The Hobbesian trap (or Schelling's dilemma) is a theory that explains why preemptive strikes occur between two groups, out of bilateral fear of an imminent attack.
[2] An early example of Hobbesian trap reasoning is Thucydides's analysis of the Peloponnesian War in Ancient Greece.
[9] The Dark Forest, a science fiction novel by Liu Cixin, incorporates a Hobbesian trap into its narrative.
The dark forest hypothesis, both diegetically and non-diegetically to the novel, is a form of the Hobbesian trap that has been used to answer the Fermi Paradox by arguing that any two advanced space-faring civilizations will inevitably seek to destroy each other rather than risk being destroyed by the other, like two scared armed men prowling through a dark forest, ready to shoot at anything that so much as snaps a twig.
[11][12] In the Cuban Missile Crisis, for example, Kennedy and Khrushchev realized that they were caught in a Hobbesian trap, which helped them to make concessions that reduced distrust and fear.