[ExI] Fermi's Paradoxical Politburo

[spike]

>...] On Behalf Of The Avantguardian
Subject: [ExI] Fermi's Paradoxical Politburo

----- Original Message -----
> From: spike <spike at rainier66.com>
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> _______________________________________________
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Spike perceptively writes:
 
> 
>>... I have long had a notion that we are missing something fundamentally 
> important in the Fermi question.  Stuart gets close to it with his comment.
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>> By that model, competition giveth and competition taketh away.
>

>...Try this outlandish hypothesis on for size: intelligent civiizations stagnate when technological advancement becomes illegal. There are many civilizations paralyzed by fear of change in various stages prior to Kardashevian I->II phase change. Technological progress in civilization halts when sufficient technology evolves such that the ruling political structures can maintain totalitarian control of the bulk population and preserve their particular status quo indefinately.   

 
Possibly that, or technological progress slows as an intelligent species gets comfortable.  When we are comfortable, we are complacent and conservative.  We develop a disdainful attitude toward innovation.  This is the featherbed model: the guy sleeping in a comfortable bed under a pile of soft quilts lies still, whereas the guy sleeping on a park bench under a pile of newspapers shifts often.  Happy, comfortable people don't want change, they want sameness.  It isn't only comfort, but the perception that things couldn't be better.  I want to always project the notion that things are good and things can be better, waaaay better.

spike