The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet is a 208 page book that documents five tumultuous years when we learned how to live, create, and conspire on an increasingly adversarial internet. It includes eleven pieces: The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet by Yancey Strickler The Extended Internet Universe by Venkatesh Rao The Dark Forest and Cozy Web by Maggie Appleton Chapel Perilous by Peter Limberg and Rebecca Fox We Need New Platforms to Tell New Stories by Joshua Citerella Proof of Vibes by Leith Benkhedda Moving Castles by Arthur Roing Bear and GNV908 The internet didn’t kill counterculture; you just won’t find it on Instagram by Caroline Busta The Expanding Dark Forest and Generative AI by Maggie Appleton Holographic Meda by Caroline Busta and Lil Internet The Post Individual by Yancey Strickler These essays were written asynchronously without coordination by us eleven authors over the course of five very tumultuous years online. They document in real time a key evolutionary moment in the social life of the internet. The moment the web’s youthful exuberance and naiveté gave way to anxiety, self-protection, and a thirst for social structures that could provide safety, meaning, and context in a newly adversarial realm.

We as eleven loosely connected individuals came together to make this collection to reflect this transitory moment. To leave graffiti on humanity’s bathroom wall to say here’s what it was like to be alive then. Here’s what we felt. Here’s what we were afraid of. Here’s how we tried to collectively and individually self-manage a social revolution churning all around us.

This Metalabel release makes available 750 first-edition physical copies of the book – lovingly designed with visuals and text – as well as a digital edition. The 11 authors behind this will hold a private roundtable together in March to which the collectors of this First Edition will be exclusively invited.

We cannot say where this is going. We can only say where we’ve been. Thank you for exploring The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet.

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Yancey Strickler, Venkatesh Rao, Maggie Appleton,Peter Limberg, Rebecca Fox, Leïth Benkhadda, Joshua Citarella, Arthur Röing Baer, GVN908, Caroline Busta, and Julian Wadsworth