It’s impossible not to think of Ye Wenjie, the scientist whose experiences of that period led her to contact the aliens in The Dark Forest. What she witnessed convinced her that humanity might be beyond saving, and that outside intervention or annihilation could be preferable to what humans do to one another. But for me, it wasn’t the 2 words alpha centauri that kept on coming to my mind, it was the two words ‘term limits’. The mind boggles as to how these countries like China and Russia who between Stalin and Mao have two of the most devastatingly murderous humans in the history of our species have both now voted to abolish term limits for their leaders, thus paving the way AGAIN for lifelong dictators.
