> I also find it a plausible variation on [1] as an explanation of the Fermi paradox—natural intelligence learns to undermine its own environment before it realizes it (due to complexity), destroying itself.
Every species, even unintelligent ones, destroys its habitat if it's not kept in check somehow. Herbivores will multiply and eat all of the vegetation if not kept in check by predators, predators will multiply if there's an abundance of prey and eventually be kept in check by famine. The trouble with intelligence is we're able to work around these natural barriers and expand the scope of habitat destruction, which we're seeing with climate change.
Every species, even unintelligent ones, destroys its habitat if it's not kept in check somehow. Herbivores will multiply and eat all of the vegetation if not kept in check by predators, predators will multiply if there's an abundance of prey and eventually be kept in check by famine. The trouble with intelligence is we're able to work around these natural barriers and expand the scope of habitat destruction, which we're seeing with climate change.