Grabby Aliens: A Resolution to the Fermi Paradox
The whole reasoning seems to boil down to one of the standard answers to the Fermi paradox: We did not encounter any alians, because we are in our stellar neighbourhood either the first or anyone else is hiding. To &quot;explain&quot; that, we need to reason about the Drake equation, or rather a modification of it, since the original Drake equation did not include the possibility that an alian species colonizes other solar systems. In our context the question is at what time in the history of our galaxy colonization might start (if ever) or might have started and what the typical expansion rate is. Something like the Grabby Aliens simulation can only teach us how such a presumed colonization might proceed roughly under the most simplified[1] model. But it seems to tells us next to nothing about the parameters to fill into the (modified) Drake equation to solve the Fermi paradox. -- Or did I miss something?<p>[1] I do not think that the simplifications are problematic, as long as one is aware of them. It is rather the opposite: Running a simulation with a simplified model helps us to observe some basic principles at work. Later we might refine and enrich our models and simulations. To use an analogy: If we want to study the movement of objects under the influence of the Earth&#x27;s gravity, we should start with cannonballs and not with feathers.