Fermi Paradox

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How would you assess possible explanations of the Fermi Paradox, which states that it's likely alien colonies exist that could contact us, yet no civilization has. Is it a matter of distance?

My opinion here. Assuming that the evolution of life capable of space travel is not uncommon in the universe, we are looking at the vastness of space. The enormous distances and relativistic effects make it easy to see why, perhaps, we haven't seen any proof. But it isn't just that. It is also the vastness of time. Humans have only been barely aware of space travel as a real possibility for a few brief decades. How long until we are able to contact others in a meaningful way? A couple hundred years of utopia maybe? And then what, colonize a few planets, random unfeeling space disasters happen, colonies survive but no longer prosper through space. A few thousand years maybe. And then, a few hundred thousand years later, another sentient species arises in the same area (sector of galaxy).

It isn't just the vastness of space, but the vastness of spacetime.

[speculation=mine]

I will go only as far as to say that MAYBE whatever passes for a star-faring galactic society has deemed our world as 'Dark', meaning that we have not yet achieved global harmony among ourselves and with our environment, and that we have not yet discovered/developed the 'stardrive' all on our own.

The Fermi Paradox MAY be caused by the Prime Directive being applied to us by a superior civilization.

[/speculation]

I am NOT saying that this is How Things Really Are (I will leave that to the UFO nutters out there), but only that I have read a lot of well-thought-out science-fiction, like  Leaving the Cradle .

"They either dont exist, or they would already be here (and we would be dead, or their slaves or like that)".

Thats how the Fermi Paradox goes.

Maybe they have already been here for centuries. And our whole solar system is already a game preserve inside the vast interstellar empire of an alien race.

The visiting saucer jockeys are like Jane Goodall, and we are like the chimps of the Gombe Stream Preserve.

If so ...I hope the other party doesnt win the next alien election. They might close down the game preserve, level our planet, and turn it into a Walmart.

Yes I think it's the vast distances that explain why life on other planets hasn't said anything to us yet. Also, life intelligent and able enough to do that must be somewhat rare per cubic light-year of universe, so what we have are some very far-flung needles in an incredibly large haystack. Even if by some unlikely chance they noticed we were here, why would they particularly want to talk to us? Maybe they're into the "Inner Light" concept, that says the further you travel the less you know. It could even be that intelligence itself isn't expressed in alien life forms like it is in ours. I think Earthlings tend to create aliens in our own image, or in the image of whatever else we have experience of. Most of us find it rather hard to think outside that box.

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One thing that may have some bearing is that any intelligent races out there would likely be relatively recent. Note: "relatively recent" here would mean something like "after the first generation or two of stars".

Under the Big Bang Theory, the original universe was only the lightest elements. Thus, the first generation of stars in the galaxies would have been incapable of creating planets because necessary elements were not yet formed.

The stars had to form the elements in their cores with nuclear fusion. Those that went on to explode in supernovas would have cast out the materials necessary for planetary formation. I suspect that it probably took a couple of such rounds to form enough materials to form planets and life upon them.

So it isn't like we have the entire history of the universe for the creation of intelligent life.