Dissolving the Fermi Paradox
This whole idea of &quot;dissolving&quot; the Fermi paradox seems to be missing the point.  Everyone knows that we have, in fact, not observed an alien civilization, so one of the factors in the Drake equation (or one we should have put in) is responsible.    But, is it that there is very little chance of life evolving, or intelligence?  Or is it that intelligence tends to be short lived?  Or is it because long-lived intelligence uses methods of communication we cannot observe, and is responsible enough not to colonize all the good planets?  The consequences for us are large, depending on which one of those it is.  Merely saying &quot;well it&#x27;s not that surprising that one of those factors is tiny&quot; is not really relevant to the question of, which factor is it that is tiny?