Sophon So Good?

Last week I finished up Three-Body, the Chinese television adaptation of the Chinese science-fiction novel The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, thanks to its availability on the streaming service Viki.

Two days later I developed a flickering flash at the extreme right-hand side of my vision when I moved my eyes from right to left.

For those who don’t know, a protagonist of both the novel and show experiences a countdown that appears to be imposed upon his retina by an alien force. That same force later also causes the cosmic microwave background to flicker.

I’m pretty sure that I am not under the super-scientific influence of the Trisolaran civilization. I am, however, under instructions to watch for any worsening, any sudden increase in floaters, or developing blind spots.

As near as I can tell, for people over fifty, sometimes the vitreous humour of the eyes I guess can become sluggish or sticky or something and will pull on the retina a bit as your eyes move around. Typically, it just goes away when things free up again.

Or, it keeps snagging and you end up with a detached retina.

This is not nearly as exciting as being hounded by the machinations of a massively-powerful supercomputer made out of a single proton.

This month has been an experience and it’s only just begun. I’ve a followup appointment for the eye in early April, but as I write this I wonder if this issue will impact my refractive exam at the end of March.

On the upside, they’ve already renewed Three-Body to adapt the second book in the series, The Dark Forest, whose titular theory kept me up at night.