Editing Fermi paradox (section)

==== Communication is dangerous ====
{{see also|Dark forest hypothesis}}
An alien civilization might feel it is too dangerous to communicate, either for humanity or for them. It is argued that when very different civilizations have met on Earth, the results have often been disastrous for one side or the other, and the same may well apply to interstellar contact.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/will-the-aliens-be-nice-dont-bet-on-it/ |title=Will the Aliens Be Nice? Don't Bet On It |first=Gary |last=Gutting |date=October 5, 2011 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=May 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001065131/https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/will-the-aliens-be-nice-dont-bet-on-it/ |archive-date=October 1, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Even contact at a safe distance could lead to infection by computer code<ref>{{cite journal|title=Do potential SETI signals need to be decontaminated? |last=Carrigan |first=Richard A. |journal=Acta Astronautica |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=112–117|date=2006 |doi=10.1016/j.actaastro.2005.05.004 |bibcode=2006AcAau..58..112C }}</ref> or even ideas themselves.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Marsden| first=P.| title=Memetics and social contagion: Two sides of the same coin| journal=Journal of Memetics-Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission| date=1998| volume=2| issue=2| pages=171–185| url=http://cfpm.org/jom-emit/1998/vol2/marsden_p.html| access-date=October 20, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012004902/http://cfpm.org/jom-emit/1998/vol2/marsden_p.html| archive-date=October 12, 2011| url-status=live}}</ref> Perhaps prudent civilizations actively hide not only from Earth but from everyone, out of [[#It is the nature of intelligent life to destroy others|fear of other civilizations]].<ref name="HawkingFearTheologyAndScience">{{cite journal |last1=A. Vakoch |first1=Douglas |title=Hawking's fear of an alien invasion may explain the Fermi Paradox |journal=Theology and Science |date=3 April 2017 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=134–138 |doi=10.1080/14746700.2017.1299380 |s2cid=219627161 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14746700.2017.1299380 |access-date=18 October 2022}}</ref>

Perhaps the Fermi paradox itself—or the alien equivalent of it—is the reason for any civilization to avoid contact with other civilizations, even if no other obstacles existed. From any one civilization's point of view, it would be unlikely for them to be the first ones to make first contact. According to this reasoning, it is likely that previous civilizations faced fatal problems upon first contact and doing so should be avoided. So perhaps every civilization keeps quiet because of the possibility that there is a real reason for others to do so.<ref name="Brin" />

In 1987, science fiction author [[Greg Bear]] explored this concept in his novel ''[[The Forge of God]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cramer |first1=John |title=Self-Reproducing Machines From Another Planet : THE FORGE OF GOD by Greg Bear |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-20-bk-8862-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=1987}}</ref> In ''The Forge of God'', humanity is likened to a baby crying in a hostile forest: "There once was an infant lost in the woods, crying its heart out, wondering why no one answered, drawing down the wolves." One of the characters explains, "We've been sitting in our tree chirping like foolish birds for over a century now, wondering why no other birds answered. The galactic skies are full of hawks, that's why. Planetisms that don't know enough to keep quiet, get eaten."<ref>{{Cite web |title=the_dark_forest |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/the_dark_forest/ |access-date=2024-03-25 |website=warwick.ac.uk}}</ref>

In [[Liu Cixin]]'s 2008 novel ''[[The Dark Forest]]'', the author proposes a literary explanation for the Fermi paradox in which many multiple alien civilizations exist, but are both silent and paranoid, destroying any nascent lifeforms loud enough to make themselves known.<ref name="ChinaFileCixinLiu">{{cite news |author=Kun Kun |others=Translated by Lucy Johnston |title=But Some of Us Are Looking at the Stars |url=https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/culture/some-us-are-looking-stars |access-date=18 October 2022 |work=ChinaFile |date=4 June 2012 |language=en}}</ref> This is because any other intelligent life may represent a future threat. As a result, Liu's fictional universe contains a plethora of quiet civilizations which do not reveal themselves, as in a "dark forest"...filled with "armed hunter(s) stalking through the trees like a ghost".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Liu |first1=Cixin |title=The dark forest |date=2015 |location=New York |isbn=9780765377081 |page=484 |edition=First}}</ref><ref name="Dark Forest Answer to Star Wars Optimism">{{Cite web |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/chinas-dark-forest-answer-to-star-wars-optimism |title=China's 'Dark Forest' Answer to 'Star Wars' Optimism |work=Discover Magazine |first=Jeremy |last=Hsu |date=October 31, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Technology's dark forest">{{Cite web |url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/20/technologys-dark-forest/ |title=Technology's dark forest |work=TechCrunch |first=Jon |last=Evans |date=January 20, 2019}}</ref> This idea has come to be known as the [[dark forest hypothesis]].<ref name="UnivTodayDarkForest">{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Matt |title=Beyond "Fermi's Paradox" XVI: What is the "Dark Forest" Hypothesis? |url=https://www.universetoday.com/149410/beyond-fermis-paradox-xvi-what-is-the-dark-forest-hypothesis/ |access-date=18 October 2022 |work=Universe Today |date=7 January 2021}}</ref><ref name="NHPR">{{cite news |last1=Paradis |first1=Justine |title=Outside/In[box]: What is the Dark Forest Theory? |url=https://www.nhpr.org/environment/2022-02-18/what-is-the-dark-forest-theory-outside-in |access-date=18 October 2022 |work=New Hampshire Public Radio |date=18 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kevra |first1=Derek |first2=Maurielle|last2=Lue|display-authors=etal|title=Dark Forest theory: should we try to contact aliens? |url=https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/dark-forest-theory-should-we-try-to-contact-aliens |access-date=18 October 2022 |work=FOX 2 Detroit |date=11 October 2022}}</ref>