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I love the Drake equation. It's like the shortest shorthand for "Where is your civilisation at?" If you go from left to right, each value determines where you
by the6threplicant 8y ago
I love the Drake equation.
It's like the shortest shorthand for "Where is your civilisation at?"
If you go from left to right, each value determines where you are in the history of galactic civilisations:
R* : you need to understand galaxies and star formation (1930-70s)
fP : you need to have space telescopes (we are here)
ne : we'll probably have this number in the next 10-20 years
fe : might need at least 30 years before we can detect life via atmosphere spectroscopy
fi : 100 years, maybe?
fc : same as above but with more time since we need more than one other data point
L : we're at a Star Trek level civilisation - we know of each civilisation's Shakespeare and Einstein, their history etc. Now we can learn how long technological civilisations last.