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Societal Collapse and the Fermi Paradox
Has the advent of mass communication combined with a raging pandemic brought upon us a very real Great Filter?
The Great Filter
The Fermi paradox, named for the physicist Enrico Fermi, describes the apparent contradiction between the vastness of the universe and the probability of their being detectable life in it versus our inability to detect any actual sign of it.
One of the possibilities as to why we (as a species) aren’t able to see anyone is that there’s actually no-one out there to see. Other than we are the first to evolve to this point, there is conjecture around the existence of a Great Filter that perhaps prevents evolving civilisations progressing beyond a certain point in their development.
For example, the development of nuclear weapons has been posited as the example of a filter whereby their development ultimately results in the complete destruction of the evolving species.
I want to consider, in this article, another more subtle Great Filter possibility.
Civilisations in Earth’s History
Over the course of our history on this planet the human race has gone through a long and complex history where societal constructs have established themselves, evolved, and eventually collapsed.
