I want to start by talking about some things that seem like potential ways out of the dark forest tangle—even if they’re imperfect, which they all are.
Against the dark forest
The complex of ideas I’m going to call the Dark Internet Forest emerges from mostly insidery tech thinking, but from multiple directions.
Building in the dark forest
We write from our new home in the Dark Forest. This week we fully committed to our new universe: we abandoned Slack and moved all operations into DFOS, our new tool, available more widely in the coming weeks. It feels good in here. Calm. Cozy. Just enough activity for things
The Dark Forest and the Cozy Web
An illustrated diagram exposing the inner layers of the dark and cozy web
The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet
In his sci-fi trilogy The Three Body Problem, author Liu Cixin presents the dark forest theory of the universe. When we look out into space, the theory goes, we’re struck by its silence. It seems like we’re the only ones here. After all, if other forms of
Two questions from the Jagged Frontier
A non-exhaustive list of questions that I do not really see discussed as much as I think they probably deserve to be discussed.
Dead Forest Theory
Internet darkness is turning into deadness and time is running out
Good, Standard Work: Creating the Commons
A defence of digital stewardship, IndieWeb principles, Blackfoot models of collective flourishing, and what it means to plant seeds in a garden you'll neve…
Wildland: Why, What and How?
We are excited to present the paper outlining the project’s high-level rationale, as well as some nuts and bolts of this initiative.
Enter the Dark Forest
If you’ve managed to find your way here, you are likely familiar with the Dark Forest Theory of the Internet. You may not yet know it by name but you know it by vibe. Dark Forests are online gathering spaces that are non-indexed, non-optimized and hidden from public view. They are typically hosted in
Dark Forestry | Henry From Online
Seasons are changing for technologists, and the industry we work in isn't the same as it was a decade ago. We have new realities and new responsibilities to accept.
Trust — Moving Castles: Modular and Portable Multiplayer Miniverses
Something is crawling out of the dark forest.
On Thickets, Enclosure, and Leaving
Every platform I left, I left for the same pattern: enclosure by othering — systems that define what is shameful, create targets, and point an aggressive majority at them. Substack's AI-detection turn is the latest, and it is Dark Forestry in action. The escape is spatial: go where the platforms ar…
