My preference for the great filter is just based on my pessimism on how not only power works, but how the human mind works.
Humans, in small enough numbers (ie, Dunbar's Number), play reasonably well together for extended periods of time. Environmental limitations and other social resource limits can cause conflicts. But humans have presented a fairly advanced skillset for mitigating violence between larger communities, equitably sharing resources across areas as large as continents, and both budgeting limited resources over time as well as expanding the accessible volume with advances in technology.
The human mind takes a lot of undeserved shit. But I'm in a room with dozens of other people right now. None of them are trying to crack my head open with a rock and feast on the delicious goo inside.
Greedy systems–systems that seek power at the expense of everything else–will be advantaged over systems that seek equilibrium.
I don't know how you look at a modern day metropolis and see a system that has failed to achieve some high level of equilibrium.