History Main / InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves

** 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 trope and decides that humanity doesn't deserve to survive, reactivating the base's self-destruct.

* Considering the many environmental degradations due to the abundance of Coal Mines (which pollute the air to the point it reached the American West Coast), Dams (which results in a lot of flooding and many deaths), deforestations (up to including deforesting other nations like Africa), and overfishing (they are not known for environmental preservation to the point they downright shrug it off). Mainland China may have the potential to destroy the world as detailed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xl7Sct6y18 here]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRXxei96niU here]].

* Considering the many environmental degradations due to the abundance of Coal Mines (which pollute the air to the point it reached the American West Coast), Dams (which results in a lot of flooding and many deaths), deforestations (up to including deforesting other nations like Africa), and overfishing (they are not known for environmental preservation to the point they downright shrug it off). Mainland China may have the potential to destroy the world as detailed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xl7Sct6y18 here]].

* In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Scorpion Part II", when Chakotay tells Seven of Nine (in her first episode on the show) that he's breaking off Voyager's alliance with the Borg, she says:
-->"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."

-->'''Keith Ellis:''' We're a simple people. Given a chance, we'll destroy ourselves. Why do it for us?
-->'''Antheon alien:''' Because you'll destroy us, too, if we let you. You do not know us, we have never hurt you, yet you come to attack, to conquer. We will not allow this.

* A more passive version of this is brought up in an episode of ''Series/BabylonFive'' where Doctor Franklin and a Markab doctor compare historical incidences of their respective cultures taking ultimately counterproductive measures in response to epidemics.

--> "If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars."

** In the mini-series, he eventually ''shows'' them a wormhole weapon, which is, essentially, a massive AllConsumingBlackHole that threatens to destroy the entire galaxy (and probably won't stop there). Both sides are eventually humbled to cease hostilities and leave Crichton be. Except Scorpius in the follow-up comic.

* Considering the many environmental degradations due to the abundance of Coal Mines (which pollute the air to the point it reached the American West Coast), Dams (which results in a lot of flooding and many deaths), deforestations (up to including deforesting other nations like Africa), and overfishing (they are not known for environmental preservation to the point they downright shrug it off). Mainland China has the potential to destroy the world! As detailed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xl7Sct6y18 here]].

* 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]].

* Monsoon and Sundowner from ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' are firm believers of this. The former, being a StrawNihilist himself holds a belief that humans by nature are only defined by warfare and destruction. And the latter, being a brutal warmonger himself, believes that people (especially kids) are cruel by nature, and wants to restart the war because, that's how humans are.

* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'' discusses that humanity's core drive is survival and they would do anything to do that even if it means using violence. Whatever choices they make are just for self-preservation. Hence, Ford believes that the hosts should take over humanity's place because they can change their core drives. Serac also believes the humanity's drive would lead to their demise which is why he and his brother built an A.I. called Rehoboam to control humanity at the cost of their free will. However, by the end of Season 3, Serac's actions are only delaying the inevitable where after the destruction of Rehoboam, the whole world is in chaos which makes the beginning of the end of humanity and eventual rise of the hosts.

* ''Endling - Extinction is Forever'' stars a mother fox and her cub trying to survive in an environmentally degraded Earth due to humanity's carelessness and complete disregard for the planet's wildlife and its environment.

* Superman's belief in the innate goodness of mankind is sometimes tested by the violence he sees humans dole out to each other, 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.

* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'': [[AIIsACrapshoot Durandal]] sends this message to the player character.
-->"Every breath, every motion brings you one instant closer to your death. With that kind of heritage and destiny, how can you deny yourself? How can you expect yourself to give up violence? It is your nature. Do you feel free?"
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', Cyrus, claims that all conflict and suffering is the result of human emotion. It's because of this that he seeks to harness the power of the resident [[OlympusMons deities of time and space]] to destroy the world and remake it without "spirit".
* This is the reason why the Black Arms attacked Earth in ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog''. Black Doom reveals that it would be a waste if the planet's population destroyed itself, so he planned to save them...by capturing them all and bringing them to the Black Comet where they will become livestock to be bred and fed upon. Starting with Sonic, his friends and Eggman.

* Monsoon and Sundowner from ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' are firm believers of this. The former, being a StrawNihilistt himself holds a belief that humans by nature are only defined by warfare and destruction. And the latter, being a brutal warmonger himself, believes that people are cruel by nature, and wants to restart the war because, that's how humans are.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': During the end of the game, Shepard meets [[spoiler:the Catalyst, the Overlord of the Reapers, who justifies the mass genocide of the Galaxy as a means to prevent civilizations (human or alien) from creating powerful AIs who will end up destroying their creators and endangering the Universe. Rather than just ensure [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum no organic life continues]] these powerful AIs sweep though the Galaxy every couple of millenniums, to allow organic civilizations time to grow before violently destroying and [[InTheirOwnImage absorbing them]]]]. {{Averted}} for extra irony if you do things [[GoldenEnding just right]] and make peace between [[spoiler:the quarian and the geth before speaking to the Catalyst.]]
** The Salarian Delatrass also claims this of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy krogan]], noting that they were uplifted specifically because of their brutality, and if you [[spoiler:cure the genophage]], they'll just drag the rest of the galaxy down with them. Subverted when we find out that the krogan did ''have'' a culture. It's just that when they were first discovered, they were in the middle of a nuclear winter (not an environment conductive to anything beyond day to day survival), then uplifted to fight a BugWar (again: hard to maintain a culture like that), and then got hit with the [[DepopulationBomb genophage]] (at which point as a species they fell into a suicidal spiral of depression).
** Given that on Sur'kesh you find out that the salarians' next plan is to uplift the yahg, an incredibly dangerous race who make the krogan look like kittens, it can appear that ironically enough, it's in ''salarian'' nature to destroy themselves, or at least ensure that they consistently get beaten up by races they uplifted without thinking it through first.
* In ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'', this trope is [[HiveQueen Queen Myrrah's]] main justification for leading the Locust into a campaign of extermination against humanity.

* Bamboo Pandamonium in his pre-battle quotes in ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'' talks about how all of human history has been spent building weapons of destruction to use on each other.
--> '''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...

* A two-issue story in ''ComicBook/{{JLA}}'' involved them meeting an alien who, upon observing humanity, concluded that we had a genetic imperative/common subconscious desire to drive ourselves to extinction.

* In Arthur's [[ShowWithinAShow Comic Within a Comic]] in ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'', Aihok and Effex are aliens who have come to Earth to judge if we're a mature enough species to have nuclear power, ''Day the Earth Stool Still''-style. Asked what they'd do if they decided we ''weren't'' mature enough, they reply they wouldn't have to do anything.

** By the time of the [[Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction fourth film]], Optimus is unfortunately proven ''absolutely right'' in his fears when discovering the metal that Cybertronian bodies are made of causes humans to start building their own lifeless human-controlled Transformers as weapons. And worse, at the cost of the lives of several of his kind, who are hunted down, killed and have their corpses melted for resources. [[spoiler:Those responsible end up providing a way for Megatron to return in a new body as Galvatron, turning these new robots into his new soldiers. They were also attempting to acquire a Seed, a device that is essentially a WMD that turns all matter (including living organisms) within the blast radius into this same metal. Even if they knew how to safely handle it, they almost allow it to fall straight into Galvatron's hands, who wants nothing else but to kill as many humans as possible.]] Thus, in one broad stroke, the humans responsible almost completely ensure that they have created humankind's destruction, and that the ones who can save us from it have little to no reason for wanting to do so. Optimus (yes, ''[[AllLovingHero that]]'' Optimus) is so jaded by it that he seriously considers taking the Autobots that remain and abandoning Earth to the fate humankind has presented itself with. ''Thankfully'' he changes his mind.

* Considering the many environmental degradations due to the abundance of Coal Mines (which pollute the air to the point it reached the American West Coast), Dams (which results in a lot of flooding and many deaths), deforestations (up to including deforesting other nations like Africa), and overfishing (they are not known for environemntal preservation to the point they downright shrug it off). Mainland China has the potential to destroy the world! As detailed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xl7Sct6y18 here]].

Frequently, characters will claim that it is in the nature of the human race [[HoistByHisOwnPetard to destroy itself]]. When the character is an alien but not a ProudWarriorRaceGuy, they'll look down on us as [[HumansAreMorons primitive, violent, and socially unacceptable]].

* Downplayed somewhat in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', with [[DarkShepherd William Kraft]] believing that this is the destiny of all modern mass societies, where people have been divorced too far away from nature and real life to survive, but not that of the human species itself.

* 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 both the above version and ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'', humans had to secretely bury the Mother Box they inherited, because humanity is quick to divide unlike the Amazons and Atlanteans.