Editing 384: The Drake Equation

{{comic
| number    = 384
| date      = February 15, 2008
| title     = The Drake Equation
| image     = the_drake_equation.png
| titletext = But seriously, there's loads of intelligent life. It's just not screaming constantly in all directions on the handful of frequencies we search.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is multi-layered, and seems to be [[Randall]]'s take on the {{w|Fermi paradox}}.

For starters, the {{w|Drake equation}} is a model developed by (and named for) {{w|Frank Drake}}, an American astrophysicist, for estimating the number of communicating life forms in our galaxy.

Even if there is life on other planets, most life forms will not establish civilizations. However, if there are any communicating civilizations, their messages would have to travel for hundreds, thousands, or hundreds of thousands of years to reach us, and then our response would take an equivalent amount of time, leaving them waiting for thousands and thousands of years or more, and probably even more than that. Any response, from their perspective, would take at least twice as long as the message took to reach its destination.

All the factors involved in the equation are difficult to measure or estimate. No number is determined with sufficient accuracy, so the equation is a guideline for a thought experiment at best, and just "bullshit" at worst.

The title text makes fun of the {{w|SETI|Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI)}} project, which was founded by Frank Drake, about the searches for intelligent life on other planets by looking for radio communications and the intelligence of their researchers. Nearly nothing, if not nothing, restricts potential extraterrestrial communications to the frequencies that SETI searches at any given moment. Even if another civilization communicated on one of SETI's search frequencies, they would most likely live extremely far away. Additionally, an extraterrestrial source that doesn't know we're here would have to send a constant and powerful signal in all directions for us to notice it. This serves to show how ludicrous it may seem to assume that any intelligent species is wasting too many resources trying to communicate with us or any other species in the galaxy.

The SETI project is searching at the 21 cm {{w|Hydrogen line}}, which, although considered a favorable frequency for communication with potential extraterrestrial civilizations, is not used by humans. Therefore, a SETI-like organization would have a hard time finding earth.

The title text suggests that Randall does not think Drake is a nutjob; he just has a more conservative expectation of discovering extraterrestrial life.

[[638: The Search]] further discusses the difficulty of methods of finding extraterrestrial life. [[718: The Flake Equation]] presents another alien-related equation.

==Transcript==
:The Drake Equation:
:N = R* f<sub>p</sub> n<sub>e</sub> f<sub>l</sub> f<sub>i</sub> f<sub>c</sub> L B<sub>s</sub>
:N: Number of communicating civilizations in our galaxy
:n<sub>e</sub>: Number of life-supporting planets per solar system
:f<sub>i</sub>: Probability that life on a planet becomes intelligent
:B<sub>s</sub>: Amount of bullshit you're willing to buy from Frank Drake

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:SETI]]
[[Category:Statistics]]