Dark Forest Ham – The Weird Side of the Internet

Dark Forest Ham – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.

I believe in alien life in the universe. Sort of. I believe in the “dark forest” hypothesis. To explain, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi talked about a paradox that ended up bearing his name, the “Fermi Paradox.” It said basically that, given the vastness of the universe and the number of planets that could bear life, we should be picking up more electromagnetic signals – or at least some electromagnetic signals from other, duistant civilizations. But we don’t.

In response to the Fermi paradox came the “Dark Forest” hypothesis,” which said that if there was a ton of life out there, it would be silent and hostile, because species wouldn’t know what the intentions were of other species.

That’s what I believe, but maybe there are exceptions. Like a flight over NYC on its way to LaGuardia in which a passenger captured a flying object in New York airspace.

Passenger Michelle Reyes took a video of a cylindrical object very close to their plane. Check the still of her video up top. Really unexplainable, and she sent an email to the FAA, who did what they always do, which not get back to you to confirm or deny. The footage doesn’t look doctored, and many common explanations (other aircraft, drones, military,) wouldn’t be likely because it’s in a commercial flight lane.

But for me, why is more important than proving it exists. I assume this kind of stuff happens, but why would they be here? If “dark forest” holds out, they’re scouting our defenses, basically. Maybe they want to load our oceans into a space tanker. Maybe they’re like us physically and need to breed. Point is we’re marveling about it and they’re basically gathering intelligence for a first strike.

Or maybe they’re checking out New York for a slice of pizza or a bacon, egg, and cheese. Or some Dark Forest ham (see what I did there?)

More from Liam Sweeny.