[LibWhacker]

I also think Fermi's argument is a knockout punch as arguments go. In addition, data from various SETI projects are pouring in, lending further support. The Universe may only have one intelligent and technologically advanced species today, but if Muslims, communists and the like don't drag mankind back into the Middle Ages and squander our future, the Milky Way WILL be teeming with advanced technological civilizations in another few million years or so, all of it descended from, or engineered by, us. It's a safe bet it'll be a pretty contentious place, too -- IMHO.

[UnChained]

the Milky Way WILL be teeming with advanced technological civilizations in another few million years or so, all of it descended from, or engineered by, us.

What sort of urge to colonize wouldn't be best served by building dyson's spheres around stars? How long until it made any sense to travel from one star to another. Billions of years probably.

Unless a civilization likes the idea spending many lifetimes physically traveling to remote places that they could explore easier with telescopes and virtual reality, they ain't going nowhere but their own solar system. IMHO