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Why does everyone assume alien races would want to spread out and colonize the universe? Perhaps we should consider the possibility that the insatiable desire
by StanislavPetrov 7y ago
Why does everyone assume alien races would want to spread out and colonize the universe? Perhaps we should consider the possibility that the insatiable desire to constantly expand like a virus is coupled with the tendency for civilizations to destroy themselves through warfare. Maybe civilizations with advanced technology also have advanced philosophy and are content to merely exist and be content? Why do we take it as a given that aliens would be anything like us, with the same desires and tendencies we have? Its fine to consider that as a possibility, but there are many unknowns we should acknowledge.
- randallsquared 7y ago> Why does everyone assume alien races would want to spread out and colonize the universe? ...because organisms (and presumably cultures) without that characteristic wouldn't be as numerous as otherwise identical organisms which do have that drive, in a given environment.
- StanislavPetrov 7y agoMaybe we don't see them because they aren't as numerous, because they aren't interested in spreading out. Maybe the "drive" to spread out and colonize the universe or the cultures that would encourage that frame of thought are linked to a propensity to wage war or other some other counterproductive behavior that results in extinction before achieving the ability to colonize the stars.