[ExI] Where are they? was Re: 2^57885161-1

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of The Avantguardian
...
>...Perhaps your new law of physics should be that "cultures of an
intelligent species cannot exist without inherent politics."  ...Stuart
LaForge
 
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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.
Imagine that intelligence cannot evolve without competition, generation
after generation for eons, allowing the most extreme in every niche to
gradually rise to the top in whatever it is, so that you end up with a
particular species that is the swiftest carnivore, the fiercest defender,
the smartest beast.  That part of the argument is intuitive.  Now follow it
to the next step: that same characteristic of competition which created the
intelligent species eventually either limits or destroys further progress.
By that model, competition giveth and competition taketh away.

spike