I mean, had we gone to nuclear power immediately as soon as we could, we likely wouldn't be where we are today. The window isn't that narrow. But there are definitely certain aspects of our ape brains that make us likely to extinct ourselves.
We certainly wouldn't be where we are today, but it's extremely speculative to know where we would be...could be worse or better. One problem I see with where we are now is that once the ball of inertia of group activity gets going, it is very very difficult to get it to go in another direction.
I think the idea is that is certainly feasible for an alien civilization to go from steam power to fission in under 200 years. What makes it a "great filter" in my mind that the idea that the climate change clock might start ticking long before they are aware of it and that there could be a hard time limit.
Most other possible filters aren't as tricky. Sure stars explode, planets get hit by asteroids, and species go extinct, but those are pretty much chance events.
baking|3 years ago
mym1990|3 years ago
baking|3 years ago
Most other possible filters aren't as tricky. Sure stars explode, planets get hit by asteroids, and species go extinct, but those are pretty much chance events.