Mercurial

I have found the most compelling criteria for finding intelligent life in other universes: you must have cake.
Seriously.
There are various arguments for that, but I like the economic side of it: you are obviously wasting untold resources, same that could be put to clever use, on the immediate satisfaction of a transient desire for immediate gratification. Veblen here I come!
And in doing so, you are showing off both your wealth, your status and your technological prowess: wealth, because it is only through accumulation that you can devote those resources, food and energy, to creating a cake; status, because it is clear (the margins are too small, though) that only those that have certain status can enjoy the best cakes, cheesefactory notwithstanding, and technology, because the creation of the perfect cake demands knowledge and chemistry: just look at your cake and think of all the industrial processes that took place to bring that thing to your table.

The main point here is not that these industrial milestones have been achieved, is that you are using that incredible confectionery industrial complex to satisfy your gluttony. At least the military serve a semi-logical purpose, but cake? There is nothing more superfluous than that.