"This dark theme of Social Darwinism has both fans and haters. For fans, this book is quite popular amongst the nationalists or the right side of the political spectrum because a lot of people are very much focused on saying that this is the human society and we have to take care of ourselves, our families, and our communities, and we shouldn't care about progressive liberal ideals of universal humanity that doesn't exist. On the other side, the criticism is that these scenarios are way too zero-sum. We are not down to the last three humans on Earth where one has to eat the other to survive and perpetuate humans as a species. We are in a large global community that has rules, orders, and shared ethos that allows us to cooperate and move past zero-sum games to win games that help us get richer, be safer, and have a better future as a human civilization." - Jeremy Au
"In contrast to Game of Thrones, where individuals are making morally gray decisions to gain power or to survive as a house, here, it’s about the desire for individuals or groups of communities to survive as an entity to the next generation. So in many of the crises, it's about people making a decision and trading off between their ideals and their moral idealism versus the greater good, with the greater good being survival. This core instinct lays the framework for much of the game theory that underpins the later book. Machiavelli is correct, might makes right and the good is surviving. In these dark times, being kind to anybody is a massive privilege and a luxury. Idealism is fatal. As a result, when people don't play the rules of real politics, that's when the most lives are lost." - Jeremy Au
"This is science fiction. This is not meant to be a point of view on human society. Maybe you believe that Social Darwinism is not a thing, or you don't believe that technology is a true level of competition. Maybe you believe that the individual is more important than the community. Any of these things could be a different assumption on your part, and as a result, the story will go very differently, but it's interesting that it's able to stitch these three things into a coherent plot line where the logic of the real politic between societies, communities, and individuals is translated organically, and naturally plot events that make sense within the logic of this universe." - Jeremy Au
In this episode, Jeremy Au speaks on 3-Body Problem, social Darwinism, technology blockades, and community over individuals by Liu Cixin.
Keywords: 3-Body Problem, Social Darwinism, Technology Blockades, Community Over Individuals, Liu Cixin, China, VC, Thought Leadership
