(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Santiago Institute in the United States are confident that they have achieved significant results in the search for another intelligent civilization.
Previously, astronomers used the Drake equation to calculate such events. In 1961, scientist Frank Drake came up with an equation describing the variables and chances of advanced life in the universe. In theory, it allows you to calculate how many technically advanced alien civilizations exist in the universe.
This took into account factors such as the rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of life on the surrounding planets, as well as the number of planets in the solar system.
However, as technology and understanding of the mechanism of the universe improved, NASA specialists and Caltech scientists were able to update the way they calculate odds. Of course, scientists cannot yet give a clear answer to the question of what exactly these odds are, but in essence they added several factors to the Drake equation.
First, it is the planetary depletion factor. According to a study published in the online journal arXiv, scientists assume that most civilizations are ultimately doomed to extinction.
For example, if you put rats on an island, they will eat all available food, and then, when there is nothing left, they will starve to death. Scientists believe that humans are not much better. Humanity is still boldly releasing greenhouse gases into the Earth‘s atmosphere, knowing full well that it is making a significant contribution to the destruction of the planet.
Another factor is the rate of abiogenesis throughout space. Abiogenesis is the creation of organic molecules that has occurred due to factors that are not associated with living organisms.
For example, amino acids (one of the building blocks of life) have already been discovered on comets, which were formed as a result of a chemical reaction involving light and ionization emanating from stars.
“In the field of astrobiology, the exact location, prevalence and age of potential extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) have clearly not been investigated. We investigate three main parameters: 1) the likelihood of abiogenesis, 2) the evolutionary time frame (Tevo), and 3) the likelihood of self-annihilation of complex life (Pann). We found Pann to be the most influential parameter in determining the number and age of galactic intelligent life. ”
According to astronomers, the lack of evidence for the existence of aliens is paradoxical and can be attributed to the Fermi paradox. In 1950, physicist Enrico Fermi (the creator of the world‘s first nuclear reactor) came up with a paradox according to which, due to the age and size of the universe, there must necessarily be a civilization much more developed than ours.
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