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Are we really Alone? The Dark Forest

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The Universe is incredibly big and seems full of potential for life, with billions of habitable planets. If an advanced civilization had the technology to travel between the stars, It could colonize our galaxy in roughly 100 million years, which won't be as long for our billion years old Milky way galaxy or even other neighbouring galaxy.  Still we see nothing, hear nothing, the universe seems empty. This is the Fermi Paradox. One of it's hypothesized solution is the dark forest solution. This theory gives a logical explaination why, If there is extraterrestrial life, Aren't trying to make any contact or hiding low under the radar.

The universe is a dark forest. 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. Even breathing is done with care. As the hunter sneaks through the dark forest all alone he knows that there might be others like him. He can’t know their intentions, if they are aggressive or not. The hunter knows he would kill to ensure his own survival, so he has to assume that they would too. And it might be that if he stumbles upon another hunter, the one that shoots first survives.

This is the basic nature of living organism, to compete and survive, even if it means anhillation of anything that 'seems' to be a threat. This can be case with other civilization who have tried to attract attention may have been wiped out by unknown arrows. The greatest obstacle for a species to survive are other species, our own history is a prime example. So far the progress of the modern world seems to have made us more peaceful, not more violent. Maybe this is true for other civilizations too, that eventually progress means less conflict, not more. Different alien civilizations also should vary from the mild and peaceful to the malevolent and militaristic. The existential problem we are facing is that when we meet others between the stars, we have no way of telling who is peaceful or aggressive and what their true intentions are. Similarly, they might not understand or trust our intentions even if we tell them that we are peaceful. Even if do find another Civilization, or other found us, there is no means for us to communicate instantly. This delay in exchange of information can lead to confuisons, ultimately leading to an all out war. So should we worry?

It is unlikely that anybody has noticed humanity yet. But one day we will venture into space in a serious way and need to consider these kinds of questions again. We don’t know if there are others or if we are going through the forest alone. But we have no way of knowing for sure.For the time being, it seems the best we can do is to carefully listen. And even if we see others step into a clearing and make themselves known, we should not reply right away but carefully watch them. Perhaps we are also thinking about this all wrong by allowing our primitive brain, that evolved in the context of competition of life, to fill us with fears of predatory aliens all around us. Maybe the fact that we are looking at the Universe like this is a sign that we are not grown up yet as a species. There could be a friendly, welcoming community of alien civilizations waiting to hear from us when we are ready.

At last...the hunter reaches a clearing and finds a comfortable position. Slowly the sun melts the fog away, lost in thought he admires the vegetation until suddenly – he is eye to eye with another hunter, frozen in terror just like himself. His mind is racing, considering all the different options. The hunter takes a deep breath and makes a decision. Maybe the only way out of the dark forest is to step into the clearing together.

By Atharv Gharde

Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering, Nagpur

roll no - 46, 1st Year ,section P

 


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