The barren plateaus problem and intelligence
The lack of stimulation is the thing that causes loss of the motivation for create new things.
When we are thinking about intelligence, we must remember that intelligence is not enough. When we want to create technology. We also need motivation for research and development.
In most cases, the reason for termination of some technical advances or ideas is that somewhere is always some other objectives for the resources that some project needs? One of the resources is, of course, time. When we are doing something, we need to reserve time for that thing. And if we find something. That is more important there is no time for the first thing.
The Game theory can answer why there are so few intelligent civilizations.
The game theory claims that all organisms are maximizing their benefit. That is the thing that unites but it also scatters the society. If the organism feels that the benefit for society is higher than the benefit of the individual organism would fight for a common goal. In most cases, the reason why individual actors forget their benefit is a threat. That comes outside. Or the threat that requires combining forces. That threat can be an incoming meteorite, hostile actor, or some kind of natural disaster.
Those things are made possible that the entire society connects forces for reaching the united goal. That goal can be destroying the attacker or building a better irrigation system. But then for some reason, the individual actors are starting again to value their benefit higher than the benefit of society. There must be some motivation for developing new technology. In the intensive world of the military sitting on a chair is a destructive thing.
While the western world believes that old technologies would be enough to give resistance against hostile actors the Chinese developed a great number of new weapons. Those weapons like hypersonic cruise missiles are impressive. And at the same time serious reminder that the world is always changing. Who would believe ten or fifteen years ago that someday Chinese would be the leading nation in quantum technology?
What kind of thing could motivate to build an interstellar spacecraft? When does some civilization want to put all of its resources into creating interstellar spacecraft?
That kind of case can be an outcoming attack. But when peacetime comes the personal benefit displaces the benefit of the entirety. So if the civilization would sit alone in a place where it has no outside contacts it would not see a need to develop interstellar technology.
The outcoming threat connects people. And it motivates to create new solutions for challenging enemies. But then those innovations are forgotten.
The thing is the same with the barren plateau problem. If the organism has lived all the time in some desert oasis without any social contact that creature believes in being alone on the Earth or some other planet. A similar case would be that organism has lived its entire life at the lone island at the ocean.
Organism feels that there is no other threat to paradise than sharks and flows in the ocean. That means our organism would just lay on the sand and eat bananas that are dropping from the trees. There is nothing that can treat that organism. So why must that organism make anything for getting out from that island?
There might be some materials for the boat. But because that island or oasis gives everything for that organism. There is no need to build the boat or that is how the organism feels that thing. The organism would not know anything about Tsunami or any other threats like the tribes at the island about 1000 kilometers away. They do not exist for the organism that has lived on its island all of its life.
The lack of motivation is the reason why that organism would not build a boat. "There is nothing anyway". This is the excuse why that organism spends all the time eating bananas and looking at the clouds. For similar reasons, humans are not making interstellar spacecraft. We have no place to travel.
There is no contact with aliens. So we don't need that kind of project. That is the reason why many things are resting at the level of the paper. And one thing that limits our ability to create that kind of thing is we have only our thoughts.
We cannot exchange ideas with some other species that might have different opinions or points of view on those projects. But when we are thinking about the first contact. That thing might be our greatest threat. But at the same time, that thing can be the greatest opportunity for the human race.
In some scenarios that thing will unite humans. The outcoming threat is always united nations. And that thing can happen also if we find alien civilization.
What if there are two intelligent alien races in the same solar system? In that case, the cultural and technological exchange between species could enrich the social and other kinds of environment. In that model, the species would not destroy each other.
https://www.lanl.gov/discover/news-release-archive/2021/March/0319-barren-plateaus.php
