Consumerism and the Shopocalypse

Could it be that consumerism and escapism destroy intelligent races before we can make contact with them? Is that why we haven’t found any space aliens yet? If so, what can we do to avoid that fate?

Perhaps Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping will save us all. Maybe we’ll need something a little more radical than that. At any rate, if Geoffrey Miller is right, something must be done.