For a long time I've figured that the Fermi Paradox is not much of a paradox. Open question: Are we likely to be able to detect the difference between large as

For a long time I've figured that the Fermi Paradox is not much of a paradox. Open question: Are we likely to be able to detect the difference between large asteroids and a small swarm of habitable environments in a star. And the second question is: Is it worth spreading out? An advanced civilisation can defend against or modify (maybe even focus) the damage that an imploding star would cause, and an Issac Arthur video on the topic of the amount of space we have in the solar system states clearly that there's more than enough for trillions of trillions of trillions of habitats. There doesn't seem to be much reason for spreading a civilization out whatsoever, given the cost of communication and the assumed cultural and informational lag between the settlement and the source civilization. As the article states, it's unlikely to be the case that we see an expansive civilization until it's too late.