The Berserker Hypothesis: The Darkest Explanation of the Fermi Paradox

Finally, this compelling hypothesis is getting the attention it deserves.

> It need only happen once for the results of this scenario to become the equilibrium conditions in the Galaxy.

The only logical step missing is realising that any civilisation capable of generating these self-replicating probes would also be smart enough to look at the game theory and think "Either we become the berserker, and set the equilibrium conditions to be the ones that favour us, or we sit back and wait for another civilisation to do that to us."

This is a bit like the thinking that must have happened when US strategic planners in the 1940s considered the consequences of other nations gaining nuclear weapons, except they could have relied on the (questionable) possibility that mutually assured destruction could lead to a permanent stable equilibrium, whereas that doesn't seem to be an option when dealing with berserkers.