Erik Hoel's Essay: AI Is Turning Culture into a Dark Forest

On September 9, cognitive science writer Erik Hoel published "Culture Becomes a Dark Forest," borrowing the Dark Forest metaphor from The Three-Body Problem to argue that AI is reshaping how humans produce knowledge and culture. His central claim: since an LLM can produce something "almost as good" as carefully crafted human work from a single prompt, publicly discussing half-formed ideas now amounts to being hunted, and the culture of open collaboration may contract systemically.

Confirmed

• Hoel argues that a single prompt can yield output nearly as good as painstaking human work, harvesting inspiration, insight and rewards, so the "social public good" of openly discussing ideas-in-progress is disappearing.
• He predicts the future norm of intellectual work will be hiding "behind trees," quietly finishing contributions alone: no one builds things openly and collaboratively anymore; people only see the final "sculpture" without the process. Scientists, writers and mathematicians will hide their identities and work, becoming Wallfacers. Ironically, Hoel also suggested posting cherished ideas publicly to "see what happens."
• He compares sustainable human culture to "crop rotation"—culture slowly but endlessly begetting more culture—while the AI race is destroying the very knowledge commons that nurtured it.
• Catalysts for the essay include the reported breakthrough on the Millennium Problem Navier–Stokes equations (with mentions of Anthropic mathematicians nearing the problem) and reports that OpenAI hired scholars Diego Córdoba and Luis Martínez-Zoroa—researchers who worked in the open, after which OpenAI "started hunting the hunters."
• In follow-up discussion, Hoel criticized AI companies for doom narratives and for targeting rule-clear, parallel-search-friendly fields like math, urging them to return to being "useful software, paid tools." The essay was reshared by several tech investors.

Why it matters

• The essay distills the AI disruption of knowledge production into a powerfully intuitive metaphor: when "publish first, refine later" culture is no longer safe, the open, collaborative internet knowledge ecosystem may shrink into private circles.
• The Navier–Stokes progress and top scholars being absorbed by AI companies serve as two concrete examples of AI's impact on intellectual work, elevating the piece beyond mere anxiety narrative.
• Hoel's critique of AI companies' doom marketing and targeted harvesting adds a sharp academic voice to debates over industry positioning and business models.

2026-09-09 ~ 2026-09-10 · 10 related posts

• [source] Erik Hoel: AI Turns Culture Into a Dark Forest, Forcing Us All to Become "Wallfacers" — erikphoel · 2026-09-09
• Erik Hoel: culture is becoming a dark forest as AI commoditizes intellectual work — erikphoel · 2026-09-09
• Culture is becoming a dark forest: OpenAI hunted the researchers who worked in the open — erikphoel · 2026-09-09
• AI turns ideas into a dark forest: posting work-in-progress means getting hunted — erikphoel · 2026-09-09
• Researcher warns AI doom narrative is turning intellectual culture into a dark forest — erikphoel · 2026-09-09
• 'Culture Is Becoming a Dark Forest': AI Race May Destroy the Knowledge Commons It Built On — erikphoel · 2026-09-10
• Erik Hoel: AI turned culture into a dark forest as an Anthropic mathematician nears Navier-Stokes — erikphoel · 2026-09-10

3 near-duplicate retellings: erikphoel · erikphoel · erikphoel