Simple answer to the Fermi Paradox? Interstellar travel is hard.

[C C]

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/inde...l-is-hard/

EXCERPTS: . . . One simple explanation for the Fermi Paradox, therefore, is that FTL travel is exactly as impossible as it currently seems, and no amount of science or technology will change that. Even advanced civilizations must therefore content themselves with sublight speed...

[...] All this is why some scientists have proposed that advanced alien civilization likely would not bother to send organic material on interstellar journeys. Rather, they would send robotic probes, able to withstand cosmic rays or huge accelerations, can go without food or water, and can survive for thousands of years. In short, sending robots on interstellar journeys is orders of magnitude easier than sending living creatures (certainly humans). The physics are still incredibly challenging, but all the problems of keeping people alive goes away. Why, then aren’t there alien probes everywhere? If even one advanced civilization survived long enough to have such technology, they could have had millions or even billions of years to probe the universe with their droids. Why aren’t they here?

There are a number of possible solutions. One is that alien probes have visited the Earth, perhaps numerous times, but none are here now. Perhaps they did a flyby. Another possibility is that they are here but remain undetected. They may be programmed not to alert any potential sapient beings to their presence. They would almost by definition have technological superiority over us and could likely evade detection if that was their intention. It’s also possible that no one has bothered to send probes to our system, at least not recently. We cannot assume that any alien species would have the same behavior and intentions as us. They may have no interest in exploring other systems. Or they may prioritize non-interference above all else. And of course it’s possible that no such civilization has come into existence in the Milky Way galaxy. Perhaps we’ll be the first.

In any case, the Fermi Paradox is less of a paradox when we have a proper assessment of how difficult and costly interstellar travel is and will likely remain, even for the most advanced civilizations. This may disappoint the science fiction fans inside us, but we won’t be warping around the galaxy anytime soon.... (MORE - missing details)

[Zinjanthropos]

Good article. Once it’s recognized by an intelligence that FTL is futile then why even bother sending a signal probe. OTOH if the C barrier is eventually breached by intelligent beings then what’s the sense of sending an electronic signal someplace when you could go there quicker yourself. 

Imagine everyone carrying a little FTL device on their person. Instead of everyone at a restaurant table having head down and tapping their phones, they’d be popping in and out of their seats.

[stryder]

Good article. Once it’s recognized by an intelligence that FTL is futile then why even bother sending a signal probe. OTOH if the C barrier is eventually breached by intelligent beings then what’s the sense of sending an electronic signal someplace when you could go there quicker yourself. 

Imagine everyone carrying a little FTL device on their person. Instead of everyone at a restaurant table having head down and tapping their phones, they’d be popping in and out of their seats.

The usual straight forward arguement against FTL is the closer you get to lightspeed the closer you get to requiring infinite energy to do so as you'll be approaching infinite mass and attempting to fly through an infinite(?) space where even the thinnest amount of energy strewn across the distance is infinite in density.

A simplified way of thinking about it is diving from a high place into water. Water for the most part can be dived into, however if you height is too high and you pick up enough velocity, it will be like hitting concrete.

Scifi of course would likely attempt to "bend the rule" with "warp bubbles", but while that removes the problems mentioned above from what travels in the bubble, it doesn't technically remove the problem from the bubble itself.

[C C]

[...] Imagine everyone carrying a little FTL device on their person. Instead of everyone at a restaurant table having head down and tapping their phones, they’d be popping in and out of their seats.

Different, yet similar... Been ages since I read it (barely remembered), but pervasive teleportation was a key element in the Hyperion Cantos book series. Even rooms of the same building could each be located on different planets. The very doorways were farcaster portals.

https://hyperioncantos.fandom.com/wiki/Farcaster

"A farcaster is a means of transportation which allows one to travel immense distances instantaneously, without any time delay. They are central to the Hegemony of Man, as a system of farcasters connects the planets comprising the Hegemony's WorldWeb."

Minus that capacity on Hyperion itself, though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_(Simmons_novel)

Premise. In the 29th century, the Hegemony of Man comprises hundreds of planets connected by farcaster portals. The Hegemony maintains an uneasy alliance with the TechnoCore, a civilisation of AIs. Modified humans known as Ousters live in space stations between stars and are engaged in conflict with the Hegemony.

Numerous "Outback" planets have no farcasters and cannot be accessed without incurring significant time dilation. One of these planets is Hyperion, home to structures known as the Time Tombs, which are moving backwards in time and guarded by a legendary creature known as the Shrike. On the eve of an Ouster invasion of Hyperion, a final pilgrimage to the Time Tombs has been organized. The pilgrims decide that they will each tell their tale of how they were chosen for the pilgrimage.

Only a TV series on the scale of "Game of Thrones" could obliquely do it justice. Even the Dune franchise comes closer to being amenable to movies than Simmon's work. Perhaps untenable either way, minus altering it radically (like they did with
Asimov's "Foundation trilogy").

[Zinjanthropos]

CC......If c is indeed a barrier, then what's on the other side or should a barrier in this case not be considered some type of boundary? There's a short on DUST channel about the first human FTL flight. Wish I could remember title offhand but I can't. Not very long as are most of their videos. Anyways the guy makes it to Mars pretty quick, spacecraft starts breaking up and ....well I don't want to be a spoiler. 

I got the feeling that this craft had jumped into some other realm or universe where it drew some attention. Made me think that if I was able to travel FTL then what kind of place would I be in or observe? If I am in some sort of other plane of existence while moving FTL then what happens when I slow down? Do I cross the boundary again? Maybe someone could make a movie but in your reading history have you seen anything that tackles that subject? 

If c is a high speed barrier then what about the opposite? What if our universe suddenly registered no motion whatsoever? Its almost as if theres a slow barrier also.

[C C]

CC......If c is indeed a barrier, then what's on the other side or should a barrier in this case not be considered some type of boundary? There's a short on DUST channel about the first human FTL flight. Wish I could remember title offhand but I can't. Not very long as are most of their videos. Anyways the guy makes it to Mars pretty quick, spacecraft starts breaking up and ....well I don't want to be a spoiler. 

I got the feeling that this craft had jumped into some other realm or universe where it drew some attention. Made me think that if I was able to travel FTL then what kind of place would I be in or observe? If I am in some sort of other plane of existence while moving FTL then what happens when I slow down? Do I cross the boundary again? Maybe someone could make a movie but in your reading history have you seen anything that tackles that subject? 

If c is a high speed barrier then what about the opposite? What if our universe suddenly registered no motion whatsoever? Its almost as if theres a slow barrier also.

The fictional hyperspace transitions or jumps in SciFi accordingly have the ship entering some sort of other realm slash dimension. Due to being invented and customized by a multitude of writers, there's no consensus answer as to what it would be like or what would happen in _X_ scenario.

Since it continuously contracts a succession of nearby areas by distorting or folding spacetime (incrementally making the overall distance much shorter and quicker to cross), a "warp drive" still keeps a vessel in conventional space and actually traveling below light speed (though individual SF authors may deviate on that). It's the only method that has a modestly less than remote chance of being possible. But the incremental developments are usually exaggerated and often padded by rubber science.

The necessary inertia dampening and coping technologies for what would otherwise be lengthy deceleration will likely remain denizens of fiction, too.