Why is Liu Cixin’s “The Three-Body Problem” so popular in the Internet circle?

Although the Hugo Awards were interfered with by right-wing forces in the United States, resulting in some excellent works failing to be shortlisted, to be frank, as a fan of Liu Cixin - or "The Three-Body Problem", I am still very happy to hear that Liu Cixin won the award.

As a niche literature, in China, both science fiction writers and science fiction fans are a small group of people who are obsessed with "our journey is the stars and the sea" - for them, this earth is too small. But it is very interesting that in recent years, due to the unexpected popularity of "The Three-Body Problem" in the Chinese Internet circle, the terms in the novel such as "high dimension beats low dimension" and "dark forest" in special contexts have frequently appeared in the speeches of some bigwigs. Lei Jun once posted on Weibo: "At the Kingsoft Group Strategy Conference, I spent a lot of time sharing my experience of reading "The Three-Body Problem". The philosophical principles in it are very helpful in formulating the company's three to five-year strategy."

Well, perhaps it is the rapid changes of the new economy that have made business theories a little out of date. The long-standing "wild growth" of the Chinese Internet industry has accidentally discovered that the philosophical framework set in a science fiction epic called "The Three-Body Problem" has actually coincided with the chaos, cruelty, and frustration of this circle for a long time: the bottom-line competition, the crazy mergers of giants, and the cautious progress of start-ups in the dark, all have a strong sense of substitution. As a result, this hard science fiction describing the future of mankind was quickly regarded as a benchmark by the Internet industry, and even became a teaching aid to endorse many commercial behaviors.

I still remember that at a sub-forum of the Global Chinese Science Fiction Nebula Award last year, several science fiction writers including Liu Cixin talked with Internet people represented by Diao Ye and Zhang Xiangdong about "Dark Forest and the Internet". In fact, this topic itself is a bit science fiction. Liu Cixin once told me in an interview: "Science fiction is a kind of literature about possibilities, and among all possibilities, "The Three-Body Problem" shows the worst universe ." - So the Internet community is so keen on discussing this "dark forest". Is it a collective self-deprecation...

There is no denying that the logical starting point of the so-called "cosmic sociology" in "The Three-Body Problem" is indeed quite similar to the Internet economy. For example: survival is the first need of cosmic civilization (in my opinion, whether it is a giant or a start-up company, the pursuit of evergreen business is a delusion of industrial society thinking, and survival is always the first need); civilization continues to grow and expand, but the total amount of matter in the universe remains unchanged (in the so-called "attention economy" of the Internet, whether it is PC or mobile, the content is growing exponentially, but the average daily Internet time of each person is basically fixed, and attention resources are very limited)... Therefore, "The Three-Body Problem" deduces that: in the dark universe, once the existence of other civilizations is discovered, this civilization should be destroyed immediately. The so-called "Destroying you is none of your business" - this domineering sentence like a signature has also been often said by some Internet companies.

But in fact, it is not logical to compare the Internet business war to the dark forest. In "The Three-Body Problem", there are two basic conditions for cosmic sociology: first, the two civilizations are on opposite sides of the world, with an information gap of cosmic level, and objectively cannot communicate; second, the unimaginable differences between species, whether the other party is a carbon-based organism or not, there is a cosmic level of "chicken-duck talk". Therefore, for the continuation of one's own civilization, destruction becomes the only choice. But the above two points do not exist in the current business society - the Internet has completely changed the way human information is disseminated. In a circle, you and your "enemy" may be in the same WeChat group, or you may meet each other in reality, and even know all the cards of the other party. Therefore, in the Internet business war, it is okay to destroy others, but don't apply the logic of the "dark forest" in a vulgar way. In fact, as Liu Cixin himself said: "In certain states, Internet business may present some elements of the dark forest. For example, the two parties may be trapped in a prisoner's dilemma by the other party's worst-case ideas in the Internet business war, but I think this state is only local and phased, and it cannot develop into the extreme dark forest state described in the novel."

In my opinion, the comparison between many business strategies and The Three-Body Problem is a bit forced, such as the much-talked-about "dimensionality reduction attack", which is a way of attack that reduces the human civilization index. It is now regarded as a competition rule, and the logic behind it is very simple: My level is very low, so I will pull you to the same level to eliminate you. A classic example of "dimensionality reduction" is free, which means that if others are not free, you can't play with me. In fact, the free economy has been talked about by Kevin Kelly and others for more than a decade. It is just a reasonable trend, and "dimensionality reduction" is just another way of saying it.

It is almost certain that the Dark Forest is not in line with the development direction of future commercial civilization. I think the fear of IT giants is only because biology has taken root in the Internet, which is also one of the fundamental reasons why the Internet will subvert everything (for example, according to the principle of increasing returns, small companies may grow like bacteria).

You may have seen this word countless times: ecosystem. Well, in a sense, the Internet world does exist like a forest, but it is not "dark". Darkness will only destroy any possibility of collaboration and mutual benefit between companies. In the real forest, especially in the future forest, I believe there will be countless small species dancing with new giant life (such as the current BAT), just as Kevin Kelly said: "The closely connected nature of the new economy makes it more like an ecosystem. Conflict and war are often used to describe the industrial economy. Words such as 'co-evolution' or 'mutual infection' are more suitable for the new economy. Success will be an interdependent process, including a network of suppliers, customers, and even competitors." In the future, what will make the Internet ecosystem healthy and prosperous is not carrying a gun to kill whoever you meet, but large-scale open source and collaboration - it is entirely possible that all companies in the future will build platforms.

Then the last question is, in addition to a series of coincidences, are there other reasons why Internet entrepreneurs are obsessed with "The Three-Body Problem"? A simple answer is: at least in the past, science fiction was not widely read - you know, this may be the first time that the Chinese Internet community has embraced science fiction on a large scale. Liu Yukun, the translator who accepted the Hugo Award on behalf of Liu Cixin, once said: In the concept of the American Internet circle, science fiction and the Internet often belong to the same discussion scope, "How can Internet workers not be interested in science fiction?" Even Liu Cixin, who has always been low-key, showed his domineering attitude for once: "Don't ask why the Internet community is interested in "The Three-Body Problem", ask why the Chinese Internet community has only started to be interested in science fiction now."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.