[MikeSid]

I think distance and the time required to evolve enough to overcome that distance makes it impossible that extra-terrestrial life has visited our planet or even heard a whisper from us.

It is likely that there is intelligent self-aware life on other distant planets with whom we will never, ever interact. It is also possible that there are or have been multiple forms of intelligent life in the cosmos, none of whom will ever encounter the other before they cease to exist.

An inescapable truth is that planetary life is limited by the life of the star it orbits. Our sun has a fuel supply of roughly 10 billion years - 5 of which is used up already. Before that time even expires, our planet will be swallowed by our sun.

The simplest solution to the Fermi Paradox is that life (wherever it has existed) has never had sufficient time to evolve to a point where interstellar communication is viable before either an extinction event occurs to the species, or a planetary extinction event occurs.

The universe is about 14 billion years old. Earth is about 5 billion years old. We have about another 5 billion years before the sun engulfs the earth. Life on earth will cease to exist long before that. We have watched other stars die along with all life on any orbiting planets.

We have had about 5 billion years to evolve out of nothingness. In terms of life supported by our sun, we're well past middle age.

Can any life evolve to a point where it could find other life in the cosmos before its time is up?

We may be the closest a life form has ever gotten to brass ring of interstellar travel. Or we may be several hundred million years behind others that got closer, but couldn't grasp it before time ran out.