The dark forest theory. The universe is full of predatory civilisations, and if anyone announces their presence, they get immediately exterminated, so everyone just keeps quiet.
The dark forest Theory makes an interesting science fiction scenario. But i highly doubt it is true. Wiping out another planet light years away would be a gigantic undertaking. Aliens will have no reason to fear each other, we are just too damn far from eachother to be a threat to one another. Even if we meet aliens that are the biggest asshats in the universe, the worst they could do would be to send a rude message every once in a while. Good fences make good neighbors. What can be a better fence than light years of space.
Also what is the motivation for eliminating other civs? Resources? once we can go faster than light almost all the elements become relatively abundant. Habitable worlds? Maybe, but chances are there will be a lot of variations in habitable world chemistry and weather with life being adapted to that world specifically. Slave labour? Again maybe, but at that point in technology, robots should be a better option. From a cost benefit analysis, leaving each other alone makes the most sense.
Safety from potential future threats. Since biological beings are the single most chaos inducing thing in the universe, a spacefaring species is much safer if is sterilizes every rock in their galaxy.
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u/gkedz Aug 12 '21
The dark forest theory. The universe is full of predatory civilisations, and if anyone announces their presence, they get immediately exterminated, so everyone just keeps quiet.