62 pages • 2 hours read
Liu Cixin, Transl. Joel MartinsenThe Dark Forest
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Survival Through Mutually Assured Destruction
Throughout The Dark Forest, the characters operate under the assumption that the Trisolar fleet will arrive, destroy humanity and supplant them as the residents of Earth. In this scenario, mutually assured destruction becomes a means for survival because of Luo Ji’s perception of the universe:
The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost [...] If he finds other life—another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod—there’s only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people (484).
Luo Ji believes that each civilization in the universe survives by staying hidden. If they find another civilization, they must perceive it as a threat to themselves and destroy it. This theory, which exists in science, draws on ideas of resource management and Neorealism as a way to consider competitive survival of infinitely expanding organisms in the face of finite, and potentially diminishing, resources. The idea presents the concept of survival as a zero-sum game between two civilizations.
Instead, the novel turns this premise on its head, so that the competitive survival of civilizations becomes a cooperative force. Luo Ji presents the Trisolarans with only two options: both civilizations live or both civilizations die. Mutually assured destruction also means mutual cooperation. The novel presents him as humanity’s savior because of his visionary power: while mankind is divided into “triumphalists” and “defeatists” around the win/lose premise of the invasion, Luo Ji’s solution is to seek, or create, common ground that will nullify the win/lose rules of the game. The book’s resolution is peace and diplomacy over military force.
Luo Ji’s strategy is a high-stakes gamble. He bets on the Trisolarans’ knowledge of the dark forest theory. They do know of theory, and he successfully uses the threat of mutually assured destruction to ensure both civilizations’ survival. In this way, he demonstrates a trust and respect for his adversary which is rewarded.
The novel creates a negative parallel to this solution in order to reinforce this message. As the final remaining spaceships flee into the stars, resources and population become a major concern, a microcosm of the Trisolarans’ violent worldview. Those who plan to eliminate others reason that “[s]ome people must die, or everyone will die” (454). Every unit prioritizing themselves over others in a pre-emptive strike is exactly what the dark forest theory posits. Unlike Luo Ji, however, the inhabitants of the ships give in to this selfish urge. It backfires as everyone dies. Indeed the depression and malaise on the final ship suggests a moral death for those who lose their sense of community and collectivity: in other words, their humanity.
Power Imbalance Between Civilizations
The most striking aspect of the conflict between Trisolaris and Earth is the intense power imbalance between the two civilizations. While Earth possesses the ability to develop technology at a much faster rate than the Trisolarans, the Trisolarans’ established technological advancements gives them a near insurmountable advantage over humanity. Trisolaris understands the threat humanity’s advancement poses to them, sending the sophons that freeze Earth’s ability to advance technology. This preserves the Trisolarans’ technological advantage, sustaining the power imbalance between the two.
Throughout The Dark Forest, the imbalance is largely theoretical, with only guesses being made to the nature of the probes and the fleet coming toward Earth, or invisible in the form of the sophons, interfering in the background. The rapid development of existing technologies in the 200 years after the conflict begins leads humanity to believe that they have narrowed the gap. However, when the first probe arrives and destroys the entirety of the Space Fleet, the technological and power imbalance becomes frighteningly apparent. The destruction of humanity’s hopes in mere minutes leads to a crushing revelation:
But now the combined fleet had to face facts: Their only enemy was a tiny probe, one drop of water out of the enormous ocean of Trisolaran strength, and this probe attacked using one of the oldest and most primitive tactics known to human navies: ramming (427).
The power gap is so large that the most minor use of technology and force by the Trisolarans can completely eradicate humanity’s defenses. Through the simplest of strategies, Trisolaris delivers a crushing blow with an object the size of a truck. Its ruthless and efficient destruction of the fleet creates a startling image of the gap between the two civilizations and draws a dim view of humanity’s hopes for survival.
The droplet-like probe illuminates the divide between the two civilizations not only in its efficient execution of the starships, but by its complete immunity from human technology. The probe is indestructible and encounters no resistance in its fast approach to the sun, where it can block the sun’s message-amplifying abilities, silencing Earth in the vast universe. Its indestructible nature is due to its construction:
Strong-interaction material differs from ordinary matter like solid differs from liquid. The attacks on the droplet by human weapons were like waves striking a reef. Damaging it was impossible, which meant that nothing in the solar system could destroy it. It was untouchable (428).
The probe cannot be destroyed, or even interfered with, as nothing humanity possesses or could possess in their solar system could threaten it. This relatively small object has capabilities and protections so technologically advanced that it is as if Trisolaris were merely toying with humanity, reminding them of their inability to challenge their superiority.
Expressive Communication
The novel reveals little about the Trisolarans, and their future arrival is far away during the events of The Dark Forest. However, one feature that is apparent is their means of communication, in which they essentially display their intentions to others, making it impossible to deceive. This presents a stark difference between their civilization and humanity, in which humans can use their eyes and expressions to communicate without speaking, hiding their intentions from the sophons spying around them. Zhuang Yan expresses this sentiment in the Louvre with Luo Ji:
That’s right. Human expressions, and people’s eyes in particular, are subtle and complex. A gaze or a smile can transmit so much information! And only humans can understand that information. Only humans have that sensitivity (179).
Expressive communication is one of the only means by which humanity can keep secrets from the Trisolarans and it is a unique feature of their civilization. People can communicate with looks to each other and a person’s expression can reveal much about their current state of mind, beliefs, and feelings. Luo Ji uses others’ expressions and eyes to judge them throughout the novel and the frequent motif of eyes finds its way into all sections of the story. Trisolaris may be the more technologically advanced civilization with greater available power, but humanity exhibits a more complex and advanced emotional network that aids in community and relationship building.
The primary means by which expressions are utilized by characters are to use expression and reception to share information and even carry on complete conversations. The striking aspect of this mode of communication is how a character’s expression can convey information otherwise hidden by their overall appearance: “In the complex information conveyed by those eyes, Luo Ji could make out just one thing: This moment was immensely important to the man’s whole life” (95). Luo Ji’s Wallfacer handler, Kent, is proper and reserved, but Luo Ji can see in his eyes that his affiliation with this momentous moment is incredibly important to him. He can discern this all through his expression and can parse information from his look. This skill is not possessed by the Trisolarans and represents one of the sole advantages that humanity has over them.
The other major use of expressive communication between characters is the ability to share information with each other, carrying on a wordless conversation. This not only hides characters’ intentions from the ever-watching Trisolarans but also exhibits the deep connection humans can form with each other. At the novel’s conclusion, Luo Ji is reunited with his family and after 200 years, he and his wife can communicate solely through looking at each other:
When they looked at each other, a richness of meaning poured from their eyes just as the clouds poured from the cloud well created by the gravitational beam, endless and unceasing. But it wasn’t a language of this world. It constructed a world that gave it meaning, and only in that rosy world did the words of the language find their corresponding referents (510).
These two characters have a conversation solely through the expressions they share based on a language that only they will understand. Their relationship, shared experiences and familiarity with each other allow them to communicate in this way. Love is the foundation of this language, and love is not familiar to the Trisolarans, who suppress it in order to survive their harsh world. The gaps between the two civilizations are stark, with the Trisolarans keeping an edge technologically, but humanity possessing a clear advantage with interpersonal communication and relationships. Each civilization has much to learn from the other.
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