The vast sky rises before our eyes and when night falls, millions of stars appear in the celestial vault. The scenario makes us wonder, does life exist out there? Of course, it is a question that humanity has asked itself since ancient times. But if the assertion turns out to be true and there are aliens roaming through space, why haven’t they communicated? The Dark Forest Theory might have an answer.
The Fermi Paradox
In 1950, Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi sat down with some of his colleagues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. It wasn’t just any breakfast, a great conversation ensued that culminated in the central question: Where is the alien life? This would later become the central part of the Fermi paradox, which refers to the disparity between high probability estimates of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence and the apparent lack of evidence.
In other words, the Fermi paradox makes evident the lack of data to ensure that life exists in others. Since if this were the case and considering the vastness of the Universe, alien life would have already made contact with humans. But as its name says, this paradox simply does not have a definitive answer, but there are different possible explanations.
Civilizations in the Milky Way
On the other hand, astronomer Frank Drake formulated his own equation to estimate the number of civilizations in the entire world capable of emitting detectable radio signals. According to this equation, at this point in history we should have already had contact with at least 20 extraterrestrial civilizations.
But in an even more unusual attempt to find answers to these questions, the Dark Forest Theory emerged. This comes from the work of the writer Liu Cixin called the Dark Forest. And although it borders on science fiction, it is not only about narrative, but is supported by the postulates of the Drake equation and the Fermi paradox. In his writing, Cixin tries to explain why it is very unlikely that humans will have contact with extraterrestrial civilizations.
Hunters in the dark forest
And this is where everything becomes dark and somewhat sinister. Liu formulated three central axes, which we will call postulates, that explain why we continue to believe that we are alone in the Universe.
Every form of life wants to stay alive.
There are no ways to know if other civilizations can or want to destroy us.
Since there is no certainty, the most probable assertion for any civilization is to annihilate other life forms before they become prey.
And why is it called The Dark Forest Theory? In Cixin’s words, it is much easier to understand.
“The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter that stalks through them like a ghost, gently pushing at the branches that block the way and trying to walk without sound. Even breathing is done carefully. The hunter must be careful, because everywhere in the forest there are stealthy ones like him. If he encounters another life, another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate baby or a staggering old man, a fairy or a demigod, he can only do one thing: open fire and eliminate them.”
This would be for him the explanation of the Fermi paradox and also of the Drake equation. And although we have no knowledge of other civilizations, this does not mean that we have not realized their existence. According to Cixin all evidence has been eliminated for the benefit of humanity, in an attempt to stay alive. Furthermore, if the human race acts this way, it would not be strange if other civilizations did the same. At the end of the day, in their eyes we are just hunters in the dark forest, trying to stay alive.