(Fermi was right.)
Fermi was wrong.
The answer to the Fermi Paradox is fairly simple (although I’ve rarely seen it stated): Circumstances conducive to life only occurred a little while ago on the cosmic time scale. Earth is not particularly special, nor is our galaxy. Hence, a vast number of other civilizations probably exist, but they almost certainly aren’t that much older than ours on that time scale.
Also, the universe is a BIG place, so it will take a few more million or possibly billion years for any signal from such civilizations to reach us.
PS Why would God waste time creating all this space and everything in it but create life on just this tiny little ball of dirt orbiting a totally unexceptional star in an equally unexceptional galaxy? Not presuming to question God, but I believe there are a lot of “rooms” in His house (i.e., the universe).
Fermi was an idiot. We literally have no way to know if there’s life out there. And we are largely undetectable to any life that may be out there. Less than 1/100 of 1% of the Milky Way has had any ability to detect humans (our radio and later TV transmissions). Fermi walked into an unlit room, didn’t turn the light on, and declared the city has no people.