You reminded me of a theory a local writer shared. In short, about the cooperative versus the competitive civilization. We've kind of evolved as the latter, perhaps we started as the latter and never got out of that.

Only a civilization, he said, that could outgrow that phase and get to the cooperative kind of social mindset could get to building complex interplanetary travelling systems and weapons capable of destroying other worlds. Which such a civilization would never do.

Those who would, on the other hand, wouldn't get the chance since they wouldn't get to the stage necessary to do so. Cause before that their internal conflicts would end them.

Or set them back... Reset them?