[mcherm]

I agree. My own suspicion for the resolution of the fermi paradox is that there are 4 steps that we have seen occur only once (or zero times) so it is difficult to measure their probability. If some of those probabilities are significantly lower than we think it could resolve the "paradox".

Those 4 steps are: (1) Formation of life (2) Formation of multicellular life (3) Formation of "runaway intelligence", where a species evolves enough intelligence to manipulate their environment in ways that supercede evolution. Parrots and dolphins, for instance, are both quite smart, but don't look close to getting a runaway benefit from that which would allow them to invent technology like agriculture and overpower all other species. (4) Technical civilization manages to manipulate their planet or spread beyond one star system in a way that would be detectable from elsewhere in the galaxy. (Hasn't happened yet.)