'Asymptotic burnout' of planet-scale civilizations may explain Fermi Paradox
There is an assumption embedded in the Fermi paradox which is that life might originate within an environment already colonized by life. This is not the case in our experience on earth. As far as we know, all life is related which means that all life descends from a common ancestor.<p>If intelligent life relatively rapidly (say within 1M years) gains the ability to travel at near the speed of light and consume interstellar resources, then new life <i>would never know</i>. There is no case where you could look up and see a galactic empire because if you could see it then it would have been expanding long enough to reach you, and you wouldn’t exist.