Joe Strout writes:

The most logical explanation is that all civilizations, including ours,
destroy themselves (or are destroyed) before interstellar colonization
begins. But, despite the logic of it, I find I can't accept that. So,
I'm left befuddled, with no neat solution. I consider this one of the
great mysteries of our time, right up there with the nature of
consciousness.

I think the most logical explanation is that "interstellar colonization"
has a pretty low priority for most or even all civilizations. It just
doesn't happen. They struggle to colonize their own planet, have a short
boom period, run out of natural resources and then either go extinct or
struggle on to organize long-term modest surviving and do away with
"colonization".


Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery