It's abstract speculation, not science. Fun and useful abstract speculation, since it causes us to ask questions, and helps to form hypotheses to test. If you're uptight about categorizing it to ensure it doesn't falsely masquerade as science, you can call it philosophy.Science strictly practiced is an attempt to ultimatley bring theory and fact into agreement. That can only be achieved by testing and a search for confirmation or falsification.
Having said that, please tell me how the Drake E can be anything but abstract speculation at best.
Should we just "do the math" to prove it?
Thats would be circular reasoning would it not?
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Are we alone? The Drake equation
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- Interbane
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Re: Are we alone? The Drake equation
“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” - Douglas Adams
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Re: Are we alone? The Drake equation
Oh is that what you call it? I thought most of us here thought it was science?It's abstract speculation, not science. Fun and useful abstract speculation, since it causes us to ask questions, and helps to form hypotheses to test.
How does this abstract speculation of exo planets hosting life lead to a testable hypothesis?
Do you think it will eventually lead to testability?
You're an evidence guy.., what evidence do you have to make that claim?
Or is this another one of your faith disguised as "confidence" moments?
Last edited by ant on Sun Nov 10, 2013 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Are we alone? The Drake equation
Ha! Why are you pretending to grill me on this? I was speculating that it was speculation. I'm not even sure what the Drake equation is! Go ahead and tear that apart ant, you bulldog!Oh is that what you call it? I thought most of us here thought it was science?
How does this abstract speculation of exo planets hosting life lead to a testable hypothesis?
Do you think it will eventually lead to testability?
You're an evidence guy.., what evidence do you have to make that claim?
Or is this another one of your faith disguised as "confidence" moments?
“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” - Douglas Adams
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Re: Are we alone? The Drake equation
Interbane wrote:Ha! Why are you pretending to grill me on this? I was speculating that it was speculation. I'm not even sure what the Drake equation is! Go ahead and tear that apart ant, you bulldog!Oh is that what you call it? I thought most of us here thought it was science?
How does this abstract speculation of exo planets hosting life lead to a testable hypothesis?
Do you think it will eventually lead to testability?
You're an evidence guy.., what evidence do you have to make that claim?
Or is this another one of your faith disguised as "confidence" moments?
Right.
I like to speculate that Exo Planets might have unicorns and fairies.
It's totally reasonably scientific if we plug in the symbols for unicorns and fairies into the equation.
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Re: Are we alone? The Drake equation
I think it is a little narrow to assume that any sort of intelligent life out there is necessarily interested in contact with us. We tend to project our values outwards, as for us, this topic seems interesting and important. But when we just look at the diversity of life on this planet, we can visualize how potentially it could be even more vastly different in the cosmos. We evolved as simian tribes, pushed to survive on the African savannah. Other forms of sentient life may have a completely different story, along with vastly distinct approaches to things like curiosity, social bonding, empathy, urges to explore, etc.
And given the time spans involved, many alien life forms could have evolved far beyond the point of being motivated to open communication with us. This may seem hard to accept, as we are at the apex of intelligence on earth, but for other beings we might be a modest repeat of something seen a million times before. Incidentally, sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem covered this topic in his book Golem 14.
And given the time spans involved, many alien life forms could have evolved far beyond the point of being motivated to open communication with us. This may seem hard to accept, as we are at the apex of intelligence on earth, but for other beings we might be a modest repeat of something seen a million times before. Incidentally, sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem covered this topic in his book Golem 14.
"I suspect that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose"
— JBS Haldane
— JBS Haldane
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Re: Are we alone? The Drake equation
It's your right to speculate what you wish. Unicorns and fairies would likely appear normal against the backdrop of other potential lifeforms. I'd like to see some monstrous Cthulian space whales that drop their seed onto planets.I like to speculate that Exo Planets might have unicorns and fairies.
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Re: Are we alone? The Drake equation
Interbane wrote:It's your right to speculate what you wish. Unicorns and fairies would likely appear normal against the backdrop of other potential lifeforms. I'd like to see some monstrous Cthulian space whales that drop their seed onto planets.I like to speculate that Exo Planets might have unicorns and fairies.
Your speculation about life on Exo Planets very different from ours sounds delusional.
You must believe in God because you are going well beyond the empirical standards of Science.
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Re: Are we alone? The Drake equation
Flawless logic.You must believe in God because you are going well beyond the empirical standards of Science.
“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” - Douglas Adams