Europe’s 3-body problem: collapsing global order sparks hunt for new trajectory
Some are sceptical the EU’s talk of ‘economic security’ can translate into action, but there are early signs that may be changing
Everywhere they look these days, Europe’s politicians see chaos.
The United States is helping to trash the global order it built in its image. China is pulling the rug from under efforts to upgrade European industry by weaponising its monopoly on critical minerals. Russia is waging a hot war at the European Union’s borders, with the growing danger that it may spill over.
So tumultuous have things become, some officials have turned to Chinese science fiction to describe it.
“Where we are now, we’re actually in a time of a ‘three-body problem’ which is notoriously unstable and quirky – it can take many shapes,” said Marc Moquette, the special envoy for knowledge on China in the Dutch government, referring to the blockbuster Chinese novel of the same name.
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What are rare earths, and why is China’s dominance facing global pushback
In a simulated version of that galaxy, scientists on Earth try to solve the “three-body problem”, searching for solutions that do not exist before the simulated world collapses when the three suns move unpredictably again. The more they try to solve the chaos, the more they realise the problem is not solvable, only survivable.