@Kenny R
You talk about amazing coincidences, but this is still a
very new field of research. Astrobiology is only some ten
years old as a serious academic subject. We know very
little about what is "amazing" or not when it comes to the
forming of life. Of course there is no guarantee anyone
will answer. But we also know nothing of the probabilities
they won't.
You (and me) can only make assumptions. We don't know
why no signals have been picked up yet. For all we know
we could just as well have had the darndest bad luck
not to pick up anything despite so many civilizations
being close to us. Or the reason for the silence is the one
you're proposing: there is nothing there to listen to.
The problem is that the two solutions are symmentric;
both would give the same current situation. And despite
common belief, noone can tell which one is really the
correct assumption. We know too little of the universe and
indeed of life itself, to do that distinction.
In short, we lack that huge unknown constant named "# of
civilisations within reasonable range". Without knowing
that constant, all we can do is wild guesses.
.
SlimJim
