The Drake equation is an equation that helps find out the possibility of alien civilizations.
As shown above the N represents the number of civilizations with advanced technology through out the milky way. The equation is particularly interesting because depending on the person, you can find out if the person is a pessimist or an optimist all by the numbers they choose in the equation. R is the formation rate of stars, F(p) is the amount of stars that develop planetary systems. The conditions for just the factors to happen is already in a very small range. As you go on through each component, you notice the window for things to happen gets even smaller.
For example N(e) is the number of planets with an environment suitable for life. If you take a look at out own solar system. We currently only have 1 world with the confirmed ability to sustain life. If you happen to believe Mars or Venus has life, then you would increase that number to 2 or 3. The equation is inherently subjective, but that is also why it’s interesting. When you different people use the drake equation you get a fuller grasp of the level of complexity for a civilization such as our own to compare.
Later are you see a series of components all beginning with F. F(l) shows the possibility that life actually shows up in that livable range, next is that life intelligent with F(i). This is tricky because, what do you define intelligence as, obviously I believe most people would say dolphins are intelligent, but can they act fully on their intelligence like humans can. With out fingers, they can’t build things. This is where F(c) comes in. Will they be able to communicate their existence to others in space, which is very hard to do if you don’t have fingers to build space probes or radios.
Lastly, the factor that affects the equation the most is L. This factor shows how long the civilization will last. this is important, because this number can be Really large, such as a Million years, or really small such as a 1,000 years. This number shows how much time the civilization has to find other life in space. If they don’t last long, Then even if we were looking for them they may be dead, and there could be no trace of a civilization at all.
The drake equation does a great job of giving an average person “control over the universe”, because it makes theories seem possible, or not possible at all. I think it is fun to play with because, you understand the complexity of finding aliens.
Solar Vibes 
I thought your comment about a person being a pessimist or an optimist was interesting because we saw in class how different some of our numbers were based on our thought processes. It also make me question the validity of the estimates scientists make because there is so much speculation and room for error.
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