The closest star is 4 light years away. The nearest galaxy is 25,000 light years away. The most distant galaxy is 30 billion (I apologize since you find that word offensive) light years away.
There could have been life in that galaxy for a billion years... 20 billion years ago.
The vastness in time and space makes the statistical odds of us detecting some other civilization infinitesimal, and any that we did detect would likely have existed millions of years ago.
The 25,000 LY distant is the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, yes? That appears to be one that was swallowed up by the Milky Way. I grew up thinking the large Magellanic Cloud was the closest, but these dwarf galaxies seem to have usurped that distinction. I think there is a close one in Sagittarius as well (?).
But we say “we are smart” for what, 8-9 thousand centuries now?