Hear me out.
What if the reason that the Universe is so silent as far as technological species go is because WE'RE one of the first sentient species to get to our level of technology? What if we're the Old Ones?
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I mean, the universe, relatively speaking, is young. Best estimate is that we're 14 billion years old.
And after you and I and everyone we know is dead and gone, it will continue for a trillion years.