Alien Civilisations Could Be Up To 36

[Alex_Krycek]

An interesting piece from the Guardian.  The Overton window continues to open.  

 

"They may not be little green men. They may not arrive in a vast spaceship. But according to new calculations there could be more than 30 intelligent civilisations in our galaxy today capable of communicating with others."

“I think it is extremely important and exciting because for the first time we really have an estimate for this number of active intelligent, communicating civilisations that we potentially could contact and find out there is other life in the universe – something that has been a question for thousands of years and is still not answered,” said Christopher Conselice, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Nottingham and a co-author of the research

 

I share his view regarding evolution and intelligent life:

“Basically, we made the assumption that intelligent life would form on other [Earth-like] planets like it has on Earth, so within a few billion years life would automatically form as a natural part of evolution,” said Conselice.

Full article here: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jun/15/scientists-say-most-likely-number-of-contactable-alien-civilisations-is-36

Link to their Paper in the Astrophysics Journal:  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ab8225

[swansont]

Sorry - Overton window? That’s a political term. How is that relevant?

And it’s not “up to 36” The number they arrive at is a lower limit, and that number is  

 

[Alex_Krycek]

22 minutes ago, swansont said:

Sorry - Overton window? That’s a political term. How is that relevant?

And it’s not “up to 36” The number they arrive at is a lower limit, and that number is  

 

You're right, I read that wrong.   36 is near the lower end of the spectrum.  

Under the strictest set of assumptions – where, as on Earth, life forms between 4.5bn and 5.5bn years after star formation – there are likely between four and 211 civilisations in the Milky Way today capable of communicating with others, with 36 the most likely figure. But Conselice noted that this figure is conservative, not least as it is based on how long our own civilisation has been sending out signals into space – a period of just 100 years so far.

[Strange]

A somewhat sceptical analysis of this here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/06/16/36-alien-civilizations-in-the-milky-way-the-science-behind-a-ridiculous-headline/#4f582fe079c5