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I don't disagree with your take on the dark forest idea, but as an aside, what if the "unobtainium" is us? Or the biodiversity of the planet? If aliens show up

• giantrobot 4y ago
  Physics is unforgiving and space is big. A species that would want to put us in a zoo would need to expend vast amounts of energy (and time) to get here, slow down, grab someone, then get back home, slow down, and then finally drop them off. They would have to plan this mission not knowing our physiology, morphology, or biology. It's difficult to even imagine a situation where the value proposition of that is worthwhile. Scientific curiosity has a value but the effort involved would be Brobdingnagian. If we assume some species decides to undertake such an endeavor and has the capability of doing so, there's nothing we can do about it. This is why the dark forest idea is so dumb, we can't not broadcast ourselves. We also can't change the minds of some unknowable alien species that decides to come over and put us in a zoo. We can take issue when they actually arrive but that's about it. It's not something that's worth worrying much about all things considered.