Mike Flynn answers Fermi’s Musical Question

Where is everybody?:

Three basic answers to Fermi’s Paradox:

They’re not there
They’re there, but not here
They’re here, but we don’t know it

More detailed answers:

We’re it. Unique in the universe. They aren’t there, period.
We’re first. We are the “elder race” of the universe. They aren’t there, yet.
We’re last. They’re not there, any more.
We’re alone. They’re not there, at the moment.
We’re multifaceted. They’re there, but not here. Alien prokaryotes never hit on the idea of shacking up together.
We’re dry. They never got out of the water and saw the stars.

We’ve been mooned. No one else had moon:planet ratios large enough to create tidal pools as escalators to the land.
We’re mobile. They’re there, but not here. Aliens are plants and fungi and don’t get around much.
We’re intelligent. They’re there, but not here. Aliens get along fine with imagination but no intellect.
The Endless Sumer. They’re there, but not here. Aliens achieved Sumerian level civilization and never broke out of it.
They’re coming. They’re there, but not here, yet.
They all went fiber-op. No more radio broadcasts into space.
We’re quarantined. They’re here but don’t come or talk to us because we have cooties.
We’re boring. They’re here but don’t come or talk to us because they don’t find us interesting.
They’ve detected our radio and TV signals and fled in horror.
They’re boring. They’re here but don’t come or talk to us because they’re not curious.
They’re quiet. They’re here, but observing only.
They’re incognito. They’re here, but disguised as humans.
They’re here, but disguised as cats.
They’re practical jokers. They’re here, but only only contact hillbillies and people driving on deserted country roads.
They’re gods. They were here. Long ago. We called them gods.
We missed them. They were here. Long ago. Dinosaurs ate them.

They were here. Long ago. Dinosaurs ate them. And then they smashed all the dinosaurs with a comet.
They love us. They’re here, but they don’t want to interfere with our natural development.
They hate us. They’re here, and massing their fleet for an assault in 2012.

Only the Mayans knew about their plans; so they destroyed the Mayan civilization

The main thing to remember: They’re not here. And they aren’t going to be here anytime soon. And we are *never* going to be where they are, assuming they are anywhere at all.

The dream of deep space colonization is our secular culture’s attempt to replace the Eschaton. It will only end in tears.