The future of humankind is uncertain: we can't know whether our species will get its act together well enough for human civilization to survive on this planet for the long haul or whether we will destroy ourselves. NONETHELESS, MANY OF THE MAIN OUTLINES OF WHAT HAS BROUGHT US TO OUR PRESENT PASS WERE INEVITABLE.
Here's a series of inevitabilities -- or at the least NEARLY inevitable developments -- that brought us here. AND, INDEED, HAVE LIKELY BEEN TRACED ON MANY OTHER PLANETS THROUGHOUT THIS INCREDIBLY VAST UNIVERSE:
*** There are so mind-bogglingly many planets, that the Earth is (doubtless?) but one of a great many on which LIFE WOULD HAVE INEVITABLY ARISEN, as self-replicating agglomerations of matter would have inevitably arisen and inevitably branched out in a biological-evolutionary process.
*** Biological evolution inevitably unfolds in such an (unplanned) opportunistic fashion that the branching tree of life-forms would include a vast array of strategies for getting DNA into the future. ONE OF THOSE STRATEGIES WOULD INEVITABLY INCLUDE THE UTILIZING OF INTELLIGENCE FOR SPECIES' SURVIVAL.
*** The inevitable selection, among some forms of life, for ever-greater intelligence would inevitably lead to the eventual emergence of some creature (species) intelligent enough to develop CULTURE as an important part of its strategy for survival.
*** The increasing use of culture among that especially intelligent species would reinforce the selection for intelligence, and this would INEVITABLY lead eventually to the capacity for that species to "extricate itself from the niche in which it evolved biologically by INVENTING ITS OWN WAY OF LIFE. Which means stepping onto the PATH OF CIVILIZATION.
*** Once some of the societies of that species had taken that step out of its biologically evolved niche -- which means LEAVING THE NATURAL ORDER created by biological evolution -- that would INEVITABLY lead to interactions among these civilizing societies that are not regulated by any order that assures that those interactions meet the need for synergies that preserve the integrity and viability of the whole system. IN THAT INEVITABLE ANARCHY, A "WAR OF ALL AGAINST ALL" THEN BECOMES INEVITABLE.
*** The inevitable result of the inevitable "War of All Against All" will be that of all the apparently possible CULTURAL POSSIBILITIES of the civilization-creating creature, INEVITABLY ONLY THE CULTURAL POSSIBILITIES CONDUCIVE TO SURVIVING THAT WAR OF ALL AGAINST ALL WILL BE ABLE TO SURVIVE AND SPREAD. (While those cultural possibilities that do not provide the power necessary to prevail in that war of all against all will be eliminated, however wonderful they might otherwise be.)
*** Thus any creature's breakthrough into civilization INEVITABLY means that the evolution of its civilization will be driven by AN INEVITABLE PROCESS OF SELECTION FOR THE WAYS OF POWER.
There are a few subsequent steps in this SEQUENCE OF INEVITABILITIES that lead to the conclusion: AN INEVITABLE RESULT OF THE EMERGENCE OF LIFE -- on any planet, anywhere in the cosmos --- IS THAT THERE WILL EVENTUALLY ARISE A SPECIES THAT WILL FACE AS ITS CENTRAL CHALLENGE: TO BRING THE DESTRUCTIVE FORCE IT INEVITABLY UNLEASHES (by virtue of its embarking on the path of civilization).
It will face, as its central challenge: TO ORDER ITS CIVILIZATION WELL ENOUGH -- AND SOON ENOUGH -- TO ENABLE IT TO SURVIVE ON ITS PLANET FOR THE LONG HAUL, OR OTHERWISE IT STORY WILL CULMINATE IN SELF-DESTRUCTION.