The Societal Development of Individual Intelligent Species

This thread will be an attempt to bring to light an idea I have floating around in my mind. An idea that addresses the possibility that multiple species (humans included), assuming they possess the mental capacity to do so, have been "socially developing" (not necessarily evolving), over time, at different rates and/or starting at different points in time. Call it a species wise societal development ladder.

Take for example a Wired magazine article about war and sex and how social, intelligent animals use both. Among other things, it basically compares a case of warring chimps, to well, the warring of humans, specifically the Shock n Awe campaign of Iraq.

Wired: How Biology and Technology Shape Sex and War
blog.wired.com...

In the case of the chimpanzees that Goodall first observed, one troop completely annihilated and/or absorbed a neighboring troop, essentially conquering them.

The pattern is what we see in our warfare even today. It depends on surprise and on overwhelming force. The correlate for that would be the shock and awe of the invasion of Iraq. It also depends on a critical evolutionary innovation that allows war to happen.

This behavior of intentionally gathering together and going out to kill members of our own species is an extremely rare behavior. Humans do it. Chimps do it. There is some evidence that wolves and hyenas do it. But it's pretty much a human and chimp innovation.

You have a very intelligent animal and a social animal. And when you're a social animal, all of the evolutionary pressures are toward living in a group. There are hierarchies. There are mechanisms for resolving disputes in nonlethal ways. That can all be summed up under empathy. But humans and chimpanzees, when they are fighting an out-group, have the ability to turn off the empathy. By turning that off, you dehumanize the enemy or dechimpize the enemy.

Now, I am going to extrapolate from this concept, and ask some rhetorical questions.

Lets assume for a moment this notion of species-wide social development is a reality. Let us assume that humans are, or will soon be, above Chimps on the social development ladder.

What is next for humanity? Is it a total, world wide, denouncement of war and violence? A paradigm shift, in human consciousness, if you will?

Is it possible other Earth species existed before humanity, and they have "gone though the steps", before humanity even existed? Have they left Earth? Have they become something else, some immaterial force? Beings of pure energy?

Have non-Earth species, assuming intelligent ET life exists, gone though the same ladder? Can this explain the alleged alien visits?