Interesting Speculation on the Fermi Paradox

I have two major interest; The first is the hard question of what is consciousness; and the second is where are all the aliens?

This Galactic Colonization video I found that discusses a recent paper: The Fermi Paradox and the Aurora Effect: Exo-civilization Settlement, Expansion and Steady States.

What I found useful is the analysis of the confounding variables and the possible solutions to explain what they call, "Fact A:" why we haven't met aliens or found signs of them visiting Earth.

Tagging Dr. Brin who may have an opinion on this?