1. An acoustic conjecture
Assuming that the space where the black obelisk (also known as the black stele, Monoliths in the movie, there are more than one black obelisk, written as a black obelisk to avoid disputes) meets the conditions for sound transmission, the ratio of the length, width and height of the black obelisk is related To the cutoff frequency of the normal wave.
The following are inferences and simulations. (Multi-picture warning!)
Different normal waves may have the same characteristic frequency. If any two of the length, width and height of the space are in an integer ratio (reducible), it will cause two or more normal waves to have the same cut-off frequency, which is called "degenerate." . In this way, there may be no cut-off frequency of the normal wave in a certain frequency range, and there are more cut-off frequencies of the normal wave in another frequency range, which will cause the cut-off frequency of the normal wave to be unevenly distributed. The way to avoid this "degeneration" is that any two of the space's length, width, and height cannot be an integer ratio (irreducible).
2. Cause
First declare, not to find fault. To put it simply, it is the thinking triggered by a picture.
Liu's signature of this book is "1:3:9, Liu Cixin, the most arrogant manifestation of power."
The first thing that comes to mind is Liu's tribute to the Monolith (black square monument) of Arthur Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey". In "Three-Body II: Dark Forest", there is a description of water droplets, referring to the black obelisk.
In his science fiction novel "2001: Space Odyssey", Arthur Clark described a black obelisk left by an alien super civilization on the moon. The investigator used a normal ruler to measure the three sides of the obelisk, and the length ratio was 1. :3:9. In the future, no matter what more accurate method is used to measure, the highest accuracy of measurement technology on the earth is exhausted, and the ratio of the three sides of the obelisk is still accurate 1:3:9, without any error. Clark wrote: That civilization arrogantly showed its power in this way.
This passage can confirm that Liu’s signature "1:3:9 is the most arrogant display of power" is a tribute to Arthur Clara, but in novels and movies, no matter what tool is used to measure, how many accurate the number is , The ratio of length, width and height of the black obelisk is exactly 1:4:9. "2001: A Space Odyssey" was published in the same year as the movie. The storyline of "2001: A Space Odyssey" was jointly conceived and created by Clark and Kubrick.
There is a philosophical explanation as to why the black obelisk has a ratio of length, width and height of 1:4:9. "Richard Strauss's music "What Zarathust Says" is very useful in the movie. Tonality: 1,5,8...very talk about rhythm, harmony. And the geometric structure of the stele is 1,4,9. One square, two squares, three squares. Strauss’s music composition itself It represents the three stages of the movie: apes, humans, superman... and in Nietzsche’s point of view, there are also three stages of human evolution."
What is the black obelisk in the movie?
What everyone agrees is that the black square stele is an energy body that extracts the ultimate wisdom from pure consciousness. It exists out of the physical body and can travel freely in the universe. The black obelisk represents a more advanced civilization. The black obelisk first appeared at the beginning of the movie. The black obelisk appeared in front of the ape-man cave. An ape-man picked up an animal skeleton and smashed it against other skeletons on the ground, representing that the ape-man learned to use tools and civilization began. evolution. This section has always been regarded as a classic in film history.
As Bowman drove the Discovery towards the end of Jupiter, the black obelisk once again appeared between Jupiter and Europa IO. He tried to land on the Black Rock in the separate capsule. (If the black obelisk is in space, there is no medium in space, and sound waves cannot propagate, then the reasoning in Chapter 1 is invalid. But light can propagate in space. I wonder if there is a "normal wave" in optics. Concept, welcome to discuss.)
Then Bowman fell into an interstellar door. After a colorful fall, he found that he had landed in a room. His memory and consciousness were slowly stripped away. When he was completely out of the body, the black obelisk appeared. In the end, Bowman traveled through the universe like energy after becoming a star child, and existed like Liu's quantum state in "Ball Lightning".
The advanced civilization represented by the black obelisk in "2010" also created the Jupiter's galaxy, which, like the solar system, also enlightened life born in the water.
The black obelisk represents advanced wisdom and can open up the evolution of civilization. But the advanced civilization that created the black obelisk did not show up, the mystery of the universe. Just like the three-body man in "Three-Body", he didn't show up until the end of the universe. Sophon and water drop existed like black square monuments.
"All my works are botched imitations of Arthur Clarke." Regarding Liu Cixin's tribute to Arthur Clarke, I found the source.
3. A little association
"As for the prospect of life and civilization in the universe, any imagination is weak."
Liu wrote in "Wearing the Dao in the North" that a more advanced civilization, "Risk Eliminator", has deployed an early warning system in the universe. When a civilization capable of generating the energy process of creation energy level appears, the early warning system will give an alarm.
"This primitive man has been looking up at the starry sky for more than the warning threshold, and has shown full curiosity about the universe. So far, ten cases of such out-of-limit events have been observed in different locations, which meets the alarm conditions." Showed the characteristicless smile and said: "Is it difficult to understand? When life realizes the existence of the mystery of the universe, it is only one step away from finally unlocking the mystery." Seeing that people still don't understand, he went on to say "For example, life on earth, it took more than 4 billion years to realize the existence of the mystery of the universe for the first time, but at that moment it was less than 400,000 years before you built Einstein's equator, and this process is the most critical The acceleration period is less than five hundred years. If the primitive man stared at the universe for a few minutes and saw a gem, then what you call the entire human civilization is just bending over to pick it up."
"2001" is the black stele that opened up the minds of the apes, learned to use tools, no longer eat hair and drink blood, and then evolved into human civilization, which means that the opening of human civilization is intervened by external forces. But in Liu's "Chao Wen Dao", it corresponds to "primitive people looking up at the starry sky curiously for a long time", which shows that the beginning of human civilization is spontaneous, or it is called the consciousness awakening of human beings as a whole.
"It's incredible, there will be a 3C civilization in such a desolate place!" The fleet commander exclaimed. "Yes, whether it is a carbon-based federation or a silicon-based empire, its civilization expansion and cultivation plan does not include this area. If this is a civilization that has evolved by itself, it is a very unusual thing." The Supreme Ruling The official said.
In "Country Teacher", human civilization also evolved alone, without the cultivation of advanced civilization. In "Three-Body", the universe is a dark forest, and human beings have not yet penetrated the two axioms of cosmic civilization and society. Science has not yet reached the speed of light and driven by curvature, and it is about to face the crisis of Trisolaran aggression. "There is always hope in novels, and more attention is paid to how civilization can get rid of moral fetters in order to survive in extreme situations."
Regarding reality: Arthur Clark’s Space Odyssey has four ("2001", "2010", "2061" and "3001"), the most influential is the first "2001: A Space Odyssey"; Liu Cixin's "Three-Body" There are three, the most influential is the third "Reaper forever".
The greatest advantage and charm of science fiction is to describe the relationship between man and the universe. In science fiction, the universe should be the protagonist as important as people. The reason why the sequels of "2001" "2010" and "2061" were not successful is that the author turned his focus to describe the various relationships of human society and destroyed the kind of universe established in "2001" The mystery and ethereal.
The first two parts of "Three Body" also reflect this effort. The first part describes the story of the Cultural Revolution. In the second part, China is still under the current social system in the near future of fighting alien invasion. These are all attempts to increase the reader's sense of reality and find a realistic support and platform for the imagination of science fiction. It is precisely because of this that both the author and the publisher have lost confidence in the forthcoming third volume of "Three Body". Because with the development of the story, the third part can no longer connect with reality, and can only describe the distant future and the more distant universe, and these are considered to be of no interest to Chinese readers. So the author and the publisher reached an agreement, thinking that since the third book is unlikely to be successful in the market, they should just abandon readers outside the science fiction circle and write a very pure science fiction novel. A comfort for the author of science fiction fans. Thus, the third part became a carnival of science fiction, depicting the multi-dimensional and two-dimensional world, the emergence of artificial black holes and small universes, and the story has reached the end of the universe in time.
In science fiction novels like "Three-Body", the worst universe is described in order to have the best earth.
At the PEN conference in 2000, Yang Ping told me that he felt a strong "homecoming complex" in my novels. At that time, I disagreed, thinking that the homecoming complex was the most unlikely thing to appear in my novels. But after thinking about it, I really admire him.
Life, the universe, and everything appeared in contradictions and turmoil.
In the end, it was too far to end, and it was impossible to control such a profound topic of cosmic life!
Pay tribute to Arthur Clark, pay tribute to Liu!
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