Death's End

“Hadn’t Orban, the Hungarian engineer, already been an example of this? He had come to Constantine first with plans for his giant cannons, but the emperor had no money to pay his salary, let alone finance the construction of such monstrous engines. He had then gone to Mehmed II, and the daily bombardments had served as a constant reminder of his betrayal.”

In the first chapter, the idea of power imbalance in conflict is explored through the Fall of Constantinople. Because the Byzantine Empire refused to pay for new, superior weaponry, it must now face attacks with advanced technology by their enemies, whose armaments turn the tide of the war and engineer Constantinople’s defeat.

“It was commonly thought that Infantilism was a response to an unprecedented threat to the entirety of civilization. That might have been true for individuals, but it was too simple an explanation when applied to humanity as a whole.”

Humanity’s first “Infantile” approaches to the Trisolaran Crisis demonstrate the problem of perspective. Because the Trisolarans will not arrive for 450 years, humans find it difficult to truly understand the threat and create an effective counterstrategy.

“They were polite to each other, but there was no trust. The technical experts kept to themselves and acted as if they were on guard against theft every minute. The intelligence veterans were gregarious and friendly—but they were constantly on the lookout for something to steal.”

In the early phase of the Trisolaran Crisis, organizations and groups that should be uniting into one community instead splinter into distrustful factions. Similarly, efforts to coordinate between nations break down as domestic politics influence the effectiveness of the projects. Earth seems doomed to failure as nations seek to increase their own power and position in the world rather than collaborating toward a greater purpose.