Where are they? A third view

The Speculist discusses the question of the Fermi Paradox and covers some possible answers in "Where Are They? Two Views."

These views may be summarized as Ray Kurzweil saying it is the 'destiny' of intelligent races to spread rapidly throughout space (so intelligence must be more rare than previously believed) and John Smart arguing that all intelligent races eventually transcend in a technological singularity as they move 'down' into computational substrates (so they stop interacting with the 'outside' universe).

All very well and good. But I have a third view: Out there in the galaxy there is something that eats intelligent races. It listens for the radio emissions of a newly technological civilization and then follows the transmissions to their source; where it feeds. If we assume this thing is fairly well spread throughout the galaxy and capable of moving fairly quickly, this means it can be on the spot within a century or two of first noticing a nascent civilization. Then it wipes them out before they can move away from their home system.

Right now such a thing is probably moving towards us at a significant fraction of the speed of light. It is smelling the delectable aroma of Gilligan's Island and Bonanza and Hogan's Heroes, and it is drooling...