Previous thoughts have explored how the life course of an intelligent species might evolve and develop, what the future might hold for us,...
Previous thoughts have explored how the life course of an intelligent species might evolve and develop, what the future might hold for us, the human race, and what form other previously evolved alien civilizations might have taken. Many possibilities have been raised, from rapid extinction on a cosmic timescale to becoming a galactic civilization with an eternal life span.
Either an intelligent species will use up its resources faster than it can adapt to the changed environment with its continuously growing knowledge and become extinct, or, if its knowledge evolves faster than its resource requirements, it will move out of its original birthplace and become a galactic civilization by applying new resources.
However, for an intelligent species, there is a third developmental option. If an intelligent species recognizes in time that the growth of its knowledge is not sufficiently rapid, and that the increase in resource use is exhausting the capacity of its habitat, it can consciously curb its extensive development to avoid extinction.
The human species has just reached this stage of development. We have reached a state of development where our habitat, the Earth, can no longer provide us with sufficient resources at our given level of knowledge, and our knowledge and technological capabilities are not developing fast enough to make up for or replace the overuse. If this situation persists, the only way we can survive is to curb extensive growth.
Our situation on the edge of the brink is already recognized. Recycling, refurbishing and reusing have become everyday goals. Indeed, achieving these goals will slow down the increasing demand on resources and prolong the habitability of our habitat. But these goals can only be achieved through new knowledge and lifestyle changes. The achievement of any of these goals is doubtful, but they are inevitable for the survival of our civilization.
The fastest solution, and currently the most feasible way to ensure the survival of our civilization, would be to curb consumption. This could happen without our intention. If the over-use of resources is not changed, we will face a series of crises in which our entire civilization could be degraded, with one of the consequences being a reduction in consumption and resource use. If we ourselves do not voluntarily undertake to reduce our consumption, external forces will force us to do so. If we do it ourselves, and it is not too late, we will have a chance to survive. If our environment forces it on us, our civilization could collapse. This is one of the possible end states of the evolution of the intelligent species.
However, the intelligent species can avoid collapse if it recognizes the situation in time and adapts to a sustainable lifestyle in time, cutting back on consumption, reusing, renewing, recycling, and learning to live in balance with its environment. This can be the life path of an intelligent species. But this evolutionary path has consequences, it can lead to a specific state. An intelligent species begins to live in harmony with its environment. Its use and consumption of resources becomes in balance with the natural processes of the environment.
An intelligent species in this state does not live in the same way as naturally evolving species in its environment. If environmental change is too rapid, species whose natural evolution cannot keep up with the change will become extinct. An intelligent species in a state of harmony with nature is not like this. The intelligent species uses its knowledge to exit biological evolution, able to consciously adapt to changing conditions while maintaining its balance with the environment.
An intelligent species that has reached a state of development that allows it to live in harmony with its environment, following this form of survival, is completely integrated into its environment, its existence not altering the equilibrium processes of the environment.
The human race can follow this survival pathway. So can other intelligent civilizations, if they exist. But this way of existence has consequences. Scientific technological progress of the intelligent species must maintain a state of equilibrium with the environment. In this situation, the intelligent species does not transform its environment, but blends into it using its knowledge.
If such an intelligent species exists on a planet, its presence is impossible to detect from a distance. This intelligent species would not burden its environment with resource-intensive space exploration. For it, space exploration is based on passive observation.
Such an intelligent species is adaptable to almost any living environment, so it can be in almost any celestial body, even in our close environment, but we cannot detect its existence from a distance.
Why can't we see the aliens if they exist? Perhaps the intelligent species had to learn to live in harmony with the environment to avoid extinction in order to survive.
The stage in an intelligent species' life at which it is recognizable to an outside observer is very short on a galactic timescale. It either dies out quickly, or if it exists for a longer period of time, it must blend into its environment, or it evolves into a galactic civilization and it is up to it when it contacts us. If we survive until then and find each other.
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