Death’s end is a bleak perspective. Humanity muddles through events multiple times oscillating between arrogance and casuistry, nothing but science is valued though actual scientists and the toil of progress is omitted, and traditional gender roles rear their head across time.
Perhaps part of the issue is that the ideas dealt with in Death’s End are so grand that there’s little time to elaborate on culture. It’s given footnotes here and there: a mention of a babbling brook, a wistful comment that some know how to enjoy their life better. Actual scholars of literature are derided and explicitly labeled as useless, as when interpreting the three short stories.
The most delicious moments in this book come in its hard science. Special relativity is considered and actually central to the story and distances are measured in astronomical units. There are more airy-fairy moments, speculation is fun.
I’m surprised at the prominence paid to Western art; Starry Night and the Mona Lisa. The squirrelled in side notes that follow for Chinese works of art feel like Straussian notes for censors.
Overall is this an optimistic take on our species? Certainly for resilience, certainly not for hubris. Coordination is underrated but literal existentialism is not.