An article called “Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens: A radical explanation for a conundrum about extra-terrestrial life, and what it means for the future of humanity” attempts to answer Fermi’s paradox: If there is intelligent life among the stars, there should be a lot of ETs running around and so we should have met one by now.  Where are they?

Most bright alien species probably go extinct gradually, allocating more time and resources to their pleasures, and less to their children.

Note: “Most species”. The rest?

Heritable variation in personality might allow some lineages to resist the Great Temptation and last longer….Christian and Muslim fundamentalists and anti-consumerism activists already understand exactly what the Great Temptation is, and how to avoid it.

Is this good news for my lineage, or bad news?  It does sound like the lead-in to a joke, “The Pope, Osama, and Ralph Nader walk into a bar?”