Unless an alien species evolved in ways and in an environment
totally different from ours, I am assuming that any organism growing
up on a planet will have to deal with similar factors that we have,
such as competition for resources with our own kind and other
species.

Thus, even if they are now some kind of advanced superbeings we
might mistake for virtual gods, they too once had to climb up from
the muck to reach the stars.

So rather than the old Aristotlean notion of everything beyond Earth
benig perfect and incorruptible, aliens may be more like us than we
think, even if they don't look anything like a human being. So while
I think we have a long way to go before we "grow up", ETI may
understand us (and perhaps even sympahtize) better than we may
think otherwise.

But if we were considered just one rung above total barbarism that
is almost indistinguishable from animal instinct, that wouldn't surprise
me, either.