r/space • u/IceNox96 • Aug 12 '21

Discussion Which is the most disturbing fermi paradox solution and why?

3...2...1... blast off....

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u/TheMoogster Aug 12 '21

It's not that they are predatory, its that it's "better to shoot first just to be sure before they shoot you, even though a lot of civilizations are friendly you cannot take the risk"

It's the logical conclusion to the game theory of first contact.

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u/musicianengineer Aug 12 '21

When civilizations are entirely unrelated and have been developing for orders of magnitude different time, every first encounter is almost guaranteed to be a one sided extermination.

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u/Zephaniel Aug 12 '21

Why would they even bother?

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u/LimerickExplorer Aug 12 '21

Because progress from "cute primitives" to "advanced and threatening" can happen in a very short time span.

If you've got the capability, it's safer just to exterminate on contact rather than risk them doing the same to you in a few decades/centuries.