At this point I've basically given up hope and come to the grudging admission that ecosystem destruction through predatory exploitation is probably the Hard Filter behind the Fermi paradox.

Any species evolving in an environment defined by the competition for resources and hitting the same - or similar - exploits in the game engine as humanity (tool use and cooperation), seems destined to be the victim of its own success.

The primary behavioral mechanisms that would prepare a species for such an unlikely success - e.g. "don't consume more resources than strictly required" - would never make it through the selection process.

So we end up with the power of gods and the appetites of locusts.