New "Drake Equation" Selects Between Alien Worlds

An anonymous reader writes 'A mathematical equation that counts habitats suitable for alien life could complement the Drake equation, which estimates the probability of finding intelligent alien beings elsewhere in the galaxy. That equation, developed in 1960 by US astronomer Frank Drake, estimates the probability of intelligent life existing elsewhere in our galaxy by considering the number of stars with planets that could support life. The new equation, under development by planetary scientists at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England, aims to develop a single index for habitability based on the presence of energy, solvents such as water, raw materials like carbon, and whether or not there are benign environmental conditions.'

Comments

oblig XKCD

[Arlet]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/the_drake_equation.png

Re:oblig XKCD

[natehoy]

Might be fun for one person to write the code, but it would destroy the ongoing joy of dozens of slashdotters who have indexed xkcd in their heads and can instantly recall the appropriate xkcd reference.

Some things are best left to trained artisans and handcrafters, and this is one of them. Xkcd references should be lovingly chosen from the available stock, and carefully hand-posted using only the best hand-cut-and-pasted letters in the URL. You just won't get that kind of artistry from an emotionless metadata comparison engine.

Re:oblig XKCD

[Thanshin]

Would it be possible to use collaborative filtering, and meta data provided by xkcd to produce a "These xkcd strips may be obligatory for this article",
for sites such as slashdot?

It's an editing problem.

The editor shouldn't have accepted the submission without the obligatory xkcd link.

Elsewhere in the galaxy

[mcgrew]

A mathematical equation that counts habitats suitable for alien life could complement the Drake equation, which estimates the probability of finding intelligent alien beings elsewhere in the galaxy

Lets see, Peru is in a different part of the galaxy than the US, even though by galactic standards it's REAL close. I talked to an intelligent alien* on the phone yesterday -- he was looking for his ex-wife, who's been living with me lately.

Of course, he's not a space alien, he's a human. The space aliens are in the ISS. They're human too.

*Well, he wasn't very intelligent on the night chronicled in the linked journal, but anger never made anybody very smart.

Re:Elsewhere in the galaxy

[Thanshin]

I talked to an intelligent alien* on the phone yesterday -- he was looking for his ex-wife, who's been living with me lately.

I'm interested in your services and would like to know more. Please elaborate:

- How long was the ex-wife's stay?
- How much do you charge per ex-wife?

Re:The answer is...

[Hognoxious]

Ever been to Milton Keynes? I'd say your estimate is a little high.

Gaia hippy shit

[Hognoxious]

Hey, Moonfruit, the sixties are over. If the planet was an organism it would have gone to the galactic doctor and got something to clear that nasty infection.

Re:Gaia hippy shit

[russotto]

Hey, Moonfruit, the sixties are over. If the planet was an organism it would have gone to the galactic doctor and got something to clear that nasty infection.

It has, but there's a wait for the procedure. About 65 million years.

Re:Gaia hippy shit

[Thanshin]

And he therefore has a rising global temperature, which is the same mechanism the body uses to get rid of infections.

Yes. That was, indeed, the joke.

Re:Gaia hippy shit

[Chris Burke]

It has, but there's a wait for the procedure. About 65 million years.

Ah, I see. "Take one meteor impact, call me next epoch"?

Sounds like Earth has an HMO. I wonder if its reached its out of pocket limit for the eon? I hope not or it might start going to get a lot more treatment.

Re:"as we know it" clause

[wwfarch]

But if the Earth is a "cell" then Smith was right.. we ARE a virus.

Re:Seems silly

[Anonymous Coward]

No no, "extremophile" has nothing to do with that.

Re:The answer is...

[Anonymous Coward]

zero. Zero worlds containing intelligent life of any kind. Earth included.

Aw, how Emo. Go cut yourself and write a song about it..

The Drake Equation?

[Tetsujin]

Honestly, I'm not surprised people are finding fault with the Drake Equation. I mean, it was written up by Ludwig Von Drake! He's not a proper scientist at all, he's just a cartoon! You can't rely on cartoon characters to do your science for you, it's not sensible... And you've got to question the repeatability of any experiment taking place in a cartoon environment...