Deeper into the Dark Forest
In his sci-fi novel The Dark Forest, Cixin Liu articulated the "dark forest" theory of the universe. The following excerpt gets at the core of the idea.
"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. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. If he finds other life—another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod—there’s only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It’s the explanation for the Fermi Paradox.”
Although Liu was exploring the notion of alien civilizations, Yancy Strickler expanded the dark forest idea to the internet and social media. Stickler wrote that "In response to the ads, the tracking, the trolling, the hype, and other predatory behaviors, we’re retreating to our dark forests of the internet, and away from the mainstream."1
One of the best expansions of the dark forest internet comes from creators of the New Models community, who describe a three-layered internet: 1) clearnet; 2) dark forest; and 3) dark net.2 Dark Forest is the realm of Discord, Telegram, Mastodon, and Urbit filled with gamers, crypto traders, Wall Street Bets, artists, IRL friend circles, weirdoes, and even non-state political actors (i.e., the use of Telegram by Wagner PMC). It is where you go to “forage” and root around outside of the reach of algorithmic overseers.
Although one can quibble with various aspects of the idea, dark forest internet theory provides a useful framework for thinking about the quickly evolving fragmentation of the internet and social media. This particularly true now that Twitter seems to be imploding and users scatter in favor of alternative platforms like Mastodon.