We would not have detected extraterrestrial radio traffic- nor would any ETIS have ever settled on Earth- because all were killed shortly after discovering radio.” It need only happen once for the results of this scenario to become the equilibrium condition in the Galaxy. There is no need to struggle to suppress the elements of the Drake equation in order to explain the Great Silence, nor need we suggest that no ETIS anywhere would bear the cost of interstellar travel.

“It is consistent with all of the facts and philosophical principles described in the first part of this article. In this excerpt, he explains why this solution an attractive one for scientific purposes and terrifying for existential reasons: While the variant he describes relies on robotic probes carrying out the task of killing off civilizations other than the one that created it, the core concept remains the same.

It was also put forth by scientist David Brin as a potential solution to the lack of radio evidence for alien life. Is there a non-literary approach to this solution? Or is it just an idea that is good for a story? It’s a bit like the prisoner’s dilemma really, and the concept is based on applied game theory. If he finds another life-another hunter, angel, or a demon, a delicate infant to tottering old man, a fairy or demigod-there’s only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound.

The reasoning behind the paranoia is explained in this paragraph from the novel:

Like a spark in the dark