“So where is everybody?!?” Fermi raised that question back in the 1950s while at lunch with Emil Konopinski, Edward Teller, and Herbert York discussing extraterrestrial life.
If intelligent life existed elsewhere in the galaxy, we should know about them from a visit or their signals, based on the rough calculations of the Drake Equation.
More recent considerations of the many conditions necessary for (especially intelligent) life as we know it on earth suggest that the probability, despite the number of stars (and possibly associated planets) may be much smaller than previously thought. But unless we’re the first, or others are not yet that much more advanced, we should have seen some evidence of their existence by now.
After all, the Prime Directive is just a silly Star Trek rule no one is probably going to pay attention to in real (even alien) life. Alien life might be more interested in whether we were edible or not.
There could many explanations why space apparently isn’t teaming with probes and signals. Maybe the desire for exploration and communication is exceedingly rare. Hard to imagine, but we only have one example so far, us.
‘What, you saw those pulsars and built all this garbage science to explain how they could occur naturally?! They are artificial beacons!’ That was the general premise of a short story I read long ago.
Freegards
Yes I read something similar. The overall numbers of simultaneous intelligent civilizations was enormous but once you spread them across the vast quantities of galaxies you might end up with just one or so in the Milky Way. The MW is so large that it is likely the civilizations would never know the others exist.
I believe God intentionally planned it in a way to keep us separated and keep us from wiping each other out.
Kirk didn’t pay much attention to the Prime Directive on Star Trek either.
Read the “Three Body Problem/Dark Forrest” trilogy. You will understand “where is everybody” better.
The universe is what, about 13 or 14 billion years old (+/- 50 million?). The earth, about 4-1/2 billion years? Man figured out how to fly just 114 years ago and is relatively VERY new to the game, first crudely reaching space a mere 56 years ago. Patience is a virtue. Besides, from what I've seen, there appears to be plenty of evidence that has been published or otherwise put out over the years. Ancient cave paintings depicting flying beings for example. But skepticism calls for first-hand proof. Everything else can be recreated with modern technology (photoshop, CGI, etc...) Seeing is believing.
But... just supposin' what if other intelligent life forms have time clocks with hands that move in the other direction? Or maybe their eyes face inward?...