An interesting insight from a conversation about the Fermi paradox and Great Filter theories: what if our entire framing is just wrong?

The way we talk about 'advanced civilizations' seems inextricably tied to capitalism and imperatives of endless growth, rather than genuine techno-social advancement; its almost always about *scale*, rather than about capability, and that is a capitalist mode of thought.

What if the question isn't "how are we the only advanced civilization?", but instead it is "how are we the only civilization that hasn't figured out to make itself sustainable yet"?

What if the Fermi paradox is really just the question of our species' failure to prioritize correctly?