Anyone interested in this topic should check out Stephen Webb's book, "If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens ... Where Is Everybody?".

It's not perfect, but it goes over a lot of possible explanations (75 different explanations!) for the Fermi Paradox. It covers pretty much every theory I've seen when people discuss the topic, aside from a government cover-up haha.

Simulations, aliens hiding on Earth, von Neumann probes, signals that we don't understand, distances being insurmountable, self-destructiveness, inescapable planets, singularities, it's got it all! A lot of the explanations ultimately can't get over the "OK, but surely there are at least a few exceptions" problem, but it's very fun to think about nonetheless. A really engrossing read if you like thinking about this stuff!

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/180506.If_the_Univers...