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update: the paper is fairly large and doesn't have pretty pictures (it has lots of technical plots, but i imagine it's not what most people think of as a fun read). also, this image is more a "public view" of the data; the paper is for the underlying survey.
(I know shamefully little astronomy)
There it is, running down like a forest fire. What will it turn into next? I see the universe as an egg. And it's designed to become a single super sentient entity someday that makes our sentience look like inanimate energy. Our sentience will be the inanimate matter building blocks for something we can't comprehend.
We will comprehend it as much as a carbon molecule comprehends the human mind.
Why is the milky way (I assume that's what we call the fat strip) not centered? Is that just a projection thing? Does the edges of this image wrap? (I know shamefully little astronomy)
Hundreds of billions of planets, and this is just our one small galaxy. Just given the sheer scale of the universe, I think we almost have to be foolish to think that we're the only life forms that exist in the whole thing.
It’s also foolish (no pun intended) to think that the Universe was meant to have life. We tend to believe that life is what gives meaning to all that vastness but Cosmos doesn’t need a reason for its existence, it’s just there. Furthermore it’s not about just life but intelligent life. Life in form of microbes could be all around the Universe. But intelligent life could be extremely rare or it could be just too early…
Hundreds of billions of planets, and this is just our one small galaxy. Just given the sheer scale of the universe, I think we almost have to be foolish to think that we're the only life forms that exist in the whole thing.
It’s also foolish (no pun intended) to think that the Universe was meant to have life. We tend to believe that life is what gives meaning to all that vastness but Cosmos doesn’t need a reason for its existence, it’s just there. Furthermore it’s not about just life but intelligent life. Life in form of microbes could be all around the Universe. But intelligent life could be extremely rare or it could be just too early…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s also foolish (no pun intended) to think that the Universe was meant to have life. We tend to believe that life is what gives meaning to all that vastness but Cosmos doesn’t need a reason for its existence, it’s just there. Furthermore it’s not about just life but intelligent life. Life in form of microbes could be all around the Universe. But intelligent life could be extremely rare or it could be just too early…
It is also foolish to take Drake equation seriously or assume that we know what intelligent life is. Drake equation should be used for demonstration purposes only. As a side not, it is good to keep in mind that all we did for ETI search was looking out for a human-like radio signal with a narrow bandwidth, which is probably not the best way to transmit information through the Universe.
In other words, the equation was created to help guide research, not to answer the question itself directly. As a guide to research, I think the equation remains highly relevant.
Zoomable: http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/117375