That's an interesting perspective. I have also been thinking somewhat along the same lines. Intellegence does not necessarily equal technological societies. During the time I lived with Alaska Natives, I was privileged to know and spend time with elderly Eskimos and Indians. Some had been born before Europeans had arrived in their area, or their parents continued to follow a basic hunting and gathering nomadic lifestyle. Before the introduction of modern firearms, their weapons and tools had been limited to bones, stones and sticks.

Obviously, the aboriginal technology of Eskimos and Indians was primitive by Western standards. Yet they were amazingly successful in adapting to and thriving in an environment that was difficult in the extreme. They lived in small, mobile groups harvesting what they needed and then moving on allowing nature to replenish itself. While there were small skirmishes over hunting territories, there were no nations, kingdoms or empires and no concept of private property.

The time I spent interviewing and living with these Native elders convinced me of their extraordinary intellegence. They had an amazingly detailed understanding of their environment based on keen observations and deductive reasoning that had been passed from one generation to the next.

Could it be that some form of intellegent life on a distant planet has had the wisdom not to become machine dependent creatures chosing instead to find a workable balance with their environment? If so, we will likely never hear from them.