Ye Wenjie

That was made into a TV show, which is bloody fantastic.

As the plot of The Dark Forest unfolds, the astronomer and sociologist Luo Ji, whose name actually sounds rather similar to the Chinese word for logic, by the way, the more you know, converses with the former astrophysics professor, Ye Wenji.

During this conversation, Ye speaks rather cryptically.

She provides Luo with a series of axioms which form the basis for what she calls cosmic sociology.

because it provides the emotional logic for the inciting incident of the series.

Eventually, Ye Wenji makes a decision that alters the fate of the entire human race.

She uses a massive radio telescope to broadcast a message into space, essentially inviting an alien invasion.

Right.

It starts during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

We see a young woman, an astrophysicist named Ye Wenjie, watch the state brutally execute her father for teaching theoretical physics.

Mm-hmm.

She learns very early on that humanity is fundamentally self-destructive and hostile to logic.

They realize their planet will eventually be swallowed by one of the suns.

They need a new home.

And through a fateful transmission sent by Ye Wenjie, they find Earth.

They are coming.

Well-

We follow Ye Wenjie, an astrophysicist who is forced to watch her father be beaten to death during a brutal struggle session.

She is subsequently sent to a labor camp and later a remote military radar base.

And the book takes its time building her profound, irrevocable disillusionment with humanity.