Many years ago I watched a fascinating TV series by Carl Sagan called Cosmos. During one of the episodes he introduced a thing called the Drake Equation which calculates the number of civilisations in the Milky Way galaxy capable of communicating with our own. Over the years popular estimates of the various factors in the equation have varied resulting in answers anywhere between zero and ten thousand advanced civilisations out there.
Personally I am an optimist and news like this from the Cassini-Huygens mission only encourages me. If such similar processes can take place on a second body within our own solar system then surely that indicates a higher likelihood of life-bearing planets in the galaxy?
Let’s get our act together as a species and get out there and meet them!
No comments:
Post a Comment