Sep 10, 2022
Frank Drake Has Passed Away, but His Equation for Alien Intelligence Is More Important Than Ever
Posted by Dan Breeden in categories: alien life, information science
Drake’s equation may look complicated, but its principles are really rather simple. It states that, in a galaxy as old as ours, the number of civilizations that are detectable by virtue of them broadcasting their presence must equate to the rate at which they arise, multiplied by their average lifetime.
Putting a value on the rate at which civilizations occur might seem to be guesswork, but Drake realized that it can be broken down into more tractable components.