Is Technological Civilization the Universal Culmination of Intellectual Evolution?
Implications for SETI and the Far Posthuman Future
Keywords:
SETI, Technological civilization, Evolution of intellect, Unlimited intellectAbstract
The assumption that technological civilization is final stage of evolution of intellect and the universal indicator of advanced ETI is not well justified. For a hypothetical unlimited intellect, technological civilization would be unnecessary if immortality, flawless and boundless memory, unlimited capacity for information processing, perfect communion between minds, and infinite sensory perception were already given. Intelligent entities sufficiently close to such an intellect may exist in the universe without developing technological civilizations, yet still be scientifically and culturally more advanced than any society that relies on them. Presumably, all successful technological civilizations eventually create entities approaching this hypothetical unlimited intellect, at which point the technological framework becomes redundant and is abandoned. Alternatively, unknown evolutionary pathways of matter may give rise directly to such entities, entirely bypassing the technological stage of development. It is therefore possible that the most advanced minds and the least advanced minds in the universe share a common trait: the absence of technological civilization.
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