True. That would help to reduce the problem greatly.
I feel relentlessly driven by the Drake equation.
If the star-traveling civilizations are possible, where are they? The component that scares me now is the factor that represents the duration of a mature civilization.
They are out there. They grow to sentience, and wisdom.
And then they fail. Some twelfth century minor prophet on their world sets up a barbaric feudalism that destroys their hopes forever. Who knows? -- Where are they?
We may have a chance. We can't afford to blow it.