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The Extended Drake Equation — Do Aliens Speak Physics? by Daniel Whiteson and Andy Warner

The Extended Drake Equation — Do Aliens Speak Physics? by Daniel Whiteson and Andy Warner
The Extended Drake Equation — Do Aliens Speak Physics? by Daniel Whiteson and Andy Warner This illustration from the book Do Aliens Speak Physics? by Daniel Whiteson and Andy Warner, depicts the “extended Drake equation,” an expansion of the original Drake equation that estimates not just how many alien civilizations may exist in our galaxy, but how many might share scientific knowledge that humans could understand. This version of the equation multiplies the traditional term for communicative civilizations, Naliens, by several new factors: fscience​, the fraction that practices experiment-driven science; fcommunication​, the fraction capable of establishing mutual understanding; fquestions​, the likelihood that they ask similar scientific questions; and fanswers​, the likelihood that their answers resemble ours. Together, these terms illustrate the rarity and complexity of true interspecies scientific comprehension. Andy Warner