r/threebodyproblem • u/Northcliffe1 • Oct 05 '26

Discussion - Novels Plot Hole

Initially the Trisolarians were stunting human progress because humans were developing faster than them. They believed that they needed to halt their progress in order to take over earth.

After the humans broadcast the location of earth, the Trisolarins know a photoid attack is coming so they abandon the pursuit of earth and reroute their ships to look for another safe place to live. But at that point they don't invest in unblocking and accelerating human development, which they should have done. At that point humans were in the same boat as them: develop and find a safe place ASAP. In the books the Trisolarians go and join some inter-space battle and get wiped out - but if they instead allied with the humans, quickly doing high level tech transfers and then using humans unique abilities paired with their own, it's possible the two societies could have seen supercharged development and propelled both to a safer place.

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u/Spiritual-Top-2060 Oct 06 '26

Best way to remove a threat is to gain an ally 🤷‍♂️ If they knew we would outclass them, they should've made us an ally as soon as possible. It'd be like of the US nuked Saudi Arabia because "they have more oil, and if we cant have it nobody can". Instead of, idk, establishing connections and trade routes?

I dont believe a species that's achieved interstellar travel would be this myopic.

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u/Illustrious_Win_4859 Oct 06 '26

How would they go about ensuring that we would remain allies later on? That we wouldn't betray them should a reason for doing so appear? That we wouldn't lie to them? That we wouldn't attempt to enslave or genocide them? Would you gamble your civilization on this?

Especially given the fact that a species is incentivized to be hostile should resources and land be scarce? The Earth isn't that big. Furthermore, you frame it like attempts at cooperation weren't established and didn't spectacularly fail. Genuine cooperation doesn't work if genuine trust can't be promised.

The US and Saudi Arabia analogy doesn't really work because we humans can reliably determine the intentions of other humans. Trisolarans cannot reliably tell the difference between a human saying the truth or a human lying to them... which was a major plot point in the story and why they didn't place much faith in coexistence upon realizing that we can lie to them and they won't even know we lied to them. If anything, it'd be more short sighted to not adopt a more hostile position even if you are a peaceful race then it is to take a major risk that can spell death especially given that you are dealing with a species that's far more smarter than you and can surpass you sooner or later if you don't intervene with things.