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On the other hand, 70 years is a blink in the span of human history so far. I think people have been much too quick to assume, ever since the Soviet Union fell,
by bbctol 10y ago
On the other hand, 70 years is a blink in the span of human history so far. I think people have been much too quick to assume, ever since the Soviet Union fell, that we avoided World War III and proved we'd never use nuclear weapons again. We're still far too close to extinction-level wars for my comfort.
- spangry 10y agoI hope I'm not committing some faux pas replying to such an old thread... There are a bunch of hypotheses about why we have yet to encounter or discover other intelligent life in our galaxy/universe (or, more specifically, the Fermi Paradox). Two seem particularly relevant here: (a) 'It is the nature of intelligent life to destroy itself': There is some period of technological development where the odds of self-extinction become extremely high (e.g. the relatively recent development of nuclear weapons... for example...). (b) 'It is the nature of super intelligent life to destroy others': Intelligent species past a certain point of technological capability will destroy other intelligent species as they emerge. A species might undertake such extermination out of expansionist motives or even just rational and prudent self-interest: an intelligent species that has overcome its own self-destructive tendencies might view other advanced species as a potential threat. A highly advanced alien species would also likely be a super-predator (as are humans).