It's interesting to think that very probably during the lives of many of the people on HN, we're going to see some pretty massive geo-engineering projects on a global scale. Probably 2040-2050 or thereabouts, once the basic fact of climate change is utterly undeniable to even the loudest idiots.
A decade or so after that we should have our verdict whether intelligence is truly a lethal mutation, or not. Of course it's still only a sample size of one - Mayr's argument has little to do with the Drake equation.
A decade or so after that we should have our verdict whether intelligence is truly a lethal mutation, or not. Of course it's still only a sample size of one - Mayr's argument has little to do with the Drake equation.