Quote Originally Posted by Okamimaru View Post
Do primals know that the aether they need to exist is not unlimited?
Most do.

Quote Originally Posted by Okamimaru View Post
do they just ignore the implications of their aether consumption because it doesn't mesh with their goals?
They'll burn that bridge when they get to it.

Primals aren't truly gods, but by virtue of their summoners' intent believe that they are. When this is the case, they often believe that this entitles them and them alone to exist; they believe that no other god should be summoned and that it is sacrilege to give aether to another. Ifrit and Garuda both said so, Titan would have said something similar if 1.x had continued. Titan in fact knew that Eorzea would become a "continent of death" if too many gods were summoned.

Alexander is one of the most interesting, since it's status as a nigh-omniscient calculator overrode the biases of its summoners, causing it to objectively conclude that it should not exist and work to subvert itself by locking itself into a stable time loop.

That's part of the brilliance of the "Knowledge of the Paragons". The spell is calculatedly, deliberately flawed - nigh 100% guaranteed to cause damage to the planet and chaos to civilization eventually somehow by some means. To fully control a deiform and all the consequences of its existence is almost impossible. Plenty of people throughout history have seen this as a sign that they will be the one to utilize the Knowledge of the Paragons and get away with it. So far, they've all been wrong.