An Outside Context Problem (or OCP) is an extreme, typically unmitigable, existential threat faced by a civilization. An OCP possesses grossly superior capabilities. An affected civilization typically lacks either an expectation that such capabilities exist, or the technical knowledge to understand them; hence it lacks effective countermeasures against the OCP, and the means to develop such countermeasures. A civilization that encounters an active and aggressive OCP is typically destroyed, subverted, or enslaved.