Recently the meme of the coming intelligence singularity is becoming more and more prevalent. Futurists are making accurate predictions based on patterns/rules in increased computing power and increased computing capacity. They are finding that the speed of improvement is increasing which may ultimately lead to a technological singularity where knowledge is being acquired and discovered at an ever increasing pace.
This has pushed my mind into a philosophical thought pattern. Is the advancement of technology predictably the same for all intelligent civilisations? If we had two tribes on either side of the planet 100 thousand years ago, would they have both have developed clubs, sharp flint, fire, language etc in roughly the same order? Would the discovery of fire predictably lead to cooked food in both tribes? On a larger scale, if we had a second Earth like planet somewhere in the universe would they be making (or have made) the same general discoveries? Once you get stuck into a loop of ever increasing technological discovery can you ever escape and does it always lead to a predictable end?
Perhaps the predictable end is the answer to the question "
Where are they?" with one of several answers.
1) They are gone/dead.
2) They are not interested in such an infant civilisation.
3) They don't know we are here.
I'm mostly worried about option 1.
Singularity