The Dark Forest Theory

Item from remembrance-of-earths-past by Cixin Liu

Cosmic sociology's central proof — that the universe is a forest in which every civilization is an armed hunter, and that any civilization which reveals its location will be destroyed by another that cannot afford to verify whether it is friendly. Derived by Luo Ji from Ye Wenjie's two axioms.

What They Know

• The two axioms verbatim — survival is the primary need; civilization grows but matter is finite
• The chain of suspicion — proof that benevolence cannot be assumed even with mutual goodwill
• The technological explosion concept — why a younger civilization is an unacceptable risk to an older one
• Luo Ji's original spell-curse demonstration on star 187J3X1, which proved the theory by getting it executed

Connections

• created_by — luo_ji
• located_in — earth

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