Erik Hoel: culture is becoming a dark forest as AI commoditizes intellectual work
erikphoel · x · 2026-09-09
- Erik Hoel argues intellectual work is becoming a "dark forest": since a prompt can produce an almost-as-good version of anything, creators must work silently, hidden, racing to finish before being out-mined.
- Collaboration and building in the open disappear; you only find finished results at dawn, gleaming sculptures of unclear origin.
- Rebroadcasters riff on Liu Cixin: when will scientists competing via LLMs start injecting "sophons" into systems.
Related event: Erik Hoel's Essay: AI Is Turning Culture into a Dark Forest(10 posts)→
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