> evolution isn't teleological. There isn't some ideal life form we're purposefully evolving toward
While the universe may be indifferent to the outcome of the human experiment, I'm not! I want my contributions and descendants to live on in a form that recognizes who I was and what I did. I want technological civilization to last for millennia. That can't happen if IQ we let average IQ decay by fifteen points century over century.
There's your solution to the Fermi Paradox. If the IQ decline is on the order of 1.23 points per decade (with steeper drops on the right tail of the distribution), I can definitely see technological civilization becoming untenable in a few centuries and before we develop strong AI.
While the universe may be indifferent to the outcome of the human experiment, I'm not! I want my contributions and descendants to live on in a form that recognizes who I was and what I did. I want technological civilization to last for millennia. That can't happen if IQ we let average IQ decay by fifteen points century over century.