Robert McNees
Astronomer Frank Drake was born #OTD in 1930.
Can we productively talk about how many alien civilizations throughout the Milky Way might be actively broadcasting or receiving messages? How would we estimate that?
N ≈ R×fp×ne×fl×fi×fc×L
R = ⭐️ formation rate
fp = fraction of ⭐️ with 🌎
ne = 🌎 per ⭐️ on avg that could support life
fl = fraction with life
fi = fraction of life becoming intelligent
fc = fraction that 📡 into 🌌
L = how long they broadcast
Robert McNees
Dr. Drake was also responsible (along with Richard Isaacman, Linda May, James C.G. Walker, Carl Sagan, and others) for the Arecibo Message, which I wrote about in the thread linked below.
It can be squeezed into just four posts, with room to spare, on my mastodon instance with its 500 character limit.
Robert McNees
Dr. Drake was also responsible (along with Richard Isaacman, Linda May, James C.G. Walker, Carl Sagan, and others) for the Arecibo Message, which I wrote about in the thread linked below.
It can be squeezed into just four posts, with room to spare, on my mastodon instance with its 500 character limit.
Christina Jennifer
@mcnees Misread this as Dr Dre, and thought it strange company to keep.
Robert McNees
@stevenaleach Right. And how much of an expansive civilizations broadcast lifetime is tied to a planet?
Steve Leach
@mcnees I've always found it interesting that Drake's filters presuppose that technological civilizations all have limited spans (L) based on planetary habitability. If we allow for a tiny fraction of those to become post-planetary (mostly or entirely space based, outliving their planets) and even post stellar (manage to send habitats to near and passing stars, potentially outliving their suns), then N should grow over time with extremely long lasting civilizations accumulating.
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