Editing Fermi paradox (section)

==== It is the nature of intelligent life to destroy others ====
{{See also|Berserker hypothesis|Dark forest hypothesis|Technological singularity|Von Neumann probe}}
Another hypothesis is that an intelligent species beyond a certain point of technological capability will destroy other intelligent species as they appear, perhaps by using [[Self-replicating spacecraft|self-replicating probes]]. Science fiction writer [[Fred Saberhagen]] has explored this idea in his ''[[Berserker (novel series)|Berserker]]'' series, as has physicist [[Gregory Benford]]<ref>"The Great Silence: the Controversy . . . " (15-page paper), ''Quarterly J. Royal Astron. Soc.,'' David Brin, 1983, [http://adsbit.harvard.edu//full/1983QJRAS..24..283B/0000296.000.html page 296 bottom third] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204194035/http://adsbit.harvard.edu//full/1983QJRAS..24..283B/0000296.000.html |date=February 4, 2020 }}.</ref> and also, science fiction writer [[Greg Bear]] in his ''[[The Forge of God]]'' novel,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-20-bk-8862-story.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816233413/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-20-bk-8862-story.html | archive-date=August 16, 2022 | title=Self-Reproducing Machines from Another Planet : THE FORGE OF GOD by Greg Bear (Tor Books : $17.95; 448 pp.) | website=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=September 20, 1987 }}</ref> and later [[Liu Cixin]] in his ''[[The Three-Body Problem (novel)|The Three-Body Problem]]'' series.

A species might undertake such extermination out of expansionist motives, greed, paranoia, or aggression. In 1981, cosmologist [[Edward Robert Harrison|Edward Harrison]] argued that such behavior would be an act of prudence: an intelligent species that has overcome its own self-destructive tendencies might view any other species bent on galactic expansion as a threat.<ref>{{cite web| last = Soter| first = Steven| date = 2005| url = http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1745| title = SETI and the Cosmic Quarantine Hypothesis| work = Astrobiology Magazine| publisher = Space.com| access-date = May 3, 2006| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929092545/http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1745| archive-date = September 29, 2007 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> It has also been suggested that a successful alien species would be a [[Apex predator|superpredator]], as are humans.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Archer |first=Michael| title=Slime Monsters Will Be Human Too| journal=Aust. Nat. Hist| volume=22| pages=546–547| date=1989}}</ref><ref name=webb02>{{cite book |last=Webb |first=Stephen |title=If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens... Where Is Everybody? Fifty solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life |publisher=Copernicus Books |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-387-95501-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UhzjBwAAQBAJ |access-date=July 21, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903224843/https://books.google.com/books?id=UhzjBwAAQBAJ |archive-date=September 3, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|112}} Another possibility invokes the "[[tragedy of the commons]]" and the [[anthropic principle]]: the first lifeform to achieve interstellar travel will necessarily (even if unintentionally) prevent competitors from arising, and humans simply happen to be first.<ref name="ARX-20180327">{{cite arXiv |last=Berezin |first=Alexander |title='First in, last out' solution to the Fermi Paradox |date=March 27, 2018 |class=physics.pop-ph |eprint=1803.08425v2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Dockrill |first=Peter |title=A Physicist Has Proposed a Pretty Depressing Explanation For Why We Never See Aliens |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/a-physicist-has-proposed-a-pretty-depressing-explanation-for-why-we-never-see-aliens |date=June 2, 2019 |work=ScienceAlert |access-date=June 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602213542/https://www.sciencealert.com/a-physicist-has-proposed-a-pretty-depressing-explanation-for-why-we-never-see-aliens |archive-date=June 2, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>