Two things to bear in mind when thinking about the Fermi paradox: 1) The more important observation is that everything we see is a wilderness of apparently nat

Two things to bear in mind when thinking about the Fermi paradox: 1) The more important observation is that everything we see is a wilderness of apparently natural origins and processes, not that we have apparently not been visited. 2) No hypothesis involving choice that leads to failure to carry out self-replicating colonization can explain (1). All it takes is one small group in one sufficiently advanced species. This rules out wolves, berserkers, relinquishment, self-destruction, and so on and so forth. Clearly something is missing or incorrect in how the pieces of the various sciences fit together to explain what we see. Some of the best reading on the subject is speculation on what it is that we don't know or the relative odds on where the present consensus is incorrect.