Netflix's '3 Body Problem' Has Chilling Social Media Parallels

SPOILER ALERT

> A sophon is a proton-sized computer that is capable of surveiling any and all human communications, from private conversations to electronic messages to records stored in offline data banks. It transforms the entire planet into a terrifying panopticon. Effectively, it allows Earth's alien antagonists to see and hear everything.

Notably, the spark for the surveillance is because the aliens hear from their human contact that humans lie. So the alien deduction is that humans cannot be trusted, and so they are afraid and conclude that they cannot coexist.

For a person that has read the books a couple of times (and loved the Tencent show) the Netflix version is so shallow and lacking nuance that I barely finished it. Benioff and Weiss have picked some "wow" moments from the book without any understanding of it or the emotional and existential weight of it all. As an adaption it is extremely poor. There are some good actors in it, but they are all wasted and not given enough to shine. Pacing was extremely poor. Another thing that made an impression of me was the quality of the dialogue. It's the most dumbed possible version you could think of. Ye Wenjie saying "Time is a motherfucker" was such a disservice to such a complex character from the book/Tencent show that I couldn't believe it when I heard it.

If you want something that stirs your mind and makes you truly ponder, especially if you're science/engineering/philosophy inclined, read the books and/or watch the Tencent show (very slow burn, but it's worth it because it's made with love and let's you think, although I do have some critiques on it as well).

As an aside I'd like to say that the whole trilogy is fundamentally not a product of Western thought. You need some context on Chinese history and culture to truly appreciate it. I think many people in the West don't know enough about China and society there to fully grasp the nuance in most of it.

I recommend everyone who enjoy the story to try the TV series by Tencent, especially for original book lovers. The Netflix version is somewhat a glimpse.