Dark Forest Theory (Narration Only)

Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur

Isaac Arthur

Technology, Energy Abundance, Future Of Humanity, Spacecraft, Genetics, Space Infrastructure, Scifi, Post Scarcity, Sci Fi, Technological Future, Interstellar Travel, Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Space Station, Space, Long Term Future, Human Civilizaiton, Civilizaiton, Cybernetics, Science, Futurism, Space Megastructures, Space Colonization, Space Industry, Future Philosophy, Transhumanism, Spaceship, Megastructures, Physics, Starship, Astronomy, Future

4.9 • 782 Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2019

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Dark Forest Theory is a proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox from Cixin Liu which suggests all alien civilizations remain intentionally quiet, hiding from SETI efforts and possible hostile civilizations. It also argues they may attack any civilization which does not remain silent, like us. Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IsaacArthur SFIA Merchandise available: https://www.signil.com/sfia/ Checkout Brilliant's Game Theory courses: https://brilliant.org/IsaacArthur/ SciShow's Game Theory episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHS-htjGgSY&t=1s William Spaniel's Game Theory 101: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSVmOC_5zrE&list=PLKI1h_nAkaQoDzI4xDIXzx6U2ergFmedo Up and Atom's Quantum Prisoner's Dilemma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kLb1glm6EM&t=268s Social Media: Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583992725237264/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IsaacArthur/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isaac_A_Arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: https://discord.gg/53GAShE Credits The Fermi Paradox: Dark Forest Theory Episode 170a, Season 5 E04a Written by: Isaac Arthur Editors: Andrew Norman Darius Said Jerry Guern Keith Blockus Konstantin Sokerin Matt Campbell Graphics by: Darth Biomech https://www.artstation.com/darth_biomech Jeremy Jozwik https://www.artstation.com/zeuxis_of_losdiajana Ken York https://www.facebook.com/YDVisual/ LegionTech Studios https://hades9.com Sergio Botero https://www.artstation.com/sboterod?fref=gc Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Music: Lombus, "Cosmic Soup" https://lombus.bandcamp.com A.J. Prasad, "Staring Through, pt1" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA8-7qwaEPU See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, SFIA audio listeners, in this month's Nebula exclusive, Big Alien Theory,
0:05.2	we're asked at the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.
0:10.5	To hear it and every episode early and ad-free, plus hours of bonus content,
0:15.1	check out go.nebula.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.
0:20.7	We spend a fair amount of time on this channel discussing the phoomy paradox, and a fairly common
0:26.0	request I get is to discuss the Dark Forest theory, the notion that nearby alien civilizations
0:31.5	remain silent to avoid detection or getting killed, and may attack us for not being silent.
0:38.7	This concept comes from the novel Dark Forest, the second book in Zixen-Lews-Hugar-Wordmaning
0:44.0	trilogy, Remembrance of Earth's Past, often called the Three Body Problem for the first book.
0:50.2	It essentially looks at the problem from the perspective of game theory.
0:54.0	We've bypassed covering it previously for two reasons.
0:57.0	First, it's actually fairly easy to take apart.
1:00.0	We've already covered a more generalized version in episodes like Sleeping Giants or Hidden
1:05.0	Aliens.
1:06.0	Second, game theory is itself a bit much to introduce in a single episode, so it would violate my general
1:12.8	rule on this channel of minimal math, and having episodes be standalone whenever reasonably
1:19.0	possible. Game theory though is really handy for a lot of galactic scale problems, because
1:24.8	so often it's used to address problems where the decision makers
1:28.2	can't actually communicate with each other or do much investigation.
1:32.7	That's exactly the sort of problem you get when dealing with decades or centuries of light
1:37.6	lag from interstellar distances.
1:40.3	It's also a very handy approach when you can't say much else about the other parties or players
	...

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