@andrewdessler I've always thought he left out a few key terms:
1. Most stars are in dense parts of the galaxy which are either under constant intense radiation or at least experience sterilization events (nearby supernovae, basically) at too-frequent intervals for advanced life to have time to emerge.
2. There is no term for distance, to cover the fact that information cannot travel faster than light. E.G. if a civilization emerged within the last 50,000 years, but is 50,000 light years away, we still wouldn't have heard from it.
@pieist
I haven't thought about #1, but #2 is something that's also occurred to me. You could probably add another term to account for the plausible communication distance.