{"id":67842,"date":"2026-10-16T22:56:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T20:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=67842"},"modified":"2026-10-16T22:56:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T20:56:35","slug":"the-dark-forest-theory-is-sending-messages-into-space-a-very-dangerous-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/10\/16\/the-dark-forest-theory-is-sending-messages-into-space-a-very-dangerous-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"The dark forest theory: is sending messages into space a very dangerous idea?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Space exploration is one of the most exciting endeavors humanity has undertaken, but it is not without its risks.<\/p>\n

Imagining the Voyager 1 probe's journey through space when humanity no longer exists<\/a><\/rel>
\nThe history of the five NASA spacecrafts that travel beyond the Solar System<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

The possibility that other forms of life exist<\/strong> on worlds other than our own has long fascinated astronomers. In fact, various space programs are aimed at detecting potential signs of life on other worlds<\/strong> \u2014not only through the possible physical discovery of such evidence by spacecraft, but also by searching for signals that other, civilized worlds might have sent into space<\/strong>. The well-known SETI program, for instance, relies on the analysis of radio waves and laser pulses that such beings might have transmitted.<\/p>\n

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The golden record carried by the Voyager 1 and 2 probes, indicating the location of planet Earth (Photo: NASA<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Another way to carry out such exploration is to communicate our presence on Earth.<\/strong> Several space probes have carried messages in the form of plaques or discs, with the hope that any civilization that finds them might learn of our existence<\/strong> \u2014what we are like and where our home is located within the vastness of space. Furthermore, signals have been sent into space from various locations<\/strong>. The most famous of these are the messages transmitted by the Arecibo radio telescope on November 16, 1974\u2014a 1,679-bit sequence describing our physical form and our location. They were directed toward the M13 star cluster, situated 25,000 light-years away<\/strong>; consequently, if anyone were to ever respond, it is highly likely that the reply would arrive only after humanity had already ceased to exist.<\/p>\n

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The Pioneer 10 and 11 probes included a plaque with the shapes of a man and a woman and the location of our planet. We see it in the background of this image (Photo: NASA<\/a>).<\/div>\n

In October 2017, the scientific association EISCAT sent a message into space from Troms\u00f8, Norway<\/a>, as part of a program known as Active SETI. This signal was directed toward the exoplanet Luyten b (GJ 273b), located 12.4 light-years away.<\/strong> If intelligent life exists on that world, the earliest a response could arrive is in 2042. This raises a question regarding such programs: could sending messages into space be dangerous?<\/strong> The civilization that receives them might be friendly\u2014but then again, it might not. This is the premise of the \"dark forest\" theory<\/strong>, which is explored in depth in a video recently published by the YouTube channel Abismo<\/a> (the video is in Spanish but has an English audio track; you can enable it in the player):<\/p>\n