Fun fact: great filters don’t necessarily have to wipe out the species, they just need to be obstacles unsurmountable by our current resources, mental capacity and evolutionary state.
It may be that for any species that develops spatial reasoning and language while still carrying survival instincts, that they can never get past a certain point where their tech keeps outpacing their own mental/cognitive capabilities and they keep bombing themselves back to the stone age, or creating some kind of technological wonder that they can’t control because they’re still unevolved primates/reptiles/insects/cephalopods despite having individual potential for thought and self-awareness.
There may be millions of civilizations out there just like us, who can look out at the stars and dream of a larger universe, but can never make a progress past their own prejudices and fears to ever get out into the universe until eventually their species just evaporates away into the great sea of entropy that comes for every world.
It makes sense to me that, since evolution is all about survival of the fittest, we have selfishness built-in. There are species that benefit from a collective collaboration, but if a few individuals in a colony abuse the colony’s nature they can win big.
I often wonder if the great filter is about a species shrugging off the selfish side of their survival instincts, and learning to trust in the strength of a colony.
The existence of billionaires suggests that we are not there yet. The good willed among us need to learn intolerance for the selfish to prosper long enough to break through the filter.
Three dictators controlling about 11000 nuclear warheads.
Not a doomer, but that looks suspiciously like the Great Filter solution to the Fermi paradox.
Fun fact: great filters don’t necessarily have to wipe out the species, they just need to be obstacles unsurmountable by our current resources, mental capacity and evolutionary state.
It may be that for any species that develops spatial reasoning and language while still carrying survival instincts, that they can never get past a certain point where their tech keeps outpacing their own mental/cognitive capabilities and they keep bombing themselves back to the stone age, or creating some kind of technological wonder that they can’t control because they’re still unevolved primates/reptiles/insects/cephalopods despite having individual potential for thought and self-awareness.
There may be millions of civilizations out there just like us, who can look out at the stars and dream of a larger universe, but can never make a progress past their own prejudices and fears to ever get out into the universe until eventually their species just evaporates away into the great sea of entropy that comes for every world.
Your idea of a fun fact is different than my idea of a fun fact.
We can solve this problem French style.
to the tune of the wheels on the bus
🎵 Guillotine blades go🎵
🎵shink shink shink🎵
🎵shink shink shink🎵
🎵shink shink shink🎵
🎵All the live long day🎵
It makes sense to me that, since evolution is all about survival of the fittest, we have selfishness built-in. There are species that benefit from a collective collaboration, but if a few individuals in a colony abuse the colony’s nature they can win big.
I often wonder if the great filter is about a species shrugging off the selfish side of their survival instincts, and learning to trust in the strength of a colony.
The existence of billionaires suggests that we are not there yet. The good willed among us need to learn intolerance for the selfish to prosper long enough to break through the filter.
That’s not how survival of the fittest works.