Fermi paradox
Michael H. Hart published in 1975 a detailed examination of the paradox, which has since become a theoretical reference point for much of the research into what is now sometimes known as the Fermi–Hart paradox. Geoffrey A. Landis prefers that name on the grounds that "while Fermi is credited with first asking the question, Hart was the first to do a rigorous analysis showing that the problem is not trivial, and also the first to publish his results". Robert H. Gray argues that the term "Fermi paradox" is a misnomer, since in his view it is neither a paradox nor due to Fermi; he instead prefers the name Hart–Tipler argument, acknowledging Michael Hart as its originator, but also the substantial contribution of Frank J. Tipler in extending Hart's arguments.
Time travel
The absence of time travelers from the future is a variation of the Fermi paradox. As the absence of extraterrestrial visitors does not prove they do not exist, so the absence of time travelers fails to prove time travel is physically impossible; it might be that time travel is physically possible but is never developed or is cautiously used. Carl Sagan once suggested the possibility that time travelers could be here but are disguising their existence or are not recognized as time travelers. Some versions of general relativity suggest that time travel might only be possible in a region of spacetime that is warped a certain way, and hence time travelers would not be able to travel back to earlier regions in spacetime, before this region existed. Stephen Hawking stated that this would explain why the world has not already been overrun by "tourists from the future."