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Two Scifi examples that come to mind are a book, GreenFlies (http://www.amazon.com/Greenflies-Andrew-Darling-ebook/dp/B00MX3QPJM/ http://www.amazon.com/Greenfli

Two Scifi examples that come to mind are a book, GreenFlies (http://www.amazon.com/Greenflies-Andrew-Darling-ebook/dp/B00MX3QPJM/ http://www.amazon.com/Greenflies-Andrew-Darling-ebook/dp/B00...) that has a fun example of a super-predator type-3-ish civilization, and the motivations that would create the galaxy we see today. David Brin also has a great book, Existence (http://www.amazon.com/Existence-David-Brin-ebook/dp/B0079XPMQS/ http://www.amazon.com/Existence-David-Brin-ebook/dp/B0079XPM... ), that is an example of a super-predator meme that may also be a natural great filter for any intelligent civilizations that pop up. Full disclosure, my brother is the author of the first book.

DavidSJ 12y ago
That seems different to me. There's lots of scifi and speculation about contact between civilizations of vastly different technological development. But the idea here is that the expansion of a civilization happens so quickly that it consumes all the resources around it before other civilizations get a chance to exist at all. No malevolence ("superpredators") required. The probability that a new civilization is born after the light from the expanding one has arrived, but before their colony ships have, is very small, so therefore we should expect that whenever our civilization was born and whatever the benevolence of the aliens, when we look into the sky we should see no sign of them.
- mickdarling 12y ago
  Super-predator Civilizations solve the significant problem of blaming the silence on a psychological quirk rather than statistics. When you are making assumptions about the millions of civilizations, it is absurd to think they ALL retreated to playing video games for eternity, or ALL nuked themselves to oblivion. With a single super-predator civ, that has a huge leg up on everyone else, they can have unusual motivations, and techniques. The problem with a super-predator is you likely won't be able to learn anything to prove or disprove them until you meet them, with all that implies.

DavidSJ 12y ago

That seems different to me. There's lots of scifi and speculation about contact between civilizations of vastly different technological development. But the idea here is that the expansion of a civilization happens so quickly that it consumes all the resources around it before other civilizations get a chance to exist at all. No malevolence ("superpredators") required. The probability that a new civilization is born after the light from the expanding one has arrived, but before their colony ships have, is very small, so therefore we should expect that whenever our civilization was born and whatever the benevolence of the aliens, when we look into the sky we should see no sign of them.

mickdarling 12y ago
Super-predator Civilizations solve the significant problem of blaming the silence on a psychological quirk rather than statistics. When you are making assumptions about the millions of civilizations, it is absurd to think they ALL retreated to playing video games for eternity, or ALL nuked themselves to oblivion. With a single super-predator civ, that has a huge leg up on everyone else, they can have unusual motivations, and techniques. The problem with a super-predator is you likely won't be able to learn anything to prove or disprove them until you meet them, with all that implies.