this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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Showerthoughts

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What if the great filter of humanity is to overcome it's own nature that made it the dominant species of the planet and what if that is the universal great filter that makes the cosmos silent (self.showerthoughts)
submitted 6 months ago by whaleross to c/showerthoughts
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[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I don't know if this theory has a proper name but I have seen it multiple times.

If a species has the ability to push their technology to the point they could become a space faring species, that technology will destroy the civilization before it can get there

[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

That is basically The Great Filter theory the OP was referring to.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Yeah I guess I didn't read very carefully

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

It may depend on the rate they get to that point. Add in a dense energy source that's suddenly available and the rise of tech may be lethal. Perhaps the lucky ones don't have something like petroleum so their species matures long before they ruin their world.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Back up...dude with a 10th grade level understanding of biology and chemistry coming through with a question...

So carbon-based life forms can, under the right circumstances, decompose into long chains of hydrocarbons like Petroleum.

Does that mean silicon-based life forms under the right circumstances would break down into hydrosilicates like caulk?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I don't know about the end result under the same extremes. I do know that silicon life, while not impossible, it's probably unlikely. Silicon does parallel carbon in some ways including a similar location on the periodic chart (which is why it got attention from scifi writers), but the issue is simply silicon is nowhere near as "greedy" as carbon bonds.

But it is a big universe.