Flying like a plane, feeling like a space brain. It’s terminal cancer patient Will Downing’s time to shine in episode 7 of 3 Body problem, because his unique skill set (willing temperament, Oxford-trained intelligence, eroded physical fitness) makes him the perfect candidate for Thomas Wade’s Ladder Project. At one percent of the speed of light, the probe designed by Jin and his team will reach the San-Ti fleet in 200 years. Obviously, a journey too long for any human being. But what about just one part of a human being? The part where all the neurons are activated. The essence of each of us. How much does the scientific expression of a human soul weigh? It is unknown how the San-Ti will react to the probe. But when the aliens discover Will’s space brain, stuffed in a cryogenic tube, bolted to a nanosail and hurtling toward them at seven million miles an hour, he figures whatever they decide to do to him is a better prospect than the alternative, who is just a normal old dead man.
“Neither dead nor alive…somewhere in between.” This is how the doctor who developed this stasis technology describes the state it leaves the subject in, which he demonstrates with a chimpanzee that has been submerged for more than a month. As Wade, Jin, and the crew watch, Kolya the chimpanzee emerges from the chamber, accurately performs some cognitive tests, and proceeds to vomit up banana goo. Success! In fact, Wade believes the technology is so effective (just wash the cells with an antifreeze cryoprotectant to slow them down to a thousand percent, no big deal) that he wants to use it himself. He could stay alive for hundreds of years, waking up for a week here and there to delegate and regulate, keeping the plan of attack against the San-Ti going. In a post-sophonic world, where the threat to humanity is four centuries away but still imminent, sending supercooled warheads into space or freezing themselves to fight another day is just part of the program. “The future isn’t as far away as it used to be,” Wade tells Jin. “Not for us.”
Wade has a catchy name for this new, more focused and even more weaponized form of scientific research and development: Only Advance. And the cautious intelligence chief is actually full of fun new terms. “Have you ever heard of the term ‘Wallfacer’?” he asks an unknown man on the phone. With his sophons, the San-Ti see and hear everything. But even with that incredibly advanced quantum technology, they can’t see inside the human mind. Our thoughts, which drive our ability to plan, make decisions, and even lie, remain free of alien intrusion. So, if someone devised a strategy to take down San-Ti, if that someone kept the plan hidden inside his head, no one would be able to fight him, right? His intentions would not be known. Like guessing someone’s expression while they are facing a wall.
For Auggie, the advancement of science and technology by leaps and bounds as fortifications against the destruction of humanity does not hide who is left behind. While he agreed to help Jin with the Ladder Project, he cannot, in good conscience, continue doing so and instead takes a turn toward scientific egalitarianism. “Some days I think people who get screwed always will be. None of them will be able to set sail.” Auggie leaves Wychwood Manor and Staircase, says his final goodbye to Will at the hospital, and schedules a meeting with Denys Porlock (Adrian Edmondson). The last time we saw the wealthy investor, he was threatening to alter Auggie’s visa status if she didn’t get the nanofiber project back on track. This time, she simply has all of her proprietary research, software, and every single equipment specification uploaded to Wikileaks. Nanofiber should not belong to her as the inventor, nor to one percenters like Porlock who will simply get richer by exploiting it. Innovative technology like that should make the real world stronger. It should belong to everyone.
Instead of Jin, it was better for Will to call Saul. He made peace with her feelings for her when she proposed becoming the space brain; she didn’t need to be with him until the end. So it’s Saul who walks through the San-Ti scenes while Will completes the five commands on a tablet that will authorize her medically assisted death. What if they block her mind and prevent her from seeing, touching and feeling? Forever? What if they returned his physical body only to torture him to death? Will says all of that is better than the alternative, which is a simple flat line. And he admires the idea of flying across the universe for the sake of science, saving humanity, and, in the meantime, helping his friend and his unrequited crush. He even references Porn for Pyros.Pets.†And before Jin can arrive to protest his decision, it’s already done. She cries in the observation room as she inserts Will’s head into her cryogenic tube and prepares for her brain liftoff into Staircase space.
Do you remember the mystery woman, Tatiana? When the San-Ti make contact via the television in her trailer, they make it clear that they are not done with her yet. Sure, they let Mike Evans and his entire naval colony get gutted with weaponized nanofibers. But they still have a job for Jack’s killer, his still enthusiastic supporter. When Ye Wenjie returned to the ruins of the Red Coast Base in China, it appeared to be for a final reckoning with the decisions she made there before ending her life. (3 Body problem Episode 2, “Red Coast.”) Instead, Tatiana appears beneath the remains of the satellite dish and the two share a tender embrace as they look out over the vast expanse of Inner Mongolia. Was this the finishing move you mentioned at the end of 3 Body problem Episode 6? Or is his made-up joke about Einstein playing his violin with God in heaven? Saúl didn’t know what to make of the joke when she told it, after they visited Vera’s grave. But the punchline – “Never play with God” – seems like it could find a way to resonate in a world where science is in a fight with the inevitable.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is a freelance writer and editor living in Chicago. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.
