[katabasis]

My take on the Fermi paradox is:

* Life may not be rare in the universe but it is likely short-lived; intelligence even more so (now the possible extinction events are not limited to asteroid impacts or geological disasters, but also include self-inflicted acts of war or environmental destruction)

* Space is simply too vast and chaotic to allow for any practical possibility of interstellar travel. Cosmic rays, micro-meteorites, supernovae, etc are going to destroy (or at least render inert) any artifact launched from one star system long before it could reach another one. Entropy will always win at these scales, essentially.

So – we aren't unique, we are just one briefly-existing civilization among many that will not persist long enough to allow for any meaningful expansion or communication beyond our own star system.