#there's no way someone wouldn't've fucked it up eventually. it's just the purpose of cheng xin's character to be that fuck up | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

pinejay · 7 months ago

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cheng xin's failure to press the button doesn't represent the inherent weakness in caring about others. imo it's to demonstrate that the dark forest deterrence was doomed from the start. the whole concept is like, the dark forest only exists because every creature in the forest chooses to treat others as the enemy to be destroyed as the price of your personal survival. the entire universe had to be rebooted bc all civilizations chose to destroy each other until all dimensions were flattened to nothing. it's simply an unsustainable mode of living. humanity vs trisolarans mutual destruction scenario was just a micro problem inside the macro problem. u can't prevent total annihilation by threatening total annihilation bc eventually something will cause your tenuous peace to break down and u will totally annihilate each other.

#the moment u label the other as the enemy – the moment u engage in us vs them – u r doomed.#i'm not saying there's a way to fix it. but by choosing to partake in this game you're choosing to die by the game #hesitation is just so inherently human #there's no way someone wouldn't've fucked it up eventually. it's just the purpose of cheng xin's character to be that fuck up #also the nature of the dark forest deterrence meant that they were screwed the moment they chose cheng xin before she even did anything #they only launched the attack bc they predicted she wouldn't press the button based on her character #she didn't actually get a chance to not press the button. by the time she would've pressed it it would've been too late anyway #and the trisolarans would've broadcasted earth's location in retaliation. this way at least they only have to contend with the trisolarans #instead of an even more dangerous alien civilization that can blow up suns #3bp

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