The Drake Equation's most telling fault, for me, is the "average lifetime of communicating civilizations". The default is 10,000 years. That results in 10 civi

The Drake Equation's most telling fault, for me, is the "average lifetime of communicating civilizations". The default is 10,000 years. That results in 10 civilizations. A 1,000 year lifespan means there is only 1 civilization, and a 100,000 year lifespan means there are 100 civilizations. As if we have any idea how long a communicating alien civilization would last. We don't even know how long we will last, and aliens would be completely different to us.