Since there are misconceptions about what the Fermi Paradox states, let me ask one specific version of the question that the paradox poses:
>Are humans the only technological civilization within our local cluster of galaxies (say 10 million light years)? If not, where are they?
What do YOU think the answer to this question is, and why?
Be civil, and avoid letting what you want to be true getting in the way of thinking critically.
Some crucial points:
Emphasis on "technological civilization" and "10 million light years".
For this question, we are not concerned with simpler life or intelligent life that doesn't have the technological means to communicate and/or colonize space, nor are we concerned with any civilizations on the other side of the observable universe. I chose 10 million light years somewhat arbitrarily to include a volume of space large enough to give civilizations plenty of opportunities to arise but also small enough to permit signals to be from the relatively recent past (e.g., a civilization at the edge of that sphere would be >=10 million years old, which is basically "now" on cosmological time scales).
>Are humans the only technological civilization within our local cluster of galaxies (say 10 million light years)? If not, where are they?
What do YOU think the answer to this question is, and why?
Be civil, and avoid letting what you want to be true getting in the way of thinking critically.
Some crucial points:
Emphasis on "technological civilization" and "10 million light years".
For this question, we are not concerned with simpler life or intelligent life that doesn't have the technological means to communicate and/or colonize space, nor are we concerned with any civilizations on the other side of the observable universe. I chose 10 million light years somewhat arbitrarily to include a volume of space large enough to give civilizations plenty of opportunities to arise but also small enough to permit signals to be from the relatively recent past (e.g., a civilization at the edge of that sphere would be >=10 million years old, which is basically "now" on cosmological time scales).
