Post by Morten St. GeorgePost by Dr. HotSaltA planet which bears life can only have a limited amount of biomass
(on Earth, the carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen and trace elements)
which makes up living matter. Once life evolves and consumes the non-
living elements and incorporates them into biomass, the only way for
any lifeform to survive is by eating another.
On Earth, most species of animals do not kill, let alone eat, other members
of their species. Mankind is the exception to the rule on Earth and may be
the exception to the rule for intelligent life throughout the universe.
Still with the Pollyanna.
https://www.livescience.com/60431-do-animals-murder-each-other.html
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/human-violence-evolution-animals-nature-science/
https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/do-animals-murder-their-own-species/
https://www.quora.com/Do-humans-attack-and-kill-their-own-species-more-than-other-species
https://www.wired.com/2015/01/animal-cannibalism/
https://www.ranker.com/list/cannibalistic-animals/cynthia-griffith
http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/monster-week/tastes-like-chicken-8-animal-cannibals-that-eat-their-own-kind/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/cannibal-animals
You have no justification for assuming anything about the *social* behaviors of any extraterrestrial species.
Also, you just moved the goalposts.
Post by Morten St. GeorgeAt issue was whether or not evolving civilizations would self-destruct
That's where you want to move the goalposts, you mean.
Post by Morten St. George(make and use nuclear weapons) before achieving interstellar travel
(therefore advanced intelligent life is rare in the universe and that's
why our SETI astronomers are picking up no signals).
Most likely nobody uses what we can easily generate and detect (radio waves) to communicate information over any great distance.
Post by Morten St. GeorgeBut it is precisely
this propensity of our species to kill each other (possibly just as rare
in the universe as it is on our own planet)
Except that it isn't rare on this planet.
Post by Morten St. Georgethat leads to the theorized self-destruction. Thus, a better explanation
of SETI failure is that the aliens know we are here and are avoiding contact.
Or, they ate each other before they advanced far enough to hear us, much less try to come here.
The bottom line is that they had to eat to become intelligent and still do, assuming they exist at all.
I note you didn't even try to refute that point.
Post by Morten St. GeorgeAlso at issue is whether or not highly-advanced technological civilizations
could find ways to sustain themselves without having to go out and plunder
the planets of other intelligent beings.
Please stop referring to poorly written Sci Fi plots. There is literally nothing on Earth that is not available in enormous quantities elsewhere in the Solar System in much shallower gravity wells (much cheaper energetically to extract, plus not infested with pesky nuclear-armed natives).
Those same materials should be equally easily available in any solar system with a life-bearing planet. If it was solely about resource acquisition humanity could sustain itself in this system until the Sun turns red and eats all the inner planets.
Post by Morten St. GeorgeThey manufactured their own food on Star Trek, didn't they?
No, they didn't. That is FICTION.
Post by Morten St. GeorgeIndeed, note that the writers of Star Trek and Star Wars had to create
malevolent aliens for theatrical effect.
The alien species in Star Trek are thinly-veiled representations of various countries on Earth. I'm not surprised you missed that.
The alien species in Star Wars are perfectly human-behaving characters.
Post by Morten St. GeorgeIt seems Stephen Hawking and Michio Kaku (and some people in this forum)
have been watching too much TV, which accounts for their irrational fear
of aliens.
And what have you been reading to generate your irrational near-worship of aliens?
Post by Morten St. GeorgeRegarding our Voyager 1 probe, did we send it into interstellar space
looking for places to plunder, or looking for friends? Space-traveling
aliens are likely to be friendly. That's not a religious belief. It's
common sense.
It's none of the above. It's a roll of the dice.
Post by Morten St. GeorgeBut the days of Voyager are long gone. Today, our civilization is much
more interested in spending its money on weapons than on space exploration.
You are amazingly ignorant...
Post by Morten St. GeorgeI'd say self-destruction is just around the corner.
...and have the pessimism of a small mind.
You will notice that nuclear weapons were invented a little over seventy years ago.
You will also notice that despite proliferating from one country to many, they were used ONCE in those seventy-plus years.
How long do you think it takes to turn a corner.
Dr. HotSalt