Why did the scientist in The Three Body Problem commit suicide? A simple introduction to the quant

Mondo Science Updated on 2024-02-25

The high-profile sci-fi drama "The Three-Body Problem" has already started, and I can't help but be ** in my spare time. At present, two episodes have been broadcast, and from the perspective of the presentation effect, the degree of restoration is quite high, which makes people sigh at the realism and future of this show.

Of course, the acting skills of actors are also an important criterion for evaluating the quality of a drama. In this drama, some actors perform their roles to the fullest with their excellent acting skills, while some actors' performances are a little indescribable.

However, this is also the charm of the TV series, through the interpretation of the actors, we can understand the inner world of the characters more deeply. In this drama, the suicide of the world's top scientists becomes a striking opening. This series of suicides undoubtedly left a deep impression on the audience.

For the setting of this plot, you may have all kinds of questions:Is the suicide of these scientists due to the collapse of the value of life, or is it the fragility of their hearts? Or is the original author Liu Cixin too exaggerated? Before discussing these issues, let's take a look at how Liu Cixin designed the background of this era.

The beginning of this drama shows us the suicide scene of Wang Miao's crush Yang Dong after launching the collider experiment. The collider, this advanced scientific research equipment, does exist in reality. It is a device that studies the structure and interaction of matter by accelerating particles to extremely high velocities and then colliding.

In "The Three-Body Problem", Liu Cixin skillfully integrates the scientific system in reality into the world, which makes science fiction fans deeply immersed in it and can't stop. He not only combined the current situation of scientific and technological development at that time, but also made reasonable assumptions and speculations about the future of science and technology. Let's get back to the plot.

In the play, Yang Dong chose to die after getting the experimental results, which made people sigh at her vulnerability. And Ding Yi, as Yang Dong's friend and colleague, repeatedly advised her to redo the experiment, and even said it"Experiments are all about getting the wrong results, and the results are not right, so why don't you do it a few more times? ”Words like this.

But from a scientific point of view, as an expert in high-energy physics, his words are obviously somewhat unreliable. And Yang Dong still chose to pass through the collider and rush to the arms of death even though he already had a premonition of the experimental results. This kind of behavior may seem strange to ordinary people, but in the context of this drama, should we simply attribute it to fragility or brain damage?

Through in-depth thinking and **, the drama "Three-Body Problem" has brought us more inspiration. It makes us think about human values, the development of science and technology, and how we face the challenges of the future. Although it is a science fiction drama, the themes and issues it is very realistic are very realistic.

In the play, Liu Cixin uses his wisdom and imagination to show us a future world full of unknowns and surprises, and at the same time, it also triggers us to think deeply about the real world. Whether or not we understand the role of the Hadron Collider, let's first talk about its cost.

The project started in 1994 and was not completed until 2008, a period of 14 years. Nearly $10 billion was spent, and that's not taking into account inflation due to the passage of time. If we put this money today, it would be worth close to 100 billion yuan just because of the passage of time.

Imagine, what is the concept of 100 billion yuan? Changle County, Shandong Province, which has recently received widespread public attention, has a GDP of only 40 billion yuan in 2021. This means that all the people of Changle County need to work tirelessly for more than two consecutive years to earn so much money. However, the scientists used the money to build a ring-like structure with a circumference of less than 27 kilometers, the Nibelungen Ring.

The importance of this ring cannot be overlooked. So, what world-changing research have scientists done with such expensive equipment? We can understand this with a concrete example. We all know that the basic unit of matter is the atom, which is like a small castle from which the matter we see every day is accumulated.

And in this little castle, the interaction between the nucleus and the electrons is like magic. At the very center of the castle is the nucleus, which is made up of two "magicians", protons and neutrons. And on the periphery of the nucleus, there are electrons spinning at high speed, which are like shining magic balls. The interaction between these electrons and protons and neutrons is like a magic spell, controlling the operation of the entire castle.

The effect of this "magic" is actually the interaction force between electrons and protons and neutrons, which causes electrons to rotate around the nucleus and form the basic structure of the atom. Just as a big castle is made up of many small castles, every matter in our body is made up of these little atoms. Through the study of the Hadron Collider, we have been able to gain insight into the mysteries of this microscopic world.

It's like we can study the magic spells in a castle to understand how the whole castle works. In this microcosm, the behavior of every particle is as mysterious and fascinating as a magic spell. And it is through tools like the Hadron Collider that scientists delve deeper into this mysterious microscopic world. They are like brave adventurers, unlocking the secrets of the microcosm step by step.

Through their research, we have been able to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of matterLearn more about the universe. This is undoubtedly an immensely great and difficult task, but scientists have already achieved remarkable results. In order to convey this content more vividly, I will start from the perspective of the story and add specific examples and details.

Let's imagine a world full of elements, each of which is like a bead, connected together by thin threads to form a complex web. This web is like a thick "Twenty-Four History", each page is a chapter of history, and every word is an element or particle. In this world, there is a mysterious machine - the Large Hadron Collider.

This machine is like a super weaver, and it is able to manipulate those thin threads, which are the interactions between elementary particles. These elementary particles, such as quarks and electrons, are the building blocks of matter. Quarks are the elementary particles that make up protons and neutrons, and they are like important figures in the Twenty-Four History, each with a unique charge. Protons are made up of two upper quarks and one lower quark, and together they act like a powerful prime minister, leading other quarks into more complex structures.

On the other side of the world, there is another particle without mass, which we call the boson. They are like those inconspicuous punctuation marks, silently interspersed in the pages of history, ensuring the coherence and logic of the story. These bosons are like the bearers of the baton, responsible for transmitting the power that will make the whole universe work. And the reason why this universe works is because there are four fundamental forces.

These forces are like the change of dynasties in history, and they maintain the stability of the whole world through continuous relay transmission. Qiangqiang is one of them, and it is responsible for combining quarks into protons and neutrons, just like the civil and military officials in the imperial court working together to maintain the stability of the country. The importance of the Large Hadron Collider lies in its ability to explore the mysteries of these elementary particles and forces. It's like a historian who delves into the details of history to reveal the secrets that lie beneath the surface.

Through the LHC experiments, we can gain a deeper understanding of the nature of the universe, explore uncharted territory, and open a whole new chapter. Weak force – This mysterious force is a short-range force that controls the decay of particles. You can imagine that it is some kind of ** magic that causes the macromolecule to gradually lose its vitality in the torrent of time, but the trigger conditions and duration of this magic are different.

The energy produced by this decay is nuclear energy. In this process, the interaction of forces is known as weak force. The weak force is like a clever magician, who casts its magic by exchanging Z bosons and W bosons, and these bosons are like magic wands in the hands of the magician, transmitting the magic of the weak force.

Electromagnetic force, on the other hand, is another manifestation of long-range force. It's like a tacit understanding between you and me, no matter how far away you are, you can feel the attraction or repulsion of the other person. You can imagine the principle of the magnet repelling the same sex and the opposite sex attracting, which is the best example of electromagnetic force. This force is achieved by exchanging photons, yes, the same photons that fill the world with light. If you don't realize it's there, the next time someone slaps you or punches you, it's the electromagnetic force that's at work.

As for gravity, it's an elusive force. It's ubiquitous, yet elusive. Now we haven't found the one called"God particles".The direct connection of the Higgs boson with gravitational attraction. Although we have a powerful unified theory that integrates strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, we are still in a fog in the realm of gravity.

Finally, we still need more exploration and research for the spaces on this puzzle that have not yet been filled. Dark matter, dark energy, graviton, and so on, these are mysteries that we have yet to solve. The key to solving these problems may lie in the complex data of the Large Hadron Collider experiments, or in completely new experiments that we have not yet imagined. This universe is still full of mysteries and unknowns, waiting for us to unveil it. Let's take the time back to that great time more than 300 years ago.

When Isaac Newton, the scientist revered as the god of the gods, used calculus as a mysterious tool to reveal the mysteries of the universe. He discovered gravity, the only mysterious force of the four fundamental forces of the universe that has not been united.

His divine formula, simple and profound, has been proven and proven again and again by later generations. Newton's theories are now used everywhere in our lives. From the progress or failure of the shot to the success of the rocket launch, it is all based on the system calculated by traditional theoretical physics and mathematics.

The characteristic of this system is that it is a process of constantly proposing theories, experimental verification, patching and upgrading. Among them, Einstein's theory of relativity laid the last big patch for this system, making the traditional theoretical mechanics complete. However, in God's puzzle, the system constructed by these forces is not. This is a completely different system of research and development, and quantum mechanics is the representative of this system.

In the quantum world, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle obscures the world. We can't know exactly the position and momentum of a particle at the same time, which makes traditional theoretical mechanics helpless here. In order to explore this mysterious territory, we had to take a different approach.

We conduct experiments, collect data, summarize and summarize, and review the experiments, so as to move forward step by step. That's why we only know the theories in quantum mechanics, but we rarely see the formulas. It's not just that formulas are difficult to come up with, but more importantly, we've never tried to study quantum mechanics by deducing formulas.

This journey has led to many interesting stories for the scientists. From Schrödinger's cat to the Einstein-Bohr controversy, these stories have become great stories in the history of science. For us, we may feel dizzy, but that's the beauty of science. As Bohr said, if you find quantum mechanics confusing, then you may have begun to understand the science.

This paradox made Einstein think deeply in his later years, and it also sparked debate among countless scientists. So, what exactly is this so-called ERP paradox? In short, it challenges our common-sense understanding of the real world. In quantum mechanics, there are phenomena that seem to defy our everyday experience and intuition.

The ERP paradox is an example of this, and it raises a question that is impossible to ignore:How exactly is reality constructed in the quantum world? How to understand quantum entanglement? Imagine that when two particles interact with each other under certain conditions, their states become interrelated, no matter how far apart they are. Even when separated by light-years, a change in the state of one particle can instantly affect the state of another particle.

This connection that transcends time and space seems to break our traditional perception of the real world. These interesting scientific stories make us wonder how great scientists thought and explored the world. Their stories and discoveries not only give us a deeper understanding of the universe, but also allow us to reflect more on our own existence. But remember, exploration never ends, and there may still be many unknown corners of our understanding of the quantum world waiting to be discovered.

Why, then, does the Large Hadron Collider hold such an important place in the study of quantum mechanics and high-energy physics? First of all, we need to understand that quantum mechanics is a science that is highly dependent on experimental verification. Without experimental equipment, theories can only be castles in the air. The Large Hadron Collider is like a key to unlocking God's puzzle, revealing the mysteries of matter and the universe by accelerating protons to near the speed of light and causing them to collide at extremely high energy levels. However, it's worth noting that the accelerator itself isn't critical.

What really matters is the observation devices, such as the Atlas and CMS, that are able to capture the moment of collision and capture the new particles that are released at that moment. As technology advances, we continue to upgrade these observations in order to explore the pieces of God's puzzle more deeply.

So, why does Yang Zhenning oppose China's new and larger Hadron Collider? He believes that science knows no borders, but scientists have a homeland. He is concerned that excessive investment in large experimental equipment may neglect the study of the underlying theory. After all, breakthroughs by purely theoretical scientists often rely on new results from experiments. Their lives are often tied up in their own interests, accompanied by numbers and formulas. Their friends are like-minded researchers, giant devices in the labs.

Now back to the question at the beginning of the article: Why do scientists commit suicide one after another? Perhaps this is a complex question, but we can look for some clues from the lifestyle and mindset of scientists. In modern scientific research, they are under tremendous pressure to constantly break through themselves and innovate their research.

At the same time, they are also human beings and are subject to psychological distress and emotional problems. In addition, we cannot ignore the influence of the social environment on them, such as academic environment, family situation, etc. Every case of suicide is unique and requires us to study and understand it in depth. On that cold output screen, all that came in was the dazzling text, "Hello World!" ”。This is not only the first greeting of computer programming, but also the desperate cry of scientists to explore the mysteries of the universe.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, they try to piece together the real world we live in from the endless numbers and formulas, yet Tomoko brutally deprives them of everything they have. Let's imagine that it's like being in a lively party where you get together with your friends and family, and all of a sudden, they all disappear and go to another dimension. That kind of loneliness and helplessness is like the situation faced by the scientists in the **. Their theories, experiments, and hopes have all come to naught.

Who can withstand such a blow? As a result, some people choose to abandon this world and withdraw themselves from reality. Their departure seems to be the last indictment of this universe, a silent ** of the game of Zhizi. As an aside, the name of the initiator of the LHC in the real world is Evans, and in Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem", the name of the supreme leader of the Three-Body Problem is also Evans. Is this a coincidence, or is it the arrangement of some mysterious force? Was it intentional on the part of the author, or was it a chess game manipulated by God behind his back? We don't know, but the mysteries and unknowns of this world are far deeper than we think.

If you also like "The Three-Body Problem", you can click the link below to buy the "Three-Body Problem" set of books!

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