What year did humankind acquired the capability to destroy itself? What is the Great Filter and Fermi paradox? Where is everybody in a Universe?
https://vimeo.com/129521121In your first question you need to specify the time-frame constraint. Humanity has evolved around a pre-existing capacity for self destruction, it's only a matter of "how long will it take for the consequences of X harmful action to result in the destruction of humanity?" Since knowledge is power, the degree of knowledge directly correlates with the destructive capacity of humanity, but it's a double edged sword so to speak...
The great filter is no more than a theory based on the assertion that intelligence is the result of an evolutionary "self defense mechanism" which first requires ferocious competition to justify its natural existence. Thus, for the evolutionary root of intelligence to exist there must also exist a prior disposition of an intelligent species towards violence; aka "natural selection". Intelligence will naturally lead to knowledge, which leads to enhanced power (ability), which results in increasing potential for greater calamity, and ultimately complete destruction. However, in my opinion it neglects the effects of a single trait of higher intelligence which is self-serving, which is the ability to foresee the outcomes of events before they materialize. For this reason, should an intelligent culture destroy itself, it will come as the consequence of a "lack of sufficient intelligence" where the outcome wasn't predicted due to the ignorance of certain participants, as a result of defective intelligence (mental illness), or just very bad luck due to unintended discovery.
Something that should be considered is that the Universe is constantly changing as a whole (I'll use the term "Universe" loosely to describe the area of quantum space which is currently being affected by the big bang). Imagine a quantum space which cannot be measured by observation, but only in the potential that energy may possibly occupy this space at some point under some circumstance; the very principle of infinity. The observable Universe is the result of a cyclical event which begins with an inception, followed by an aging term of existence, a death and dissolution phase, and then a rebirth. When the big bang happens as a result of the combined effects of random quantum tunneling with superposition, it "squeezes" energy potential out of quantum space, condensing it into observable energy (matter). It helps to visualize that matter "precipitates" like rain from a cloud of stored potential energy (subatomic particles) and thanks to the property called quantum tunneling, the available potential energy in any spot is always equal to the total of all quantum energy minus the total of all relative (kinetic) energy. So, with this in mind, life could not exist in a Universe of only light elements, it took many star cycles to fuse the elemental diversity that life requires. Some of the essential heavy elements can only be formed during the implosion shock of a Supernova, casting them out into space. Life evolved as quickly as it possibly could within our Universe, and because the speed of light is upwardly limited, so too is our rate of visual observation. The Fermi paradox becomes less of a paradox when you consider the potential rate of technological advancement for an intelligent species and our own limited searching ability. Perhaps we just don't communicate the same way, I find it most likely that communication transmission will eventually take advantage of the effects of quantum tunneling-directing and interpreting the various electron spins of coupled particles. The only delay in this form of communication will come as a result of processing time to simply interpret the message, there will be no transmission distance delay since there is no actual transmission. The message will be received as it is being created in real time across any distance with nothing for a third party to intercept.
You can't see them zooming around space because-lets face it, we've only recently been able to observe other planets outside of our own solar system. Why would we think we could detect any signs of an advanced society with such a narrow scope, and with such poor resolution, and such a large area to search, and considering that by the time they discover radio technology, they'll only be using it for a short time before advancing to better more useful technologies? Especially for a space-faring society. Radio transmission just doesn't cut it...
