Yoyo Jae
9th out of 30 episodes ... they are slowly adding to the overall story bit by bit ... I often wonder how important some things are - like the egg in the bottle experiment ... how much symbolism is used?I am also fascinated by the followers of the "Lord" ... there seems to be two camps who, while following the "Lord" have two different agendas and ways of doing things. Regardless of which camp they are in, they are kind of funny in a sanctimonious way. They remind me of court officials / bureaucracy who 'control' the emperor or king or president effectively making them a puppet / rubber stamp ... but if the "Lord' (whoever, whatever that is) is really omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient etc ... then nothing these mere 'turkey's' do, or withhold from, the "Lord" will make any difference ... more human arrogance :-)I really am enjoying this drama ... I haven't read any of the novels it is based on, so I could be completely barking up the wrong tree, but even so, I am so looking forward to where this story is taking us.
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All the talk about 'aliens' is interesting ... I think it is 'fishy business' myself. If there is alien 'interference', then I wonder who made them 'god'. Seems to me if the aliens are interfering, then they are doing the same thing on an intergalactic scale as humans are doing on a planetary scale. That the aliens can seemingly defy known earth-based 'physics' as understood by the humans residing there, doesn't necessarily mean they are "lords" or "gods" ... they are just another model of turkey in my mind ... though from the perspective of humanity they might look like omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient gods.Humans are really limited when it comes to perceiving and measuring the world around them ... we don't smell or hear as well as dogs, see as well as birds ... we don't have radar like bats ... we cannot 'taste' the air like snakes, we cannot sense underlying electrical fields of life like stingrays and sharks ... we cannot see infrared ... we really are limited etc etc. Even though we have machines and computers that compensate for a lot of that, humans still have a propensity to get all smug in what they 'know' and think their views are infalliable ... smh ... such conceit and arrogance given out human and planetary limitations.This conceit reminds me of white swans. Back in the day before Australia was 'found' and explored, the world view about swans was that all swans are white, they always have been and always will be. They knew this through direct observation and repetition of swan life cycles. However, someone takes a boat trip to Australia and finds black swans ... oopsy ... the "white swan" world view just went out the window, though some did kick and scream about having to change their opinion. From our small planetary vantage point, with our limited senses (both physical and mechanical) how can we ever really 'know' something 'for sure' ... we are not 'everywhere', we do not know 'all things' and we do not have all 'power' to be everywhere and know everything. Quantum mechanics is a classic example ... and didn't it upset the apple cart.All this 'there is no physics' is fascinating in this context ... and it is getting more and more metaphysical too ... who am I ... how did I come to exist in the first place ... what is the purpose of existence, if there is even such a thing ... what / who should I believe ... what should I do ... where should I go ... what happens to 'me' after death of the body and so on ... do the answers to these questions have any relevance or bearing with the sheer struggle of surviving the life you are living? Very interesting.
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WOW ... that was a very moving and sad insight into human behaviour ... behaviour that is definitely NOT exclusive to China in that era or China in general ... it is a globally and historically endemic to the human race. It reminds me of Philip Zimbardo's book about why good people go bad (The Lucifer Effect). The vast majority of humans, who, despite technology, despite 'positive' beliefs of working for the welfare of all etc still fall into the same old behaviour patterns when circumstances present themselves ... they become addicted to power, addicted to status of ego, addicted to control and accumulation of goods and resources, committed to survival at all costs where the means justify the end, buck passing responsibility of consequences etc etc. The destruction of the environment is symptomatic of these mindsets ... to use the words of her Father, the gravity of that reality is way too heavy.I have great respect that she said "no" to the powers to be AND kept living under the circumstances.
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The irony of the military headquarters setting themselves up in a museum is becoming more and more obvious ... it is like they have unknowingly positioned themselves with the bones of long dead dinosaurs in preparation for their own upcoming extinction.The Three Body game in this episode was really interesting ... the frozen Confucious popsicle and the dude with his globe predictive machine ... both so adamant they were right even when annihilation was racing toward them ... how crazy is humanity's obsession with being right all the time, obsession with being the one ... smh. Every time the game ends and says the seeds of civilisation remain, I wonder how many 'seeds' are left in the seed bank ... how many iterations of civilisation are possible?I had a big laugh at the old dude when he said that when women revive, they crave love ... ROFL ... that was hilarious ... it was like he was talking about frogs getting all hot and horny to spawn every time it rains ... but when you think about it ... given the rate of extinction in the Three Body world ... that is a great survival tactic if they want to replenish the seed bank of civilisation.Lastly, a question - the mass of the sun already keeps the planets in a relatively stable orbit so if it physically 'raced' away or 'disappeared' ... wouldn't that have an effect on the planetary orbits ... or is this where 'physics' disappears?
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I really liked this episode ... I loved the banter between Shima and Ibuki ... Ibuki telling the boss he loved her LOL ... Ibuki is so left of field :-) I also very much liked how they incorporated the principles of the Robe Goldberg machine into the story ... it was nicely done.That 'chain reaction machine' was called Robe Goldberg after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg's cartoon drawings of gadgets that performed what otherwise would be simple tasks, in highly convoluted and often impractical and complicated ways. Like the setup Shima arranged to get the ball bearing into Ibuki's hand. He could have just given it to him ... but no ... he set up a course filled with obstacles that both lead and limited where and how the ball bearing got into Ibuki's hand ... all to demonstrate a fascinating aspect of life: "The path we take is never straight. There are obstacles. You might dodge them, but you might get pushed into a different path. You may end up committing a crime. Setting off a switch could get you in the wrong path ... ultimately ... one must choose his own path ... but the number of obstacles is different for everybody. Some can get back to the right path, but some get deep into trouble. Who we meet. Who we don't meet. Which switch will change the path of the person? No one knows until the switch is set off."I am not a proponent of free will or concept of being on the 'right' or 'wrong' path. I think life and what a person does in it, is a bit like that ball bearing ... we all start of 'somewhere' (of which we have no choice over) and then where we go from that point is determined / limited by what is around us at that time and place and our capacity at that time ... the ball bearing could only 'roll' where the environment was conducive to its rolling. If you replace the ball bearing with a cube ... the cube would not go anyway on that particular course, in that particular environment in its current 'state'.What you bring to the 'table' of life at any given time, where you are / where you are not, who you meet / who you don't meet ... these are all part of your own personal "Robe Goldberg machine" of life. Robe Goldenberg machine ... a really fascinating application to life that was nicely told in this episode ... it was heartening on one hand and sad on the other ...
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WOW ... every episode is so loaded and mind blowing ... it is really like the picture of the sky on Wang Miao's computer screen.The Chosen Ones - so many people were hit by apples, but Newton was the 'chosen one' ... Pan Han 'chosen' to 'save' the environment ... Shen Yu Fei & Pan Han (and others) chosen by the 'Lord'. Chosen by whom, chosen for what? Seems everybody wants to be 'somebody', to be the 'chosen one'. It reminds me of some of the lyrics from Imagine Dragons' song, "Whatever it Takes" ... "Falling too fast to prepare for this ... Everybody circling is vulturous | Negative, nepotist | Everybody waiting for the fall of man | Everybody praying for the end of times | Everybody hoping they could be the one ... Hypocritical, egotistical | Don't wanna be the parenthetical | Hypothetical, working onto something that I'm proud of | Out of the box, an epoxy to the world and the vision we've lost | I'm an apostrophe, I'm just a symbol to remind you that there's more to see | I'm just a product of the system of catastrophe | And yet a masterpiece, and yet I'm half diseased | And when I am deceased | At least I'll go down to the grave and die happily | Leave the body of my soul to be a part of thee." Do you want to know the 'truth' - scientists are after it, journalists are after, some want to know, others don't want to know. WTH is 'truth' anyway ¯\_( ͡` ᴗ ͡´)_/¯ ... in my limited life span I have noticed that one person's truth can and often is another person's lie or fiction. The 'truth' and the pursuit of it, is not unlike looking at the skull in Hans Holbein's painting "The Ambassadors" - if you look at the painting standing straight on it is this weird blob that makes you wonder what the hell is it and why did he 'ruin' the painting with it :-) ... but if you look down at it, from off to the right hand side at say a 2 o'clock position, the funny blob 'turns' into a skull ... and that imagery and play on perspective, gives a whole other meaning to the painting.Looking at one of Julian Voss-Andrea's sculptures also comes to mind. Voss-Andrea, who has a graduate degree in quantum physics, creates these amazing sculptures that appear solid from one point of view, but as you move around them, the image that you first saw (or you could say the 'truth' of what you first saw with your own eyes or your own experience) seems to dynamically move and change until eventually, you reach a viewing position where, what was once 'solid' or substantial, is no longer visible ... so what is it ... which perspective is the right perspective ... are they all correct at the same time ... it is a wave or a particle :-) Pan Han and his environmental stance - species and habitat loss due to rampant increase and consumerism of the human population. If you 'play out' his take on the world, humanity is a form of cancer to the earth ... its exponential growth depletes resources, annihilates species and habitats and in so doing destroys the synergy of eco systems that have taken eons to form. How much is 'too many' people for the 'good' of the planet?There is so much to think about in this series and it is all masterfully woven together. Of interest too is the supreme arrogance and grandiosity displayed by the Turkey 'chosen ones', who have no qualm at elevating themselves over all the 'misguided' turkeys and dispensing out 'righteousness' action ... ? history is replete with these kinds of sanctimonious characters but 'they' don't seem to realise that ?. The issues and concepts raised in this series are loaded ... but I still don't understand why the scientists are ending their lives ... it doesn't make sense to me at all.
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Well that was fascinating. I liked Wang Miao's come back to Shen Yu Fei about the flickering cosmic background radiation. He response was in contrast to Sha Rui Shan who said, while coming to a similar conclusion, it was impossible even in the sci-fi world ... that not even superman could make a screen that big (? I did wonder if the Green Lantern could do it though). The episode also made me wonder about Arthur Conan Doyle's theory set out in his story "The Sign of Four" . Holmes tells Watson that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Wang Miao seems to have eliminated the 'impossible' so whatever remained, though improbable was credible. However, the accuracy of this approach presupposes that the person is omniscient ... and that they have taken in account all things ... including the unknown unknowns ... which is impossible ... our life span is too short and our knowledge to 'limited' to this time and space ... (kind of like the three body problem itself ... too many variables, too many unknown variables to make an accurate conclusion). Nevertheless, given the situation I would still go with Wang's conclusion as it 'works' for the moment. As far as Shen Yu Fei and her "Lord" is concerned, I am holding on to Shi Qiang "this is very fishy" approach. At this point in the series (and I haven't read the books so I could be totally barking up the wrong tree ... buy hey it is fun LOL), I see Shen Yu Fei and her associates as a very sophisticated and high-level magicians (and assistants) ... what they do is seemingly impossible, but is in fact all 'smoke and mirrors', behind which is a very logical explanation ably supported by the clever art of deception to make it look and feel like it is more than / better than / higher than science / logic. The VR Three Body game - also interesting. Despite all the knowledge of the world ... humans IRL and VR are still metaphorically speaking, 'pushing each other off the cliff', tricking people to 'dehydrate themselves' so they can be 'devoured' or used as 'fuel'. No matter how many iterations humanity goes through, they never change that mind set despite the scientific and technological advances. The relationship between the ability to 'predict events and the capacity for 'survival' is interesting ... despite our 'big' brains, sometimes 'nature' seems to do this much better e.g. birds flocking to a dry inland sea to breed and the rains come allowing them to survive and breed and raise the next generation ... animals deserting a place before a volcanic erruption / earthquake etc ... Hmmm a very interesting and through provoking episode.
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Another awesome episode with even more to think about. Ye Wen Jie has got it right in respect of science's place in history and effect on people and organisations present at the time ... she is pretty chill about it all. Wang Miao (ironic given name all the references to Schrödinger's cat in this episode) mentioned the earth being a shabby little turkey planet ... but in spite of that possibility, it really it is not so shabby, and neither are some of the 'turkeys' who have walked upon it over the years. There are many 'turkeys' who have created wonderful works of art and literature, delved into the fascinating worlds of biology, chemistry, physics, medicine, worlds of land and sea and space ... not so shabby really ... so again Shi Qiang I am with you ... go and take some time out to do a little dance while your personal count-down goes on. I had a thought while watching this episode ... the three body problem seems to be a thing of 'mathematics' ... but I am wondering if it could have another application ... it occurred to me when the old man talked about the 'gravity of reality' and the subsequent 'religious conversion' of the girl, that the three bodies situation could equally apply to the realms of 'science'; 'philosophy'/'religion' and 'psychology' as it relates to human existence ... both on an individual and a collective level. These three bodies have been competing with each other since way before those 'mind sets' could even be named ... depending on the 'strength' of each one at any given time, they each add an unpredictive variables to the way human history/evolution flows ... but which is more 'real' than the 'other' ... and does it even matter when you smash rocks for 5 cents a day just to stay alive ... all three mind sets / systems have their good points but have also caused untold deaths / major life changes in the name of 'science' ... in the name of 'religion' ... in the name of 'psychology' (I am thinking of the discrimination, devaluation and exclusion that psychology has caused and the impact that has had) ... the gravity of reality indeed. I loved the end of this episode ... Mr Buddhist sitting there with his caged chickens ... THEN somehow a "deus ex machina" opens the gate and out comes a curious chicken ... previously caged and fed by the man ... but now is 'free ranging' ... here is to free ranging chickens and their unpredictability \( ͡• ᴥ ͡•)/
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I am mystified at why there were so many scientists that just gave up the ghost the way they did ... it doesn't make sense to me at all. I agree with Shi Qiang ... if something is weird there is always an explanation ... in fact that is how 'science' has evolved ... looking at 'weird' things ... asking 'strange questions' then seeking an explanation ... theories postulated ... trying to prove / disprove those theories ... and moving on to the next strange thing or question. What is so scary about that? I am beginning to think it is not so much "there is no physics" issue as it is a an issue of ego ... they are more concerned about the state of affairs on an egoic level ... 'their' science; 'their' humanity; they being able to have 'all' the answers, being able to predict things etc ... even though the history of humanity and scientific evolution chews that kind of mind set up and spits it out as rubbish.The one thing that is constant is change ... the planet earth has gone from a heaving molten rock ... to an ice planet ... to desert planet ... to water planet ... the earth is in a constant state of change ... as are the lifeforms that inhabit it ... mass extinctions and the rise of new kinds of life constantly cycling throughout time ... and as for humans, in their current state of evolution, there has been countless rise and fall of civilisations etc ... this is how it goes here and there will be more changes to come both to the earth and to the lifeforms on it.Is it not a supreme kind of arrogance or even the grandiosity of narcissism to think that they (the scientists), can step out of this cycle ... that they are 'gods' and are 'above' all 'that'?So fascinating ... I totally agree with Shi Qiang ... so what if there is a countdown ... that is no reason to just go and die in a ditch ... bring it on ... cross the 'bridges' when we get there ... 'evolve' with the situation whatever that may be ... and if the human race is destroyed ... so what ... as soon as we are born we have a date with death ... just like the turkeys ... but so what ... live out your life to the end ... live it to your best ... savour the experience to your very last breath whether your life will be long or short. Who knows we could to another system, what a blood cell is to our personal human body system ... how fascinating.I was very pleased that Shi Qiang's words finally sunk into Wang Miao's mind ... god job Shi Qiang ? ... well done Wang Miao ? ... NOW we can get on to the business of finding out what all this weird shit is about ?.
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This is awesome ... I am loving the science, but I am also loving the psychology ... in a way each person's psyche is like a world unto its own ... seeing Wang Miao's mind go from a state of stability to increasing 'entropy' is moving and fascinating. The human mind is a dissipative system ... will all this new data cause him to crash and burn like all the other scientists ... or will his mind evolve to another stable but 'elevate' state? So exciting ?
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This is so good ... everything from the cinematography, musical score, special effects ... the science ... just awesome viewing experience.In some respects, it reminds me a little of Carl Sagan's book "Contact" (not the movie) ... so I am looking forward to seeing how this develops ? ... already the 'turkey' doctors have reached their egoic based scientific limits (Wang's wife and his wife's ophthalmologist friend). As for Wang's personalised countdown and the possible connection with his nanotechnology research ... it could be a case of 'one person' making the greater impact to a 'future state' ... take that person out of the picture or have them stop their activities stops the future state form occuring .... or (I have not read the novel but now fully intend to get my hands on the trilogy) could Wang be the 'third body' ... the body that adds that variable of chaos ??
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? Awesome ? ... that scientist who was upset about being a 'turkey scientist' ? ... fascinating ... he seemed very caught up in his own egoic grandiosity ... which is kind of strange as one person's 'magic' is another person's 'science' ... if Quantum Mechanics can challenge Newtonian physics then why cannot there be another kind of 'thing' to challenge both Quantum and Newtonian physics ... we are after all only 'turkeys' in our own little earth time and space dimension ... and everything has a "Thanksgiving Day" ... even the farmer ?The production of this series is exceptional ... ???
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Imawa no Kuni no Alice Season 2 Episode 3
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There are so many layers to this series and this episode really rammed that home for me. There is a masterfully crafted metaphysical thread woven through all the blood and guts and mayhem and fight for survival ... and Kyuma's story epitomises this in both words and deeds. At first I just wallowed around in great joy at the visual beauty of Kyuma's glorious nude body ... but as the episodes progressed, I thought WOW, Kyuma really is an interesting character ... there is a profound 'presence' to him ... his nudity became more than just a visual feast it morphed into something that was very symbolic ... symbolic of his abandonment of all the BS that we habitually and many times desperately cover ourselves with in our real lives. Kyuma powerfully exudes this wonderful sense of 'abandonment' ... his mind and body are unfettered by mind-made chains ... he is so deeply connected with the essence of life and death ... so rooted in the 'real' reality of being alive ... WOW ... such a powerful beauty of being ... no anger or bitterness or despair or hatred ... no illusion ... just an amazing sense of purity of his own kind of 'being' ... ? there are some powerful life lessons there. His last words to Arisu are, to me, profound and aspirational:"I hope you figure that out. How to live by your own rules. Your life is yours. Don't follow someone else's path ....So this is the end. I had a great life. I lived it without a single regret. And I know that I'm ready to die."At the end of this episode ... Kyuma's philosophy of life comes full circle ... surrounded by the 'products' of a ravenous consumer society ... so long lost in the savagery of its own mind-made delusions of 'value' and 'purpose' ... there is Kyuma standing on a pylon ... out in the open ... naked ... arms out wide ... face to the sky ... the most sublime look of peace and contentment on his beautiful face ... he is free ... unfettered ... pure ... WOW ...
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