06-05-2024, 01:59 PM
Every variable in the Drake Equation is a guess or an assumption, which is a fancier way of saying it is a guess. They may or may not be educated guesses, but they are still guesses. Changing the assumptions about a single variable doesn't change that. It does not make the equation more or less valid.
Frank and Sullivan, the two guys responsible for this revision of the Drake Equation, also have some built in assumptions that are NOT part of the equation. For example, they bring up the limitations imposed by the speed of light, suggesting that a round trip to some other civilized planet would take longer than a given civilization would be alive. This says more about our understanding of reality than reality itself. We've convinced ourselves that faster than light travel is impossible, this in spite of the inconvenience of quantum entanglement. But if you eliminate that assumption, then the time-related variables still in the equation are invalid.
Now throw in the assumption that three-dimensional space (or four-dimensional space-time, if you prefer) is all there is to the Universe, and you may as well throw out the Drake Equation altogether as an anthropomorphic representation of humanity's current understanding that has little to do with reality itself.
Frank and Sullivan, the two guys responsible for this revision of the Drake Equation, also have some built in assumptions that are NOT part of the equation. For example, they bring up the limitations imposed by the speed of light, suggesting that a round trip to some other civilized planet would take longer than a given civilization would be alive. This says more about our understanding of reality than reality itself. We've convinced ourselves that faster than light travel is impossible, this in spite of the inconvenience of quantum entanglement. But if you eliminate that assumption, then the time-related variables still in the equation are invalid.
Now throw in the assumption that three-dimensional space (or four-dimensional space-time, if you prefer) is all there is to the Universe, and you may as well throw out the Drake Equation altogether as an anthropomorphic representation of humanity's current understanding that has little to do with reality itself.
Everything hurts and I'm tired.
