Atheist moral code

[Esquilax]

An honest question, why not consider all other sentient species and existential threat to humanity. Is there a moral reason, based on natural selection, for not sending Von Neumann berserker machines out as a preemptive strike against potential threats.

Because you don't necessarily know that they do pose a threat, and won't know until further investigation is conducted. Preemptive strikes, by definition, happen before an empt has occurred, and in this case they'd be happening before we even know if one is possible.

Basically, you don't do that to other species for the same reason you shouldn't do it to other countries; there are ways of obtaining more information to determine what course of action is justified, and acting on vague suspicions is rarely a good justification for any course of action, much less a genocidal one.