For those interested about the possibility of life on other planets, there's a great essay by Michael Crichton: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~scranmer/SPD/crich

For those interested about the possibility of life on other planets, there's a great essay by Michael Crichton: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~scranmer/SPD/crichton.html https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~scranmer/SPD/crichton.html He rails against Drake's equation, and the larger scientific damage it has done. One important point he makes is that writing number of cats in this house = average number of cats per room X number of rooms gives the illusion of science, but it gets you no closer to a final answer if you can't estimate the density of cats or the number of rooms.