The Drake Equation, Creationist Version

The Drake Equation, Creationist Version

(I didn’t write this. To the best of my knowledge, it’s by a guy who posts as astronomer on invisionfree.com’s Creation Vs. Evolution board. I just reformatted and tweaked it a bit):

(For those who don’t know, the
Drake equation
is an estimate of the number of extraterrestrial civilizations out there with which we can communicate.

The Drake Equation

N* * fs * fp * ne * fi * fc * fl = N

Where:
N* = number of stars
fs = fraction of sun-like stars
fp = fraction of stars with planets
ne = number of planets in habitable zone
fi = fraction of habitable zones where life does arise
fc = fraction of planets inhabited by intelligent beings
fl = percentage of the lifetime of a planet that is marked by presence of a communicative civilization

The Drake Equation, Creationist Edition

NG

Where:
NG = Number of places chosen by God.

Comments 2

One thought on “The Drake Equation, Creationist Version”

  1. Actually I kind of like this one. The Drake equation is so subjective and you can put whatever variables you want in there and “get” the answer you are looking for. If I want there to be 2000 possible civilizations around the Milky way I can plug in the numbers till I get what I want. Whereas the Creationist one is completely out of the hands of people. We cannot enter in our own values and numbers to get what we want. I have to go with what has been given to me. So the creationist one is actually a constant. Thanks for posting this.

  2. The Drake equation is so subjective and you can put whatever variables you want in there and “get” the answer you are looking for.
    […]
    Whereas the Creationist one is completely out of the hands of people.

    I can’t quite tell whether you’re being serious or not, so I’ll give a mostly-serious answer.

    It’s true that the terms of the Drake Equation become more and more speculative as one moves from left to right. Nonetheless, we have a very good idea how many stars there are in the galaxy: I can’t just plug in any number that I like: if I say there are 109 or 1011 stars in the galaxy, astronomers will call me on it.

    Likewise, if I plug in numbers for the proportion of G2 stars, or the number of stars with planets, or the number of planets in the habitable zone that are too far out of line with current models of solar system formation, then I will be asked to justify my choices.

    The creationist version, however, is immune from criticism. I can say that NG is 0, or 1, or 28, or 12,000,000, or 1.68 billion. Who’s to say that I’m wrong, or even that 1 is more likely than 12 million?

    Basically, the Drake Equation, while very uncertain, invites correction and refinement. The creationist version just says, “don’t think.”

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