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It is also foolish to take Drake equation seriously or assume that we know what intelligent life is. Drake equation should be used for demonstration purposes on

It is also foolish to take Drake equation seriously or assume that we know what intelligent life is. Drake equation should be used for demonstration purposes only. As a side not, it is good to keep in mind that all we did for ETI search was looking out for a human-like radio signal with a narrow bandwidth, which is probably not the best way to transmit information through the Universe.

demallien 14y ago
Ugh. It is not unreasonable to take the Drake equation seriously. You just have to correctly understand what purpose it was supposed to serve. The equation is not about calculating the probability of intelligent life. It was about identifying what information needs to be gathered do that you can calculated the probability of intelligent life arising. In other words, the equation was created to help guide research, not to answer the question itself directly. As a guide to research, I think the equation remains highly relevant.
elorant 14y ago
If you read the link I gave for the Fermi paradox you'll see that this is one of the dozen explanations on why we haven't been contacted yet by an alien civilization. So, yes, we might be trying to contact the wrong way. Actually though it's not exactly wrong, we managed to capture once a significant signal that could be of alien origin. It's called the wow signal and you can find more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow_signal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow_signal The basis of the Fermi paradox though isn't about what we did/do to contact alien civilizations but the fact that even if one advanced existed in our galaxy they should have already found us even if we weren't looking for them. Which brings us back to the conclusion that there might not be advanced civilizations around and life could very well be in the beginning. As for the Drake equation it's not a law of physics. It is just a way to estimate the number of habitable planets in the galaxy and from there to make an assumption of the number of alien civilizations able to make interstellar contact.

demallien 14y ago

Ugh. It is not unreasonable to take the Drake equation seriously. You just have to correctly understand what purpose it was supposed to serve. The equation is not about calculating the probability of intelligent life. It was about identifying what information needs to be gathered do that you can calculated the probability of intelligent life arising. In other words, the equation was created to help guide research, not to answer the question itself directly. As a guide to research, I think the equation remains highly relevant.

elorant 14y ago

If you read the link I gave for the Fermi paradox you'll see that this is one of the dozen explanations on why we haven't been contacted yet by an alien civilization. So, yes, we might be trying to contact the wrong way. Actually though it's not exactly wrong, we managed to capture once a significant signal that could be of alien origin. It's called the wow signal and you can find more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow_signal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow_signal The basis of the Fermi paradox though isn't about what we did/do to contact alien civilizations but the fact that even if one advanced existed in our galaxy they should have already found us even if we weren't looking for them. Which brings us back to the conclusion that there might not be advanced civilizations around and life could very well be in the beginning. As for the Drake equation it's not a law of physics. It is just a way to estimate the number of habitable planets in the galaxy and from there to make an assumption of the number of alien civilizations able to make interstellar contact.