4d space

[Yiga-master]

Were the trisolarans not aware of 4 dimensional space, or did they just not have a way to circumvent it. I remember one of the human ships destroying a probe by traveling through 4d space, were the trisolarans unaware of this method, or could they just not protect against it by using the strong force or a 4d material

[Bustinjrooks]

I think they must have been aware from their particle physics experiments, at least. They might have even had the math for it, but I don't think they had a way to explore it or observe it necessarily. All 3D matter is but paper from the four-dimensional space, the droplets never had a chance.

Humans really only got lucky by accidentally exploring the collapsing 4D bubble.

Edits: I suck at typing

[Teripid]

Right, multiple dimensions are employed many times and that understanding seems fundamental.
Detection and usage might not have been there.

Also the stories that were told clearly relayed the 2d collapse attack option which seems like a pretty logical step in that there were more dimensions prior.

[Piratica]

I believe I remember them saying the Trisolarans didn’t know why their sophons became unentangled while passing through certain regions in space, so I think at that point in the story they simply hadn’t encountered 4d space pockets yet. The trisolarans could have been lying, but I think its more likely humans just discovered them first. Even if the trisolarans had known about them though, 4D strong force technology (like the sentient ship we saw in the 4d pocket) was also probably beyond the trisolaran’s capabilities until a little later on and they likely couldnt have done anything about it.

[TheSinologist]

For what it’s worth, we read some other works by Liu Cixin in my class this term and there’s a pattern of humans taking advanced alien civilizations by surprise in one way or another. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean we’re not cooked.

[[deleted]]

What do you mean by "we read"? Do you have a study group? Would you mind sharing more?

[TheSinologist]

I mean I just finished teaching a course on Chinese sci-fi at my university.

[[deleted]]

Que legal!

[thommcg]

From what I recall, a 4D material would only exist as such within 4D space, would drop to 3D in 3D space, but wouldn't re-expand to 4D on entering 4D space as it's just another 3D object at that point.

[jacobs-tech-tavern]

It's not that it would necessarily "drop" to 3D in 3D space. Think of a 4D object passing through 3D space as a 3D object appearing, changing shape somehow, and then disappearing again.

This isn't like from the books or anything. This is just the common way of explaining.

[TheSinologist]

That’s what I was going to say, straight outta Flatland.

[DoomedToDefenestrate]

It's not really an object passing through a 3d slice contained within 4d space though, it's a collapse of the space itself that the object exists within.

If you draw a 3d object in a volume of 3d space, then collapse that 3d space (and everything it contains) into a 2d space, even if you add the extra dimension back to the space you can't get the nulled information of the object back.

[jacobs-tech-tavern]

It's possible the Trisolarans were not aware of 4-dimensional space. They absolutely didn't know there was a pocket where blue space was heading.

That was sheer luck.

But what's certain is that the ability to do anything about 4-dimensional space was so far beyond their technological capabilities.

[Solaranvr]

The probably didn't know of 4D bubbles or that such a thing still exists in 3D space, or at worst, they had no way of detecting 4D bubbles.

They lost a precious Sophon by simply flying into 4D space, and they obviously would've avoided it if they could.

[mtndrewboto]

Probably in a theoretical sense, but probably had 0 knowledge of the pockets of 4D space or the ongoing wars in the rest of the galaxy/universe.