I have trouble with this part of the article and wonder if Drake
was either misquoted by the media or if Drake knows something
we do not?
"By his calculations, he estimates one in every 10 million stars has a civilization. The search for these cultures is not quite as simple as the calculations.
I'm not convinced the Drake Formula is complete. After all, presume that there are 100 billion stars in the galaxy. Not all of them will be positioned well. For instance, would a lifeform at the center of the galaxy be smothered out, simply by excess candlepower?
"People would need to use a telescope with a five-mile diameter to see these civilizations from Earth, he said. And if they wanted to travel there with current technology, people would have to wait at least 30 million years."
That's pretty safe of him, to make an immense claim, and then present an unrealizable set of test conditions for it.
-- JHB
