[pault]

I mentioned it down-thread, but my favorite part of the trilogy is his answer to the Fermi paradox (minor spoilers ahead): because of the universal limit of light speed, and exponential growth in technology, by the time you see evidence of advanced alien life, chances are they have developed to the point of being an existential threat to your own civilization. So the only logical behavior is to remain hidden and immediately destroy any civilization you detect. I haven't heard anyone propose this particular solution before, so I thought it was quite clever.