Introduction The Fermi Paradox presents a fundamental contradiction between theoretical expectations and empirical evidence: given the vast number of potentially habitable planets and the apparent ease with which life emerged on Earth, why do we find no evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence? The Rare Earth hypothesis offers one solution by proposing that complex life requires extraordinarily specific conditions, but recent advances in origin-of-life research, systems chemistry, and cross-disciplinary astrobiology suggest this explanation remains incomplete (Fermi paradox, 2025; Alternative Pathways in Astrobiology, 2024). This paper proposes a “contingent uniqueness” framework that extends the Rare Earth hypothesis by integrating biochemical contingency theory, non-biomolecular […]