History Main / InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'', Rau Le Cruset believes this. He [[OmnicidalManiac decides to speed up the process]].
** [[spoiler: Chairman Durandal]] from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' also believes this, but unlike Rau he [[WellIntentionedExtremist decides to do something about it]].

** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': The artificial intelligences Ultron and [[spoiler:Vision]] both agree that humans are "odd creatures" who are ultimately doomed, but reach opposite conclusions on what lesson to draw from this. [[StrawNihilist Ultron]] thinks it means he should aid humanity's destruction, while [[spoiler:[[TheAntiNihilist Vision]]]] thinks he should protect them.
--->'''[[spoiler:Vision]]:''' Humans are odd. They think order and chaos are somehow opposites and try to control what won't be. But there is grace in their failings. I think you missed that.

--->'''[[spoiler:Vision]]:''' Yes... but a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts. It is a privilege to be among them.

* Subverted by Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story ''The Gentle Vultures''. The Hurrians are an advanced alien race who are used to encountering "competitive" hominids (ape descended), who tend to destroy themselves as soon as they get nuclear weapons. They, themselves, are "cooperative" hominids (monkey descended). Their FirstContact protocols for competitive primates is to ''not'' make contact, but to instead let them inevitably destroy themselves and then help the survivors rebuild their civilization into a cooperative utopia with the violence bred out. The Hurrians discover [[InsignificantLittleBluePlanet Earth]] just in time for the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and since they detected the Hiroshima/Nagasaki atomic bombings, they thought humans would start using the big guns against each other very soon. Fifteen years later, they are still waiting.
* ''An Alien Light'' by Creator/NancyKress has a very similar premise to Asimov's story above. An alien race is puzzled that humanity didn't blow itself up before getting into space despite being competitive. The difference is that they must find an answer while humanity is blasting them into space dust.

* One of the main themes in ''Literature/CloudAtlas''. The book's six protagonists each live in a different era, moving from colonial times to a Film/BladeRunner-style BadFuture to AfterTheEnd -- and even then, people are still finding excuses to kill each other.
** The central question of the book is spelled out in the AfterTheEnd setting when two characters discuss what they know of human history and wonder whether the "civilized"/cooperative or the "barbaric"/destructive side of human nature is more powerful.

** Episode "Heart's Desire" has an alien arrive on Earth during the WildWest era and take over the body of an old preacher. He then proceeds to give shady characters the power to turn matter into energy at will. They quickly turn on one another, before only one is left. The alien reveals himself and his goal: he has come to Earth to destroy potential enemies but has seen enough to realize that we won't last long enough to invent interstellar travel, and thus are no threat.

* A major theme of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}''. And although the Cylons initially hold it over the humans, they eventually show themselves to suffer from the same problem.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks Remembrance of the Daleks]]'', The Doctor observes that, "Your race has an amazing gift for self-deception, matched only by its ingenuity when trying to destroy itself."

* In ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode "Counterweight", this is one of the Antheon alien's criticisms of humanity during its TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.

** In another episode, an AI comes to this conclusion about humanity, determining that humans will always turn to violence as a primary means of resolving their differences. It seems to be proven wrong, when characters from both sides of the SpaceColdWar give their lives to stop the AI. Then the last remaining human on the base receives news that ''his'' side's government has launched a preemptive strike in order to wipe out their opponents, since their talks weren't going anywhere. Their calculations were wrong, and Earth becomes uninhabitable after MAD is proven right. With the few survivors (government higher-ups) on their way to the base and his own family dead, the guy is himself convinced of this trop and decides that humanity doesn't deserve to survive, reactivating the base's self-destruct.

* Subverted in the short story "Letter to a Phoenix", whose theme is that humanity is doomed to wipe out every civilization it ever produces in nuclear war or worse...which prevents it from succumbing to the slow, permanent death of stagnation that kills all other sapient species in the universe. [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop "Only the mad destroy themselves. And only the phoenix lives forever."]]

* In ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', Knives believes this about humans, since the humans he encounters are refugees from a ruined Earth.

** In [[Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill2008 the remake]], Klaatu visits Earth because our self-destructive nature is endangering the ecosystem of the Earth. Life is so rare in the universe that the alien community considers the biosphere of a planet far more valuable than any single product of that ecosystem. And so as punishment he tries to wipe out all life on the planet himself in order to "restart" the ecosystem, but this time without those pesky humans getting in the way.

* Superman's belief in the innate goodness of mankind is sometimes tested, causing even him to doubt such a concept, as he admitted to a Catholic priest in ''Superman'' #205 of the "For Tomorrow" storyline. He talks to the priest about how he put a temporary halt to armed conflict in a Middle Eastern region (which is clearly based on Palestine) by using his super-speed and snatching all possible weapons from them, including guns, rocket launchers, mortars, knives, and grenades. However, one young boy decided to throw a rock at Superman, which was all it took to ignite the violence again, as everyone began brawling violently.

* Superman's belief in the innate goodness of mankind is sometimes tested, causing even him to doubt such a concept, as he admitted to a Catholic priest in ''Superman'' #204 of the "For Tomorrow" storyline. He talks to the priest about how he put a temporary halt to armed conflict in a Middle Eastern region (which is clearly based on Palestine) by using his super-speed and snatching all possible weapons from them. However, one young boy decided to throw a rock at Superman, which was all it took to ignite the violence again, as everyone started fighting again with rocks and fists.

** In [[Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951 the original]], Klaatu visited Earth because, now that we were developing space travel technology, we could potentially take our self-destructive tendencies off world and threaten galactic peace. The aliens want us to outgrow our childish ways and will gladly accept us as equals when we do, but until then, if we start trouble, [[CrushKillDestroy unstoppable alien robots]] will be waiting to destroy us in retaliation.

* Superman's belief in the innate goodness of mankind is sometimes tested, though, causing even him to doubt such a concept, as he admitted to a Catholic priest in ''Superman'' #204 of the "For Tomorrow" storyline. He talks to the priest about how he put a temporary halt to armed conflict in a Middle Eastern region (which is clearly based on Palestine) by using his super-speed and snatching all possible weapons from them. However, one young boy decided to throw a rock at Superman, which was all it took to ignite the violence again, as everyone started fighting again with rocks and fists.

-->[[spoiler:'''Porky''':]] No matter how much you change the rules, no matter how much you refuse to admit defeat, in the end, the creatures known as "people" will always sign their own death warrant by acting out of stupidity and evil.

-->'''John''': ''[observing two children playing around and pretending to shoot guns at each other then fighting for real over who won the game]'' We're not going to make it, are we. People, I mean...\\

* In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', Arnie says this to John Connor.

'''T-800''': [[TropeNamer It is in your nature to destroy yourselves.]]

According to the more pessimistic sociologists, this is TruthInTelevision. Even the non-heavy drinkers agree that we possess this tendency. The basic reason for this is that our technical ingenuity -- that is, our ability to devise new ways of building and doing things -- is advancing faster than our social ingenuity -- that is, our ability to devise new ways to associate and relate with one another. Some might quote the old popular saying: that we, as a species, are paradoxly too stupid to handle our own vast intelligence. Others might not go that far, but will admit that there might be a grain of truth to the saying, seeing how something at least indicates that while we are quite quick to see the benefits from our rapid advancements, we are significantly slower to identify the more negative consequences resulting from them, even more so when it comes to fully grasp them.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'', Rau Le Cruset believes this. He [[OmnicidalManiac decides to speed up the process.]]
** [[spoiler: Chairman Durandal]] from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' also believes this, but unlike Rau he [[WellIntentionedExtremist decides to do something about it.]]

-->'''John:''' ''[observing two children playing around and pretending to shoot guns at each other then fighting for real over who won the game]'' We're not going to make it, are we. People, I mean...\\
'''T-800:''' [[TropeNamer It is in your nature to destroy yourselves.]]

-->I'd like to share a revelation I've had, during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized... you're not actually mammals. [[ArtisticLicenseBiology Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment]], but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and you multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings... are a disease. A cancer of this planet. You're a... plague. And we... are the cure.

--> The object in constructing me was to prevent war. This object is attained. I will not permit war. It is wasteful and pointless. An invariable rule of humanity is that man is his own worst enemy. Under me, this rule will change, for I will restrain man.

-->When your captain first approached us, we suspected that an agreement with humans would prove impossible to maintain. You are erratic, conflicted, disorganized. [[DemocracyIsBad Every decision is debated]], every action questioned, every individual entitled to their own small opinion. You lack harmony. Cohesion. Greatness. It will be your undoing.

-->Corruption and abuse\\

It's in our nature to kill, kill, kill!

-->Individuals run for cover \\
For the multitudes of [[TheWarOnStraw thoughtless clones]] \\
have reached a critical mass[...] \\
Congregating in invisible circles \\
Half a part and half apart \\
All too aware of the insignificance \\
[[AuthorFilibuster Pushing on with soul and heart]][...] \\
Procreation without gain or purpose \\
Languid wills and torpid minds \\
[[CrapsackWorld Catapulted ever faster]] by the arrow of time

-->[[spoiler:'''Porky:''']] No matter how much you change the rules, no matter how much you refuse to admit defeat, in the end, the creatures known as "people" will always sign their own death warrant by acting out of stupidity and evil.

-->'''Liberty:''' "I can only imagine what the Zerg and Protoss thought when they landed on planet after planet that consisted of nothing but Confederates and rebels whaling the tar out of each other. They probably thought it was the normal behavior pattern for our race. And I suppose they would be right."

--> '''Bamboo Pandamonium''': "Did you know that the earliest form of rocketry was missiles used for war? All of history has been spent making things whose sole purpose is to destroy. Missiles... Reploids..."

-->'''Dr. Amp:''' Spontaneously, the citizens began killing each other.\\
'''Radd:''' Why?\\
'''GI Guy:''' ''Because that's what video game characters do.''

* The Medea Hypothesis proposes that life is naturally self-destructive, as it has come close to destroying itself several times (eg the Oxygen Catastrophe, and the Permian Mass Extinction). Of course, even if true, there wouldn't be much anyone alive could do about that. What's the ''alternative'' to life, after all? [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement And that's all that needs to be said about this subject matter.]]

** [[spoiler: Chairman Durandal]] from the [[MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Sequel series]] also believes this, but unlike Rau he [[WellIntentionedExtremist decides to do something about it.]]

-->I'd like to share a revelation I've had, during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized... you're not actually mammals. [[YouFailBiologyForever Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment]], but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and you multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings... are a disease. A cancer of this planet. You're a... plague. And we... are the cure.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "Heart's Desire" has an alien arrive on Earth during the WildWest era and take over the body of an old preacher. He then proceeds to give shady characters the power to turn matter into energy at will. They quickly turn on one another, before only one is left. The alien reveals himself and his goal: he has come to Earth to destroy potential enemies but has seen enough to realize that we won't last long enough to invent interstellar travel, and thus are no threat.

* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Competitors'', the aliens reveal that, in their experience, most humanoid races destroy themselves before expanding to other stars. As such, they have no fear of humans, even going as far as providing certain individuals with ImportedAlienPhlebotinum. If anything, they figure that this will only hasten our demise. The novel ends with one of the protagonists determined to prove them wrong.

-->'''Batman''': Humanity likes to pretend that the Doomsday Clock has a snooze button.