The Fermi Paradox asked why we had no contact with aliens.  At the beginning of the 23rd century, we wondered if the time was right.  We only began broadcasting radio in the late 1800s.  We had only been traveling through the stars for a century.  Compared to even our own written history, those are miniscule time frames.  Did the aliens die before we found them?  Were they not yet born?  Had we just missed them in time?