Isaac Arthur
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2019–2024
17:55 · 412K views · Jan 27, 2019
Isaac Arthur examines the Dark Forest theory, Cixin Liu's proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox in which civilizations stay silent and may destroy any that reveal themselves. He tests the theory's underlying assumptions and arguments.
HN commenters point to it as a well-argued rebuttal of Dark Forest axioms, and recommend his wider Fermi Paradox series.
4 comments from Hacker News
A lot of thought has gone into this and other possible explanations. Isaac Arthur, of course, has an excellent video [1] on this issue. His entire library on the Fermi Paradox is worth watching. The short version of why this seems unlikely is that there really is no hiding a K2 civilization for many reasons. For example, access to this much energy and having a megastructure as large as the Solar System (give or take) would allow you to create incredibly high resolution telescopes (with an without interferometry). But consider this: if you, as a spacefaring civilization, want to be left alone, the best way to do it is to make sure nobody comes into your neighbourhood. If you "hide" that may happen accidentally. Isn't it better to advertise your presence and otherwise keep people away to avoid unintentional conflict? [1]: this video
I also had a similar feeling after finishing the book, this video this video made some good points, mainly finding problems with the axioms so it convinced me that the conclusion in the book is probably wrong since the axioms are probably not true.
This video gives a more optimistic perspective, this video it challenges with good arguments the axioms in The Dark Forest.
The books and all are nice but the Dark Forest Theory doesn't hold agains much scrutiny. Among other reasons because if that were true we would be already dead. this video