The Milky Way is probably full of dead civilizations

[rangerrebew]

The Milky Way is probably full of dead civilizations

By Rafi Letzter a day ago

The milky way
(Image: © European Souther Observatory)

Most of the alien civilizations that ever dotted our galaxy have probably killed themselves off already.

That's the takeaway of a new study, published Dec. 14 to the arXiv database, which used modern astronomy and statistical modeling to map the emergence and death of intelligent life in time and space across the Milky Way. Their results amount to a more precise 2020 update of a famous equation that Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence founder Frank Drake wrote in 1961. The Drake equation, popularized by physicist Carl Sagan in his "Cosmos" miniseries, relied on a number of mystery variables — like the prevalence of planets in the universe, then an open question.

This new paper, authored by three Caltech physicists and one high school student, is much more practical. It says where and when life is most likely to occur in the Milky Way, and identifies the most important factor affecting its prevalence: intelligent creatures' tendency toward self-annihilation.

https://www.space.com/milky-way-alien-life-map

[rangerrebew]

They must have had democrat parties too.

[Fishrrman]

Title:
"The Milky Way is probably full of dead civilizations..."

How much longer until "Earth, Western Civilization" is added to that total...?

[Sled Dog]

Nice story.

Too bad we have zero evidence for extra-terrestrial life, let alone intelligence, so this guy is just speaking out his blowhole.

He's also assuming the postulated ETI would have motivations similar to humanity's, another unfounded assumption.

Maybe we need to stop paying these people taxpayer dollars.

Can anything be more useless than "research" into extra-solar life and intelligences?  We have science fiction writers earning their own money on that already.

And they do a much better job.