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Carl Sagan - Drake Equation

Carl Sagan talks about the Drake equation and the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

  • Metral
  • posted by Metral
  • Date 5/3/2007 1:16:14 PM
  • Views: 2770
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15 Comments

Current View: 15 / Show all Comments

dj_doru666 : LVL 26: VP 3.5: said:

dj_doru666

-7 votes NegativePositive

940 days 9 hours ago...

I do not think that you can estimate how many intelligent extraterrestrial life-forms there 'could' be or are through an equation. Human thinking is limited to human experience - we see and then we think and develop upon that which we have seen. My point is that this documentary supposes that all extraterrestrial life-forms are fairly close to humans, i.e. they would think and create technology just like humans do. Hey...thinking on our planet is limited to humans (as far as research has gone). We are still not aware that other species are capable of thinking...So why should we suppose that ETs are like us?

5/5 anyways for a good statistical exercise. But even the multiplication that he's doing doesn't make any sense...Why multiply?

ReX : LVL 15: VP 2.4: said:

ReX

-7 votes NegativePositive

940 days 7 hours ago...

Pure Star Trek propaganda!
I like conceptual incentive the first seasons brought.
Sci-Fi is perhaps the most vivid expression of the human mind to envision something we may very well never have an oppertunity to deal with.

Good equation. The multiplying refers to the finding a watery planet like ours out there with the same specific characteristics. Eg I have 100 balls, 50 of which are blue, 40 spread over N (the total number of balls) with a symmetric sign on them (divided with 30 on the blue balls and 10 on the other side, which cannot be included, or at least not directly in the formula), 10 on which the symmetry doesn't cover the entire surface and implodes into itself. The formula would boil down to: N X(times, not a letter)

ReX : LVL 15: VP 2.4: said:

ReX

-4 votes NegativePositive

940 days 7 hours ago...

Computer went haywire.

N X F(b) X F(s) X F(c) = Ball that look like planet earth with water, life and harmony on it.

This is the laymans version which does not state how the fraction of symmetrical formations are divided. Of course, science (physics especially) is about approximating what you can observe untill you can make a better approximation/formula/etc.

Like Newtonian physics if you want to approximate untill an astonishing accurate degree something that would be WAAAAAAAY MORE complex and accurate, such as einsteins' theories.

It's easier to just go: 100 X 1/2 X 1/40 X 1/10 = 0.125
Assuming you started out with 100 billion, that's still 125 million left. Of course, multiplying by a fraction still decreases the largeness of your number ;)
Best to keep that in mind when contemplating what the formula says and why it says it the way it says it. The language of math is one Einstein was far more proficient in than ordinary language.

The Jap : LVL 36: VP 4.4: said:

The Jap

Hidden (Show Comment) -8 votes

940 days 4 hours ago...

Its just so unbelievable. We're just retarded tiny bacteria compared to other ailien species.
I'm not surprized if starwars saga was a true story.

Thandyman : LVL 21: VP 3: said:

Thandyman

Hidden (Show Comment) -8 votes

940 days 1 hour ago...

In the words of Carls Professors... He was a fucking idiot. He got a D in phisics and a C- in astrophisics

blue_devil : LVL 33: VP 4.2: said:

blue_devil

7 votes NegativePositive

939 days 16 hours ago...

Einstein was a pore student to but that didn't stop him from being a GENIUS

Metral : LVL 20: VP 2.9: said:

Metral

5 votes NegativePositive

939 days 9 hours ago...

Thandyman do us all a favor, throw some candy in your pocket and jump off a high building at least that way you will be somewhat interesting.

Intellekt : LVL 22: VP 3.1: said:

Intellekt

4 votes NegativePositive

939 days 1 hour ago...

L M A O at "possibility". you gotta be one ignorant person to think we're the 'only' or 'chosen' ones...ahahahaa.

i swear...people don't know a damn thing.

moth34 : LVL 26: VP 3.5: said:

moth34

5 votes NegativePositive

939 days ago...

The big question is could we actually get a message there and back before either civilization disappears?

Mr.E : LVL 33: VP 4.2: said:

Mr.E

2 votes NegativePositive

939 days ago...

I've seen this equation represented many times, and it's hardly something to base a theory upon. It's an interesting conceptual exercise, but the estimates for each of the components of the equation rely on subjective thought, save the first. Eventually, we may come to a better understanding of the universe and its composition, but we've yet to discover more than a hundred planets in neighboring stars. This equation, while interesting, depends on variables that are entirely too variable. I believe Sagan overestimated the fractions of all but the last variable, which he exaggerated in my eyes.

Still, with so many stars, the possibility of finding life of some sort at a single one is astronomically large. I mean, between the billions of stars in our galaxy and the billions of other galaxies, I think we're fools to think we're so unique in our position. Yes, life is out there. Now we just need to find out where...

JpeggTulsa : LVL 32: VP 4.1: said:

JpeggTulsa

4 votes NegativePositive

938 days 23 hours ago...

For those people who comment before they know what they are talking about, Frank Drake is the one who actually put those numbers to the equation. Carl Sagan is just explaining it at a little lower level for us. We barely have the technology to see the jupiter sized planets that are orbitting around nearby stars. For us to see the "earth-like" planets, we need better technology. For Mr. E to say we have only found a hundred planets and therefore he is exagerrating is being a little nieve. Like Sagan said, we have only had radio wave technology for a few decades, (obviously more now since this is a REAL old video), so we have a lot of discovering still to do. The fact that we haven't discovered them yet has nothing to do with whether they exist or not. If a tree falls in a forest, without us being there to videotape it for YouTube, does it make a sound?

MARINE255 : LVL 29: VP 3.8: said:

MARINE255

-3 votes NegativePositive

938 days 23 hours ago...

^ only when that ass hole posts "first" on it

I Agree with what dj_doru666 said, theres to many variables in that equation and I don't think we even have enough knowledge yet to conceptualize alien technology, ways of life etc... just basing that on how we haven't encountered any, as far as I'm aware. Still more information which is always good and I got a laugh because of the 80's style control consoles.

assmaster : LVL 39: VP 4.7: said:

assmaster

4 votes NegativePositive

938 days 23 hours ago...

if there are other civilizations on other planets out there - watch out for those earthlings in the milky way. you'll be sorry they knocked on your door.

arkivx : LVL 25: VP 3.4: said:

arkivx

1 votes NegativePositive

938 days 21 hours ago...

There is no way that the Earth is the only planet to evolve complex life and advanced civilizations. I will Quote Einstein "The universe is not stranger than you imagine, it is stranger than you can imagine."

HallEffected : LVL 34: VP 4.2: said:

HallEffected

-3 votes NegativePositive

938 days 21 hours ago...

The problem with the Drake Equation is that it's totally hypothetical and depends solely on the person inputting the data into the equation. Using the anthropic basis, it could also have the problem that we are basing intelligence and technology as we would know it.

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