Fermi Paradox

The theory posits that a critical filter in the Fermi Paradox arises from a specific sociobiological collapse. In this scenario, a civilization develops a mating culture where females, empowered by choice, consistently select only the most dominant ~20% of males. This creates a permanent, disenfranchised underclass of childless males.

With no genetic legacy to fight for, these males withdraw their labor and innovation from society. They cease to be drivers of economic and technological progress. The resulting demographic winter—a critically low birthrate fueled by the majority of males not reproducing—starves the civilization of the human capital needed to sustain its complexity.

This cycle of social contraction and collapse repeats over millennia, preventing the accumulation of knowledge and stability required for spacefaring. Each recovery leads back to the same unsustainable sexual selection pattern. The civilization remains permanently planet-bound, vulnerable to eventual extinction by a planetary cataclysm, explaining the "Great Silence" in the galaxy.