The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. The term comes from a series called The Three Body Problem by Chinese sci-fi author Liu Cixin.

It includes recordings of sounds of Earth and instructions for use, should alien life find it.Īccording to the Dark Forest Theory, we should be very glad that we have not encountered alien life… because that encounter might not go so well for human civilization. The cover of The Golden Record, launched with the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. What would it mean if the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is someday successful? But a civilization with the capacity to communicate or travel across the somewhat inconceivable distances of space would necessarily be quite advanced. L = mean length of time that civilizations can communicateĪccording to the Drake Equation, the odds that we are alone are vanishingly small. N e = mean number of planets that could support life per star with planetsį l = fraction of life-supporting planets that develop lifeį i = fraction of planets with life where life develops intelligenceį c = fraction of intelligent civilizations that develop communication N = number of civilizations with which humans could communicateį P = fraction of stars that have planets But how likely is it that other “advanced civilizations” exist in the universe?Īstrophysicist Frank Drake once wondered the same thing, and in 1961, he proposed a formula to estimate the odds. The Dark Forest Theory deals with the possibility of “intelligent life” beyond planet Earth. Francisco Alexander Rodriguez on Instagram asked us to look into the Dark Forest Theory. This week, we encounter a question about space. Every other Friday on Morning Edition, the Outside/In team answers a question from a listener about the natural world.

The dark forest problem