What remained was the possible evolution of intelligence in the universe. Although hampered by a lack of understanding of how this had happened on Earth, discussion of the evolution of intelligence in the universe was spurred on by the famo…its cultural aspects. The first three terms represented the number of stars in the galaxy that had formed planets with environments suitable for life; the second two terms narrow the number to those on which life and intelligence actually d…In 1996 the “Astrobiology” program was added to NASA’s lexicon. The NASA Astrobiology Institute, centered at NASA’s Ames Research Center, funds numerous centers nationwide for research in astrobiology at the level of several tens of million…
Frank Drake
scientist · 3 mentions across 1 reading
In this course
Frank Drake is an American astronomer and physicist best known for formulating the Drake Equation, a probabilistic argument for estimating the number of communicative civilizations in the galaxy that has become foundational to SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and astrobiology. The course readings invoke Drake's framework to ground discussions of how intelligence might evolve across the universe and to trace the institutional emergence of astrobiology as a NASA-sponsored research paradigm in the 1990s. His equation functions as a conceptual bridge between evolutionary biology, cybernetic systems thinking, and the technological infrastructure built to detect non-human intelligence.
Mentioned in 1 reading
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