The Fermi Paradox

During this BBC Radio round-table discussion on the possibility of there being extraterrestrial life, the problem of the Fermi Paradox is raised (but not satisfactorily resolved.)

The Fermi Paradox is "the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations, given the extreme age of the universe and its vast number of stars, and the complete lack of evidence for, or contact with, such civilizations."

I think I have a plausible solution:

We know by our own species' stages of technological development, with the creation of an already vast array of artificial mood-altering substances, that the technological sophistication required to tweak neurobiology arises far earlier than the capability to develop means of interstellar travel.

We're not yet at the stage where we've developed the means of inducing in ourselves by chemical adjustment a state of permanent bliss, but having achieved what we already have in such a comparatively short space of time, it's hard to imagine that a few thousand, if not hundred, more years of fine-tuning wouldn't do the trick - still far earlier than effective space travel could be achieved.

So what ramifications would such a self-transforming technology have? Space exploration, as with all exploration, is an act of striving; an attemp to satisfy an appetite for knowledge, for the novel, for expanded possibilities, or for plain material gain. But to arrive at a state of permanent bliss is, by definition, to have all appetite negated. To exist in such a state would mean that you were content beyond compare, irregardless of your external circumstance. As such, this would be the conclusion to all quests.

Hence the yearning to explore the universe will always vanish before the capacity to explore it will be attained.