Fermi Paradox

[deckardcanine]

The so-called Fermi paradox is nothing of the kind,
With lots of refutations crossing many people’s minds.
Enrico Fermi never meant or published it that way.
Three people just reported what he happened once to say:
He figured that the reason that we haven’t met ETs
Is interstellar travel can’t be done, at least with ease.
That isn’t claiming aliens with smarts must not exist.
The notion he concluded such a thing should be dismissed.
One Michael Hart, astronomer, first put the thought in print
Some 25 years later, saying we should take a hint
And not spend time and money on a search for brainy life.
The Drake equation did suggest the galaxy was rife,
But physicist Frank Tipler would elaborate on Hart:
If no one else has visited, then no one else is smart.
I find this far from cogent; while we may yet be alone,
With space so vast and vacant, even radio and drones
Might never reach humanity, assuming they would try.
(Our SETI does more listening than signals saying hi.)
Perhaps the other species aren’t colonial like us.
Our history’s destructive, so they may not want the fuss.
They might be so unlike us that we hardly could connect.
They might have come already, merely tricky to detect.
There is no contradiction in the premises involved,
And thus it’s not a paradox; consider it resolved.