It's extremely likely that any space faring civilization would have developed weapons capable of their own destruction sooner or later. If they weighed things w

It's extremely likely that any space faring civilization would have developed weapons capable of their own destruction sooner or later. If they weighed things with such a calculus, then it's extremely likely that they would have wiped themselves out. I think that if we extrapolate from our own development then it's quite clear that high technology without the insight to use it is extinguishing in nature. After all look at us, we've scarcely scratched the surface of what technology can do and our lack of insight is already killing us. However, there is an alternative around that too, if they are ant-like in their social structure, peaceful for their colony and hostile towards alien beings, then their inclination towards violence could survive the curse of high technology. However on the whole, I think that if we ever do manage to make contact with sentient beings then it is extremely likely the contact will be peaceful. That said, all such postulations are futile, because any such species will be smarter than me and beyond my means to understand.