{"id":13669,"date":"2024-07-01T06:37:18","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T11:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=13669"},"modified":"2024-07-01T06:37:38","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T11:37:38","slug":"the-3-body-problems-ecological-fallacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2024\/07\/01\/the-3-body-problems-ecological-fallacy\/","title":{"rendered":"The 3 Body Problem’s Ecological Fallacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a slightly evolved out-take from my recent Vermont Humanities talk, which can be viewed here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Netflix\u2019s 3 Body Problem<\/a> <\/em>was remarkably entertaining, I thought, but the whole San-Ti plot line is built around a basic ecological fallacy. Let me explain. (And I\u2019m referring here to the Netflix series<\/a>, not necessarily to the novel by Cixin Liu<\/a>, which I have not read, though I\u2019ve been told by those who\u2019ve read it that it largely holds for that as well.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Three-Body Problem <\/em>is about humanity\u2019s encounter with an alien race, the San-Ti or Trisolarans, who have emerged in a star system that is a three-body system. A three-body system is a classic example of an unpredictable stochastic system: it\u2019s one in which three similar bodies \u2014 suns, in this case \u2014 exert gravitational pulls on each other that are only stable for limited periods and whose stability cannot be predicted. The mathematics for predicting it is too complex and our, earthly, mathematicians (like the Trisolarans’) have never been able to crack it. (There\u2019s some debate over that<\/a>, but let\u2019s leave it aside.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This alien race has developed the means to rapidly dehydrate themselves at the onset of an unstable period and go into a state of suspended animation until the next stable system arises, with presumably enough of them remaining in an underground shelter to monitor things during the intervening chaos. The planet goes from frozen states to hothouse states at will. In this it\u2019s something of a metaphor for Earth, which has also gone from cool to warm periods, but not quite as dramatically as this, and far more slowly. But with the current Anthropocene event<\/a>, there\u2019s a looming instability that will at least affect our capacity to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s wrong with this picture is that the kind of highly technological, space-faring, and 11-dimensional science wielding civilization shown in the series could hardly develop under such circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just because technological civilization takes a certain time to develop. It\u2019s because it doesn\u2019t develop on its own. It develops in intimate interdependence with a biosphere of other creatures and elements that harbor it — a hospitable atmosphere, more or less reliable elemental cycles (oxygen, carbon, water, and so on), microbial oceans (that make us up, in fact), ensembles of organisms that serve as food and as economic and\/or emotional companions, and so on. Neither the Trisolarans nor humans could possibly exist without the relational allies with whom we have co-evolved and who have made us who we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of this otherness that makes us up, or that makes up the Trisolarans, is shown in the Netflix series: somehow the Trisolarans have evolved on their own to the point that they can both travel and extend their influence across the galaxy. And that, to the best of our knowledge, is ecologically impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its nod to environmental issues in the plotline about the human Trisolaran contactees — two of the main characters practically beg the Trisolarans to invade us because we’re so disregarding<\/a> of each other and of other species — the question that’s implicitly ignored here is the question of what it means to be human, and, by extension, what it means to be an intelligent species. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are humans simply “bare humans,” humans-without-others and without surplus, Cartesian brains-in-bodies moving amidst other brains-in-bodies, free to roam around at will from place to place and, by extension (as Elon Musk and others might like), from planet to planet? It’s not surprising that we might think so, since the world’s privileged classes do exactly that today — moving across borders freely, taking jobs, storing capital, parking yachts, and leaving behind waste wherever they go. (As a binational if not transnational academic, I’m guilty of some of that myself.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alternative is that we are, and have always been, inherently bound up in relationships, in multispecies entanglements with other people, animals, plants, land, microbes, weather systems and climate regimes, and so much more — creatures and allies, functions and environments, which have made us who and what we are. We are never merely human<\/em>, however we might define that.\u00a0To be human is always to be more<\/a><\/em> and less<\/em> than human<\/a>, embedded within relationships and processes that subtend and support us<\/a>, enable and restrain us, invade and engorge us, that overflow our boundaries, and without which we would be nothing at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that there is no chance in hell that a planet whose atmosphere is so geophysically unstable as that of the San-Ti could give rise to a biosphere that would enable a spacefaring technological civilization to evolve within it. Civilizations like that don\u2019t fall from the sky; they co-evolve with and within their biospheric and ecological conditions. That takes aeons of time, including aeons of relative stability for the co-evolutionary give-and-take that builds us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s taking modern humans far too long to learn this lesson about our utter ecological dependence and, in fact, our radical ecological incompleteness. But most cultures that have arisen and flourished on this planet for any respectable length of time have taken that ecological togetherness for granted and couldn\u2019t have survived without it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s what makes the 3 Body Problem <\/em>(at least the Netflix version) impossible. We can call it the 3 Body Problem <\/em>Problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a slightly evolved out-take from my recent Vermont Humanities talk, which can be viewed here. Netflix\u2019s 3 Body Problem was remarkably entertaining, I thought, but the whole San-Ti plot line is built around a basic ecological fallacy. Let me explain. (And I\u2019m referring here to the Netflix series, not necessarily to the novel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4415,4437],"tags":[711159,16877,711160,291,711162,4443,711161,17796,711163,711158,711164],"class_list":["post-13669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecophilosophy","category-science","tag-3-body-problem","tag-anthropocentrism","tag-cixin-liu","tag-ecocriticism","tag-ecological-fallacy","tag-ecotheory","tag-netflix","tag-science-fiction","tag-speculative-fiction","tag-three-body-problem","tag-zero-order-humanism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-3yt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6197,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2012\/09\/18\/cfp-thinking-acting-ecologically\/","url_meta":{"origin":13669,"position":0},"title":"CFP: Thinking & Acting Ecologically","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"September 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE) presents the Tenth Annual Meeting on Environmental Philosophy, to be held 12-14th of June 2013 at The University of East Anglia, UK. \u201cThinking and Acting Ecologically\u201d The ISEE invites submissions on any topic in environmental philosophy \/ ecophilosophy broadly conceived. The focus of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Eco-theory"","block_context":{"text":"Eco-theory","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/ecophilosophy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12559,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2022\/05\/31\/ecodeco-a-manifesto-in-progress\/","url_meta":{"origin":13669,"position":1},"title":"Eco+Deco, a manifesto in progress","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"May 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of the best art exhibitions today show that the socially engaged art world is undergoing two shifts that some of us in the environmental humanities have been advocating for some time: they ecologize and they decolonize. An excellent example of this is the second edition of the Toronto Biennale\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cultural politics"","block_context":{"text":"Cultural politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cultural_politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/05\/623386cce06b7.image_-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11589,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2021\/02\/19\/in-defense-of-ecological-metaphor\/","url_meta":{"origin":13669,"position":2},"title":"In defense of ecological metaphor","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"February 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In my writing about media, I've been using the words \"ecology\" and \"ecosystem\" fairly liberally. In a new piece called \"The Limitations of the 'New Ecosystem' Metaphor,\" The Columbia Journalism Review's Lauren Harris argues that this metaphor is misguided. She interviews media scholar Anthony Nadler, who has claims that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Eco-culture"","block_context":{"text":"Eco-culture","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/ecoculture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/02\/Mycorrhizae_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4590,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2011\/06\/16\/integral-ecology-week-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":13669,"position":3},"title":"Integral Ecology – week 3 (part 1)","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"June 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Integral Ecology reading group moves here this week, picking up the baton from Adam and Sam at Knowledge Ecology. (And see Michael's summary at Archive Fire.) This week we're focusing on chapters 3 (\"A Developing Kosmos\") and 4 (\"Developing Interiors\"). Following a short summative preamble, this post examines Chapter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Eco-theory"","block_context":{"text":"Eco-theory","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/ecophilosophy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13751,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2024\/10\/09\/the-eh-consensus\/","url_meta":{"origin":13669,"position":4},"title":"The EH consensus (?)","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"October 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The field I\u2019ve worked in for the last few decades, which has come to be known as the Environmental Humanities (capitalized or not), is one that requires keeping up with ongoing scholarship not only in the humanities, but also in the social sciences and the biological and earth sciences. From\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/10\/20240928_104538.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/10\/20240928_104538.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/10\/20240928_104538.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/10\/20240928_104538.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/10\/20240928_104538.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11762,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2021\/05\/03\/how-decolonizing-science-makes-for-better-science\/","url_meta":{"origin":13669,"position":5},"title":"How decolonizing science makes for better science","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"May 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Two new publications -- one in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the other in The Atlantic -- help make a point that critics of the \"Anthropocene\" (the name, not the geological designation) have been making for years: that it's not humanity that is somehow at fault\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Science & society"","block_context":{"text":"Science & society","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/science\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/TWcyIpul8OE\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13669"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13690,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13669\/revisions\/13690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}