The Collective

Me: I need more. If Earth won the war why are we less advanced than you are now?

The Collective: The warring factions on earth did not survive the automated, space-based Martian counterstrikes. The remnants left alive destroyed themselves.

Me: Damn.

The Collective: The lessons must be learned. Lessons are learned individually. Some beings learn faster than others. The Great Filter does not use discernment. It is only a mindless mechanism used by natural selection. It always closes the gate on the species as a whole. It destroys the worthy as well as the unworthy. The Great Filter is not efficient.

Me: How is that possible?

The Collective: The Great Filter punishes all members of a civilization based on the flaws of those within the civilization. On primate worlds the civilization usually falls to internal and external sectarian violence coupled with poor resource management, unconditional empathy, and tribal superstition. These were the reasons for the Earth/Mars conflict. The ancient war between Earth and Mars devastated and delayed both civilizations.

Me: So the Great Filter punishes the enlightened along with the idiots.

The Collective: Exactly. The consequences for this failure are horrible for the spread of consciousness.

Me: How?

The Collective: Worthy vessels containing high consciousness individuals on both planets are destroyed along with the unworthy. The growth and development of consciousness slows to a crawl. Once the vessel is destroyed immortal consciousness must wander the void seeking a new vessel.

Me: That sounds harsh.

The Collective: Consciousness gives meaning to life once it has melded with sentience. We seek out those primates worthy of progression through the Great Filter.

Me: So you decide who passes through the gate?

The Collective: Yes.

Me: What gives you that right?

The Collective: We survived. We melded with our intelligent machines. We explored the cosmos and became superior to those left behind on earth. We are superior to your species. We are excellent at discernment. We are the masters of frequency. We are more intelligent. We are immortal. Our immortal machine bodies match our immortal consciousness. We are superior.

Me: So Earth is a slave planet?