The Drake Equation always felt like gibberish to me. How can you have an equation "used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy" when we have nothing to test it with?
"Rather than being an actual means for quantifying the number of intelligent species in our galaxy, the purpose of the equation was meant to frame the discussion on SETI. In addition to encapsulating the challenges facing scientists, it was intended to stimulate scientific dialog among those attending the meeting. As Drake would later remark:..."
Then follows a video of Drake speaking.
The problem isn't with the Drake equation, it's with the pop science articles that extrapolated things from it way beyond the original intent or scope.
However thanks to speed of light the data set is not infinite, just absurd.
So we know almost nothing.
Given time the expansion of the universe will push all galaxies and stars away from us. The data set will be 1.
We now know everything.
As expansion continues all hydrogen items will eventually break apart. All life has ended.
Nothing now knows us.
For some combinations of parameters, we should expect to see life on most other bodies within the solar system. The search for life on the moon and mars are simple empirical tests of these predictions.
What do you mean here?