Thread by @uk_domain_names

Reading about the Fermi Paradox (hey, there's no intelligent life *down here* so I had to expand my horizons...) it strikes me that the most plausible explanation for lack of alien visitation is the "we've not been around long enough" one.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_par…

In other words, since we've only been broadcasting for 124 years, an alien civilisation would have to be within 124 lightyears of Earth to have even noticed. And if they were more than 62 lightyears away, we wouldn't have seen a response yet even if they fired it off immediately.

So it's somewhat hubristic to expect a visit from aliens this quickly. Unless intelligent life is very, very common, and listening *all the time*, we could quite easily have passed undetected so far despite our progress to date. But it's far more hubristic to assume we're alone.