Could the galaxy be full of unknown life who are actually too afraid to say a word? Let me introduce you to the Dark Forest theory.
The universe.
Endless, vast, and wide. So much remains unexplored, unknown and unseen. And in all that silence, some of us are left wondering as we gaze upwards:
Where is everyone?
It’s the same question physicist Enrico Fermi asked in casual lunch time conversation with his fellow physicists in the 1950’s, Fermi talked about the Milky Way, and the estimated billions of stars it contains, and potentially many planets orbiting them, that may already be inhabited.
Not to mention, the fact that the universe is billions of years old, which would be enough time for life to have evolved and for advanced civilizations to develop, outside of Earth.
So what Fermi realised was that aliens would have had more than enough time to have made their presence known within the Galaxy. But looking around, we don’t see any clear indication that they’re out and about. There isn’t any obvious evidence of some kind of space empire or cosmic United Nations.
It’s the troubling contradiction between the high possibility of their potential existence versus the zero evidence of alien civilizations.
Some scientist have tried to come up with explanations and responses to this question like:
The Great filter, this hypothesis explains how there must be some natural barrier or filter that is preventing extra-terrestrial life from making contact with us in order to prove their existence.
Or the Planetarium hypothesis, which explains that aliens do exist but they are actually manipulating us, creating a simulated version of the universe that we know now. That this highly advanced civilization has created an illusion on a galactic scale by manipulating matter and energy.
Or maybe, neither is the case…
What if the silence isn’t an accident?
What if their silence is purposeful and intentional?
Well, some people believe that is the case, a belief that our lack of contact with aliens is actually because all advanced civilizations are like hunters in a dark forest, keeping silent and avoiding detection for fear of being hunted themselves.
According to the dark forest theory, the universe is a dangerous place where technologically advanced civilizations remain silent to avoid being detected and destroyed by other hostile civilizations.
And perhaps should we?
The brains behind this theory are Liu Cixin ,science engineer and author who introduced this concept in his book “The Dark Forest”. An idea he primarily wrote as a way to answer the Fermi Paradox and why there has been a lack of interstellar communication with these intelligent life.
Online platforms like TikTok have opened a gateway for people to express their beliefs surrounding this theory such as in one video which brought forward their own assumptions in line with this belief.
@packrattttt The dark forest hypothesis is the conjecture that many alien civilizations exist throughout the universe, but they are both silent and hostile, maintaining their undetectability for fear of being destroyed by another hostile and undetected civilization. :)) lets hope thats not true #fypシ゚viral #xybca #makemefamous #aliens #theory #darkforest ♬ original sound – Sanyio
Comments like ‘jussa_2202’ who said that “I (am) honestly sure that there are other civilizations since the universe is so infinite.
“And still expanding but there (are) creatures out there (that are) probably aren’t similar to us…”
A belief in the profound mystery of extra-terrestrial life, and its diversity is recognised. That being said, there is an underlying issue.
“You’d have to assume that all the aliens subscribe to it (The Dark Forest Theory) to explain the fermi paradox.” says Ian Crawford, a planetary scientist at Birkbeck College at the University of London.
“If they’re out there, they all have to be subscribing to this policy of not making themselves known…the more aliens there are, the less likely it is that all of them will behave in this way.
“I think that’s the most fundamental flaw in my view.”
I also spoke to Seth Shotsak, a senior astronomer at the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Who also shared the same views as Dr. Crawford,
“I mean, maybe half of them decide that…But I find it very difficult to believe that all societies do that, particularly when you consider that, you know, most societies
“Would be more advanced than we are, because we’re kind of the New Kids on the Block, and they don’t really have much to fear from us.
“We’re not about to send a rocket, you know, years into space to destroy some aliens… I don’t think that all of them are deliberately remaining quiet.”
Dark Forest theory: DO NOT CONTACT! https://t.co/6MNrRBO8ZL
— Stanford Fraser (@Stanfordfraser) April 18, 2025
He also explains the lack of concrete proof of extra-terrestrial life, in terms of the work he’s done.
“We never have detected any signals (at SETI) that were, you know, attributable to alien transmitters. I mean, we have, you know, been doing some sort of listening ever since the first SETI experiment that was back in 1960.
“And we’ve never heard a signal that was, you know, shown to be due to extra-terrestrials… I think all it means is that we haven’t done enough of an experiment, yet, a sensitive enough experiment, or maybe we’re just pointing our antennas in the wrong direction.”
I suppose the mystery of why we haven’t encountered extra-terrestrial life may continue to puzzle us for some time. With not much explanation on how exactly life outside Earth is common.
We look towards ideas that help us explain the unexplainable, which is why theories such as the Dark Forest help offer us that potential explanation for the paradox.
Perhaps others are actually out out there, but hiding, deliberately and silently.
Or maybe there’s a barrier preventing us from communicating at all.
Or, what if it’s actually all just an illusion.
“We don’t know whether any of these other planets have life on them.” says professor Crawford
“I think the answer to learning about lessening our ignorance about these matters is to explore the universe, the more we explore the more we find out then the more we’re going to learn about how common life is or not in the universe.
“So all we can do is keep looking.”
