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I have a somewhat nihilistic theory around the Fermi paradox. What if all intelligent life annihilates itself before reaching high enough technical proficiency
by zw123456 7y ago
I have a somewhat nihilistic theory around the Fermi paradox. What if all intelligent life annihilates itself before reaching high enough technical proficiency to achieve widespread inter-planetary travel (or time travel). The idea is that intelligent life emerges from the process of evolution (natural selection) where the stronger survive. But that leaves you with people who have the tendency to kill each other and themselves off. As the technological ability to completely annihilate ourselves increases the probability that it will eventually happen goes up over time. As technological prowess increases and population increases, intelligent species eventually destroy themselves by using up all their resources or ruin the planet with climate destruction before achieving inter-planetary capability. Similar to how yeast will reproduce until they all kill themselves off in their own waste product (alcohol). It is possible that this is a universal axiom, hence intelligent life does not spread across the galaxy. I know this is a depressing thought but it's an idea that has haunted me once it occurred to me.
- typon 7y agoThis is known as the Great Filter theory
- zw123456 7y agooh thanks, just googled it, I had not heard of it.
- sethd 7y agoIt’s described in the article: > Sounding a more ominous note are concepts such as the “great filter”—the idea that there is something that always limits a species, perhaps an inevitable failure to achieve that green revolution, leading to an implosive extinction of all potentially technological life.
- hesdeadjim 7y agoThe models attempt to encapsulate this issue through the variable of how long a civilization lasts. As easy as it is to imagine civilizations similar to us, it’s equally easy to imagine others where other variables prevent the intense egoism we evolved as a species. Or worlds where competition is less fierce perhaps. Etc.. Either way I find it fascinating that we could be living in what is essentially the rural area of the galaxy.
- lonelappde 7y agoWith a sample size of 1, there is no way to estimate the possibility of a species fundamentally unlike us becoming spacefaring. We can count stars pretty well, but we can only barely estimate the probability of an earth-like planet existing around a star and forming cellular life.
- yborg 7y agoThis actually was kind of the nugget for me in this story: "At one extreme, it is easy to make the galaxy empty by simply shrinking the number of usable planets and having civilizations last for only, say, 100,000 years or so." i.e. 10x longer than we have had even rudimentary technological civilization on our own planet. Sample size of 1, etc. but this to me seems the simple explanation of the "paradox". Space is big, and 100k years is a long period of time to not make a mistake.
- lonelappde 7y agoThey theory already is shown on Earth. Look how long it take humans to get to where we are, compared to how long it would have taken if a God had carefully guided us away from castrophes like the meteors, plagues, famines, and wars.