The Thermodynamic Peace Framework: A Conditional Constraint Model for Spacefaring Civilizations

Spacefaring civilizations are peaceful — because they caged their predator in time. This paper develops the Thermodynamic Peace Framework (TPF): a conditional constraint model arguing that overt interstellar aggression becomes structurally disfavored — not morally prohibited — as civilizations approach high-energy spacefaring maturity. The physics is specific: relativistic attacks cannot be made signature-free, and the speed of light makes galactic empires incoherent. The hardest claim is evolutionary: the same aggression that carries a species to the stars becomes lethal at stellar energy scales. Most don't make the transition. We are currently taking the exam. This is a substantially revised and expanded successor to the earlier "Thermodynamic Peace Hypothesis" (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20204646); the reframing from hypothesis to conditional constraint model is documented in the paper's revision history.