The Dark Forest Theory

Before I explain it, I’ll give a little bit of background information to put it into perspective:

The Dark Forest is one of many theories that may explain the Fermi Paradox. If you aren’t aware, the Fermi Paradox is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence and high probability for the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations elsewhere in this vast, unending Universe.

There are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the known universe. The Milky Way Galaxy alone has at least 100 Billion stars; each star more or less like our own (which we call the Sun, or “Sol”). Each of these stars potentially has several planets in orbit around them.

Even if only the tiniest fraction of these planets held life, and only the tiniest fraction of life-bearing planets held intelligent life, we are still looking at thousands of extraterrestrial civilizations out there in just the Milky Way Galaxy alone. And that’s not even including the other hundreds of billions of galaxies!

But we have absolutely ZERO evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations! Hence, the Fermi Paradox.

There are many theories that attempt to explain the Fermi paradox. One is that life is so incredibly rare and the Galaxy is so broad that finding it elsewhere would be like finding a specific grain of sand on a beach. Another theory suggests that life itself may not be so rare, but intelligent life is incredibly rare. Another theory posits that most civilizations destroy themselves early on. Think of humanity’s close calls with atomic/nuclear weapons. The theories are endless. But one of these theories is much darker than the rest: The Dark Forest Theory!

The Dark Forest Theory is a truly terrifying explanation for the Fermi Paradox, but nevertheless, it makes a lot of sense. It might sound like a paranoid idea, but it could easily explain why we can’t find anyone. Essentially, it says that we haven’t found extraterrestrial civilizations because they are purposely being quiet for their own safety.

The argument for the Dark Forest Theory is laid out like this:

• All life desires to stay alive
• There is no way to know if other lifeforms can or will destroy you if given the chance.
• Lacking assurances, the safest option for any species is to stay quiet and monitor the others.

The universe could potentially be akin to a Dark Forest. Every civilization could potentially represent an armed soldier stalking through the trees. Each soldier must be silent and careful, because everywhere in the Dark Forest are stealthy, silent soldiers like himself. Each breath must be silent… each footstep must be silent. If he finds another life- he either risks his own life by trusting it, or he opens fire to eliminate them before they can eliminate him.

So why exactly is this theory so terrifying to us, right now? Because we have unwittingly broadcast our existence to the Universe for 100 years now! Ever since radio was invented! Every TV Broadcast, every Radio signal, every WiFi connection! Every potential civilization within 100 light years of us could be silently monitoring us, seeing what moves we make, and thinking about how incredibly stupid we are!

If you were lost in a dark, creepy forest at night… would you scream out to alert all the nearby predators where you were? Probably not! But that’s what humanity has been doing for 100 years!

If we had a solid reason to avoid extraterrestrial civilizations from knowing about us, as Stephen Hawking thought we did, we might have a problem! But since we’ve never actually made contact with anyone, our curiosity defeats our self-preservation. One of the characteristics that has allowed us humans to progress to the point that we are at is our natural inclination to be curious about the unknown. This curiosity can and will catapult us to the stars some day, but it could also be the reason for our extinction!

Hopefully there aren’t any predators on their way to our Earthly location in the Dark Forest as we speak!