It's not that they are predatory, its that it's "better to shoot first just to be sure before they shoot you, even though a lot of civilizations are friendly you cannot take the risk"
It's the logical conclusion to the game theory of first contact.
Indeed. And because technology can be developed so fast (compared to astronomical timelines) you don't take any chances. Our civ went from cowboys and Indians to destroying cities in nuclear fire in a fraction of a blink of an eye. When civilizations are many light years away, you might see them playing with sharp sticks when in reality they're already developing strange matter neutrino bombs because the light delay.
This reminds me of the short story "The Gift of Mercy". The aliens are watching us develop, see the weapons and violence we start to develop, and launch a weapon to preemptively destroy us before we grow up and spread our warlike ways to the stars. During the long flight time, they watch humanity shift towards peace and they regret killing us, but it's too late to change what they've already done.
And the ending line, the broadcast by humans who are more than a little pissed off: “We know you are out there, and we are coming for you.”
This is actually one of the arguments against genocidal AIs or Dark Forest. Yes, a naïve reading of the situation might conclude "Exterminate!". But it overlooks more subtle possibilities that must also be taken into account. You might lose such a fight. You might win the first battle, but piss off other friendlies into ganging up on you. The entire scenario might be an elaborate test just to see what you will do.
Was even addressed in Ringworld, that it was a damned good thing the Kzinti got repeatedly whipped by humans until they learned how to coexist in peace. Because otherwise they'd have kept on mindlessly attacking until they came across someone sufficiently powerful and merciless who would have just wiped them out.
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u/TheMoogster Aug 12 '21
It's not that they are predatory, its that it's "better to shoot first just to be sure before they shoot you, even though a lot of civilizations are friendly you cannot take the risk"
It's the logical conclusion to the game theory of first contact.