Intro to the Drake Equation

Amid all of last week's Carl Sagan festivities, I came across this clip from the 1980 mini-series, "Cosmos," which Sagan helped write, produce, and starred in.

I first learned about the Drake equation in the very first class I ever attended at Pitt. It was called "Intelligent Life in the Universe," and the long-term goal of the class was to tangibly estimate the likelihood of human-like species existing elsewhere in the Universe. The equation (which was the culminating lesson of the course), was formulated by Dr. Frank Drake in 1960. Basically, what the formula does is take all of the variables involved in determining the existence of aliens (number of stars in the Universe, number of galaxies, evolutionary conditions, etc.) and enables a rough estimate for the number of intelligent civilizations in the Universe at a given time.

The clip below shows Sagan guiding the viewer through the equation. The kicker comes at the end, though--the difference between an incredibly populated Universe and a barren one hinges on civilizations' ability not to destroy themselves. In other words, if intelligent societies can avoid self-destruction, then the Universe is likely filled with worlds such as our own.

Yet another case for the disarmament of Iran.

Astronomusic v. 3: Carl Sagan in Auto-Tune

Speaking of Carl Sagan, here's a tribute courtesy of John Boswell (through his project Symphony of Science, which was promoted on the science podcast The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe). And you thought auto-tune was just for T-Pain.

Check it:

Us

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." -- Carl Sagan, astronomer of some note (1934-1996)

I tried using the above image as my desktop background for a short while last year, but it proved to be too damaging to my ego--if that blue dot is all we are, then who am I? How much of a difference can I really make in the world? How much will my Derek Jeter rookie card really be worth, when I'm gone? I'm cosmic bacteria!

These questions proved too lofty for my tastes, and I changed my wallpaper promptly.

Still, to quote a close friend of mine upon viewing "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "Space is fucking insane!" It's true! In fact, you don't even need to be an astronomer to verify the truth of this statement. Space is fucking insane and all you need is a computer to experience its wonders.

This blog will explore the cosmos not from the perspective of a scientist or astronomer, but that of the plebeian--the little guy, suspended on a moat of dust, just lookin' around.