The Three-Body Problem (and Opportunity)

You might be familiar with the three-body problem.

This concept, grounded in real-life physics and popularized by the book and TV series of the same name, refers to the complexity in trying to predict the movement patterns of three objects in space that are gravitationally linked. Unlike the gravitational pull of two objects (or bodies), a third connected object turns into a chaotic mess, where even tiny changes throw everything off track.

I am not a physicist, but I love the extended metaphor of inserting a third so-called “chaos agent” into a relationship that’s typically perceived as a pair. A musical trio. A third cofounder. A third child. 

For instance, take the nuclear unit family structure of two parents and two kids. This four-person unit fits neatly into one car, or two bedrooms. But add a third kid and things get crazy. Maybe you need to upgrade to a minivan. Maybe you convert your closet into a converted third bedroom. (They don’t make a lot of triple bunkbeds…) Maybe that’s when you throw in the towel and finally decide to move to the suburbs. You see what I’m talking about here? Total chaos.

From a musical point of view, adding a third player to a classic duo broadens the sonic possibilities—bringing deeper harmonic depth, more complex rhythms, and new dynamics like “call and response” between the players. This ultimately invites greater complexity and variation, much like the three-body problem, where introducing a third element adds a layer of unpredictability to the mix.

In each of these examples, you’ll notice a common theme: In any multi-party relationship, there’s always some form of juggling. Parenting three kids shifts from 1-on-1 coverage to so-called “zone defense,” while three musicians must listen to the balance and rhythm of the others, sharing turns in their melodic moments. 

With enough planning and communication, three-body problems can transform into three-body opportunities. A musical trio can unlock more musical possibilities than two ever could. But that potential doesn’t come without significant effort.

If you’ve ever been part of a multi-party relationship, team, or group dynamic, you know how much energy it takes—not just to navigate the real-time relationships, but also to design a structure that allows all three parties to thrive.

For a composer, imagining three musical parts is far more complex than just two, requiring the brain to juggle multiple layers of sound. As a cofounder in a trio, dividing roles and responsibilities isn't as simple as “the technical founder” and “the business founder.” You have to push through the chaos and complexity to reach the other side where the real magic happens.

If you live in a two-body world but think with a three-body mindset, it can be hard to find others who catch your drift or pick up what you're putting down. Introducing an energetic third voice into any relationship or dynamic takes patience and creativity—and let’s face it, humans can get exhausted by the complexity and effort required.

This is where AI comes into play.

For me, the real magic of AI unlocked when I stopped using it to solve simple tasks (“‘help me write a paragraph about bodega cats in NYC”) or even straightforward two-body problems (“help me craft a persuasive essay about how bodega cats mitigate the city's growing rat population”) and started using it for complex, three-body problems. Consider instead this chaotic third option: “Help me conceptualize a TikTok campaign where bodega cats become the heroes and strategists fighting NYC’s rat problem.”

Let’s see how it works in practice. Here are three progressively complex prompts that show how AI can go from simple to truly inventive.

Ready to try it with me in real time? Here are the real outputs when I tried this series of successfully more chaotic prompts in a single ChatGPT instance this morning. (You can also follow along on this whole chat log here.)

Starting out simple with a request for a basic summary. Output is a basic, kind of mediocre paragraph, as expected.

Layering in another element (in this case, structure and a more pointed opinion), we see an evolution of thinking. Things get a little more interesting, and a few new concepts are introduced (for instance, the role of bodega owners and the impact of rats on small business owner in general).

The introduction of a third, more chaotic element (TikTok) takes things to a whole other level. We are rewarded with the dopamine hit of inventive ideas: Clever names for cats, headlines, a few examples of stories to tempt our imagination, and even a few grounding ways to bring this to reality (with influencer marketing from bodega owners, and other partnership ideas, such as animal shelters).

Three prompts. That’s all it took to get from something pretty basic to something really intriguing. Here’s the link to the full chat conversation.

Just like the three-body problem, where the introduction of a third element adds complexity but also unlocks new possibilities, working with AI pushes us to think beyond simple, linear approaches. 

This is why I believe that learning how to work with AI is almost equally a creativity problem, compared to a technical problem. It’s why I believe that people who are used to multi-tasking, crashing together disparate ideas, and thinking outside the box, will thrive in the age of AI. And it’s why I think it’s important for more of us to think about our careers less as individual, singular pathways, and more about “zones of influence.” 

The real magic of AI lies in how it enables us to explore this “third space”—the invisible intersection of chaos, creativity, and technology. Things that once felt impossibly complex, offbeat, or too weird are suddenly on the table. As the ultimate sidekick, AI helps creators complete our thoughts, crash together ideas without judgment, and bring proof of concept ideas to the table, ready to be remixed with someone else’s chaotic infusion. The only question is: What are you gonna do?