The Filter Event: Ideologies of Centralization The drake equation estimates that there may be as many as 12500 extra-terrestrial life forms in the Milky Way alone. Scientists have found many potentially habitable planets, but scientists have yet to find another civilization. So where are the aliens? The Great Filter is the idea that there is a natural barrier in the development of life preventing the existence of space faring extra-terrestrial life. What would such a barrier look like and how would it take place? First, we will make five assumptions. First assumption, the Great Filter is in the future not the past. We have already seen life evolve once so we know it is possible. Second assumption, any intelligent life that would evolve would be as just as greedy as humanity as resource acquisition would be just as important for their survival as it is for ours. Third assumption, hierarchal social structures will naturally form as they do in humans and other animals. Fourth assumption, any intelligent life will use technology to improve their productive processes. Fifth and final assumption, the great filter is obvious enough that every intelligent civilization will eventually do it. Weapons of mass destruction and AI uprising have been proposed by as possible answers to the great filter, but both theories fall flat. Even insane dictators like Kim Jong Un show restrain with nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; No one wants to rule over a wasteland. And if AI was the answer, wouldn’t scientists see machine intelligences colonizing the galaxy? So, then what would be obvious enough that every intelligent life form would do it? How would a greedy, hierarchal, technologically advanced civilization commit suicide if not by weapons of mass destruction or AI? The answer: over centralization. Centralizing power would be obvious to any hierarchy of greedy individuals and may even be a necessity to maintain control of a technologically advanced civilization. But how centralizing control leads to extinction bares explanation. The hypothesis goes as follows; at the dawn of an alien civilization’s industrial revolution mass production becomes the dominant mode of production and causes societal disruption. To mitigate this disruption the state becomes increasingly involved in the production process either by regulating industry or outright seizing industry to serve the needs of the state. The state then uses ideology or religion to justify its existence and uses propaganda and “education” to indoctrinate the population. The state slowly but surely grows in power and scope and the population becomes increasingly dependent on the state for survival. The ruling class must continuously expand control to maintain its power as technology becomes more advanced. The level of micromanaging required eventually exceeds the ability of any intelligent being. The ruling elites eventually become more disconnected from the rest of their society and begin making reckless policies. The population which is now completely dependent on the elites obeys these new edicts. As the population becomes more dependent on the elites so to do the elites become more dependent on the population for production. The decisions made by the elite become increasingly reckless and maladaptive until the system fails, and the species dies. This is the filter event. So how to avoid this fate? It starts by creating a self-sufficient, decentralized, adaptable population capable of bouncing back from large shocks. The supply chain collapse of the pandemic (which as of 2025 most of the world is still recovering from) shows the weakness of the current system; it cannot handle systemic shocks. A decentralized network of makers, farmers, scientists, craftsmen, and engineers could be built in the shadow of the current system ready to rebuild after a collapse. What comes next would be distributist economy based on small scale production from 3d printers and other cottage industry scale machinery. If sentient life is to survive the revolution must be open source.