The vast sky rises before our eyes and when night falls, millions of stars appear in the sky. The setting makes us wonder, Is there life out there? Of course, it is a question that humanity has been asking since ancient times. But in case the assertion turned out to be true and there were extraterrestrials roaming in space, why haven’t they communicated? The Dark Forest Theory might have an answer.
The Fermi Paradox
In 1950 the Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi sat down to breakfast with some of his colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory. It was not just any breakfast, from here a great conversation emerged that culminated with the central question: Where are 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 it makes evident the lack of data to ensure that life exists on other planets. Because if that were the case and considering the vastness of the Universe, alien life would have already made contact with humans. But as its name suggests, this paradox simply does not have a definitive answer, but there are different possible explanations.
Civilizations in the Milky Way
On the other hand, the astronomer Frank Drake formulated his own equation to estimate the number of civilizations in the entire Milky Way galaxy likely to emit detectable radio signals. According to this equation, by this point in history we should already have 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 arose. This is clear 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 it is backed 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 have contact with extraterrestrial civilizations.
Hunters in the dark forest
And this is where everything turns dark and somewhat sinister. Liu formulated three central axes, which we will call postulates, which they explain why we continue to believe that we are alone in the Universe.
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. Each civilization is an armed hunter who stalks through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing at 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 hunters like him. If he encounters another life, another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate baby or a wobbly 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 are not aware of other civilizations, this does not mean that we have not noticed their existence. According to Cixin all evidence has been removed for the benefit of humanity, in an attempt to stay alive. Furthermore, if the human race acts in this way, it would not be strange if other civilizations did as well. In the end, in their eyes we are just hunters in the dark forest, trying to stay alive.
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