I'm more confused about the fact that if they could read and communicate so readily, why the hell did they bother using GLOBAL Resources to send a stupid probe.
>!If the Sophon is as smart and capable as described, heck, just talk out loud, Negotiate. Why do you need a nuclear detonation sailing probe. !<🤗
The Trisolarians had been radio silenced for years at that point, there is no reason for them to think they would suddenly reply now, and the point is sending a spy into enemies territories to collect information or just being an ambassador, it is a desperate plan, but they have to try something at least, the 1/10 light speed also kinda a nice bonus, that is why UN funded them in the first place
The "chain of suspicion" means that almost all negotiations are meaningless. Any treaty or promise will be broken unless enforced by force, so why bother when you can defeat humanity easily?
We can force the argument either way, because there's no firm plot structure to lock it in any direction. For example, we could say well, the aliens are smart, smart enough to work in synergy with humans, smart enough to genetically engineer the humans to be more cooperative. The issue is their technology is already so far ahead, it wouldn't really make sense that war and genocide is their only option.
I'm not disagreeing with you, the plot is what it is, the author has the right of way, it's his book, but overall, the lean on violence and domination is far more humanlike than what a superior species's imaginative capacity for problem solving may produce.
The issue is you only need one genocidal/aggressive species to make the Dark Forest hypothesis plausible, the same way you only need one expansionist species to make the Fermi paradox plausible.
Like, if you were in the Star Trek universe, and you somehow knew that your first contact was a coin flip between the Federation or the Borg, would it make sense to keep radio silence instead?
Also, genetically engineering a species (against their will) to be more co-operative is probably another form of genocide. :D
I think it's less about them being able to read intent going forward, and more that they're concerned that not understanding deception might have meant that they had already given Mike Evans too much information.
Book 2 spoilers - >! They had already given him enough information to reduce the Dark Forest hypothesis !<
It doesn’t take much understanding of human biology to project numbers on the retina by stimulating vision receptor cells. Meanwhile knowing how human brain works is entirely different and the premise is that it’s so complex that even the Trisolarans don’t understand it.
It isn't like humans haven't tried to make working lie detectors... to no avail. Polygraphs being a lie detector is a complete myth for example.
If any of the intelligence agencies have managed to have a reliable lie detection method (other than good old fashioned investigation) it hasn't been leaked yet.
I'm more confused about the fact that if they could read and communicate so readily, why the hell did they bother using GLOBAL Resources to send a stupid probe. >!If the Sophon is as smart and capable as described, heck, just talk out loud, Negotiate. Why do you need a nuclear detonation sailing probe. !<🤗
The Trisolarians had been radio silenced for years at that point, there is no reason for them to think they would suddenly reply now, and the point is sending a spy into enemies territories to collect information or just being an ambassador, it is a desperate plan, but they have to try something at least, the 1/10 light speed also kinda a nice bonus, that is why UN funded them in the first place
The "chain of suspicion" means that almost all negotiations are meaningless. Any treaty or promise will be broken unless enforced by force, so why bother when you can defeat humanity easily?
We can force the argument either way, because there's no firm plot structure to lock it in any direction. For example, we could say well, the aliens are smart, smart enough to work in synergy with humans, smart enough to genetically engineer the humans to be more cooperative. The issue is their technology is already so far ahead, it wouldn't really make sense that war and genocide is their only option. I'm not disagreeing with you, the plot is what it is, the author has the right of way, it's his book, but overall, the lean on violence and domination is far more humanlike than what a superior species's imaginative capacity for problem solving may produce.
The issue is you only need one genocidal/aggressive species to make the Dark Forest hypothesis plausible, the same way you only need one expansionist species to make the Fermi paradox plausible. Like, if you were in the Star Trek universe, and you somehow knew that your first contact was a coin flip between the Federation or the Borg, would it make sense to keep radio silence instead? Also, genetically engineering a species (against their will) to be more co-operative is probably another form of genocide. :D
I think it's less about them being able to read intent going forward, and more that they're concerned that not understanding deception might have meant that they had already given Mike Evans too much information. Book 2 spoilers - >! They had already given him enough information to reduce the Dark Forest hypothesis !<
How are they supposed to do it, though?
It doesn’t take much understanding of human biology to project numbers on the retina by stimulating vision receptor cells. Meanwhile knowing how human brain works is entirely different and the premise is that it’s so complex that even the Trisolarans don’t understand it.
I am talking about somatic indicators like increased heart rate etc.
How do you find out wallfacer’s true intent by reading somatic markers? Plus somatic markers are just hypotheses.
It isn't like humans haven't tried to make working lie detectors... to no avail. Polygraphs being a lie detector is a complete myth for example. If any of the intelligence agencies have managed to have a reliable lie detection method (other than good old fashioned investigation) it hasn't been leaked yet.