The Three-Body Problem

A defining feature of Ye as a character is that she views humanity as irredeemably evil. Her view is informed by personal and social experiences. She witnessed her father being beaten to death by political radicals. In addition, she witnessed the vast deforestation of rural areas of China to fuel the development of the same regime that radicalized the people who killed her father. Humans, from her perspective, can’t be trusted to be civil to one another and can’t be trusted as custodians of the natural world. However, Ye is a scientist. She recognizes that this damning judgment is inherently subjective. She can recognize the limitations of her personal perspective, which is why she’s so interested in the search for extraterrestrial life. To Ye, an alien culture would be technologically (and, by implication, morally) advanced enough to judge humanity for its sins. In the form of this alien culture, Ye would have her external, objective vector of moral judgment. She believes that any alien culture would agree with her bleak view of humanity and craves the opportunity validate her beliefs. When she gets the chance to talk to an alien culture, however, she breaks from the desire for objectivity and goes straight to subjectivity. She calls on the Trisolarans to invade and offers to help. Ye, as a scientist, recognizes her subjectivity, but her actions reveal her hypocrisy.

Another way that the narrative reveals the importance of perspective is through the relationship between Shi and Wang. The blunt, rogue street cop and the family-orientated scientist have very different perspectives on the world. Wang sees the world through the eyes of a researcher in the field of practical sciences. Even at home, his hobby as a photographer encourages him to see the world’s beauty through the lens of his camera. Shi, in contrast, is a cynic. Chasing criminals has given him a unique understanding of the world and a capacity for innovative thought that far exceeds many scientists. As Wang learns, Shi lacks the academic language to express his intelligence but is demonstrably very clever. His plan to attack the ETO ship succeeds exactly as planned, at a time when the world’s best scientists couldn’t agree on any plan at all. In addition, Shi shows a level of emotional intelligence that far exceeds most. At the end of the novel, his discussion about locusts, humans, and technology helps Wang see the world in a different way. Shi changes Wang’s perspective on the future of humanity.

The similarities between Ye and the Trisolaran listener illustrate the importance of perspective. To the people of Earth, Ye is the greatest villain in humanity’s history. She broadcast the planet’s location and invited an alien invasion, acting alone to doom an entire species. To the Trisolarans, she’s a heroic figure whose actions have potentially saved their civilization. In contrast, the Trisolarans regard the listener as the greatest criminal in their civilization’s history. He tried to avert Ye’s actions and save humanity, thereby dooming his own people. To the humans, however, the listener is a tragic figure whose tried in vain to protect a weaker, more vulnerable species. In this way, the question of moral judgment is inherently subjective. Depending on whether the perspective is that of a Trisolaran or a human, Ye and the listener are potentially heroes or villains. The question of which character acted correctly has no objective answer because the philosophical reasoning for their actions is affected by their subjective experience of the world as well as the perspective of the person casting judgment. The quest for objectivity falters in the face of the many competing, subjective perspectives.