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Looks like an early version of the Drake equation, only with the number of stars with planets very low and the probability that a planet has life very (like rea
by te_platt 12y ago
Looks like an early version of the Drake equation, only with the number of stars with planets very low and the probability that a planet has life very (like really, really) high.
- tehaugmenter 12y agoAs much as I enjoyed Neil Degrasse Tyson's Cosmos, I wish he would of scraped into some of these theories as well as the Drake equation. Although he did talk about William Herschel he failed to mention his theory about life on the sun. Overall, very intriguing. Adding your mention of the Drake equation got me looking into it a bit, added some flavor to this article. Thank you.
- IndianAstronaut 12y agoThe Drake equation involves making the same huge, and potentially wrong, assumptions that Thomas Dick made. It is good that it gets us thinking about the potential for life and drives us to explore, but I suspect some of the calculations made at the SETI institute and such will be completely wrong.
- duaneb 12y agoThe drake equation is an illustrative relationship between assumptions about life and likelihood of it happening independently. If the assumptions are incorrect (as they likely are), it doesn't reduce the value of illustrating said relationship.