experiments, but that's all. It is impossible to reason. Any reasoning is based on causality, i.e. on the reproducibility of results.
Therefore, this novel is an excellent example of science fiction. But why don't these modern physicists in our reality kill themselves like in the novel?! When will they start?! If they suddenly start, I will open a shamanic one.
The current scientific problem in the novel is raised beautifully, but unnoticed (!!), which is funny. Reviewers and critics of the novel see only an analysis of the problem of life in a system with three suns (the homeland of aliens). And this is not the most important moment in the novel.
P.S. The article serves as an addendum to the article "Determinism. The essence of the concept and the history of understanding. Causality or chance?"
P.S. I do not agree with the interpretation of modern physicists that the results of experiments in the quantum world are irreproducible under the same conditions. They are irreproducible because it is impossible to repeat the conditions. In my opinion, physicists ignore the non-repeatability of experimental conditions in the quantum world. But this is a separate issue.
I liked the novel's peculiar line more, when the plot actually shows what happens if you pardon a relative of an enemy of the people. It is unlikely that this was directly implied by the author, but it looks like the main villain who doomed humanity to destruction was the daughter of an enemy of the people. Who, out of mercy, was decided to be given a second chance, and she used it to take revenge, and not only on the Communist Party or China, but on all of humanity.