Maybe not looking at this in a human perspective, but how it works in the animal world. Most small creatures live their lives and try to avoid the large predators. Some creatures have adapted to keep the predators at bay. Then, on the predator level, there is only one Alpha for an area.
That's probably more of how space would be, if there wasn't a great eraser out there making sure that no civilization gets to a certain point.
Counterpoint 1: porcupines, skunks, and other critters predators leave alone.
Counterpoint 2: Humans are part of nature. We are re-learning conservation and coexistence with nature. We can use without exploiting, and generally coexist with other species.
Counterpoint to my own counterpoint: we also farm livestock, and slavery is a major part of global human history.
C1 : I mentioned that some creatures have adapted a way to keep larger predators at bay.
C2: We are the Apex Predator. Some people are alphas, some are betas. But, even looking at humans as part of the animal kingdom, we still fit in the same way as others. There are some predators we stay away from and some smaller possible prey we do not eat.
And hence, most likely we will be a delicious meal for the invading alien force.
"To serve man. It's a cookbook!"