Abstract
The Drake Equation, which precludes stellar colonization and assumes an independent origin for each stellar civilization, predicts, according to most of its backers, a number N = 105 −106 of advanced technological civilizations in the Galaxy, i.e., roughly one per million stars. The concept, on the other hand, of the colonization of the Galaxy predicts, either N = 1010−1011 if the colonization has already occurred, with space colonies in orbit around every well behaved star of the Galaxy, or N = 10−1 −100 if the colonization has not yet taken place, because the reason it has not yet occurred must simply be that throughout the long history of the Galaxy there were too few civilizations capable of initiating the colonization process. These conditions simplify considerably the search for extraterrestrial intelligence because we now need to investigate only a small number of stars in our own, vicinity, rather than millions of faraway stars as required by the Drake equation. If a systematic astronomical search in our own solar system, and in particular in the asteroid belt, as well as in 10–20 of our nearby stars would prove negative, we would have to conclude that the colonization of the Galaxy has not yet occurred and therefore we must be one of the very few if not the only advanced civilization in the entire Galaxy.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Cocconi, G. and Morrison,P.: 1959, Nature, 184, 844.
Drake, F.D.: 1961, Phys. Today, 14, 40. Also in The Quest for Extraterrestrial Life (ed. by D. Goldsmith) Univ. Sci. Books, Mill Valley, CA, USA, 1980.
Drake, F.D.: 1965, Current Aspects of Exobiology (ed. by G. Mamikunian and M.H. Briggs) Pergamon Press, New York.
Drake, F.D.: 1980, in Strategies for the Search for Life in the Universe (ed. by M.D. Papagiannis) D. Reidel, Dordrecht-Holland.
Freeman, J. and Lampton, M.: 1975, Icarus, 25, 368.
Goldsmith, D. and Owen, T.: 1980, The Search for Life in the Universe. Benjamin/Cummings Publ. Co., Menlo Park, CA.
Hart, M.H.: 1975, Quart. J. Roy. Astron. Soc., 16, 128.
Jones, E.M.: 1976, Icarus, 28, 421.
Kuiper, T. and Morris, M.: 1977, Science, 196, 616.
Martin, A.R. and Bond,A.: 1980, in Strategies for the Search for Life in the Universe (ed. by M.D. Papagiannis) D. Reidel, Dordrecht-Holland.
Newman, W.J. and Sagan C.: 1981, Icarus (in press).
Oliver, B.M. and Billingham, J.: 1972, Project Cyclops, NASA CR114445 NASA Ames Res. Cent., Moffett Field, CA, USA.
O’Neill, G.K.: 1977, The High Frontier-Human Colonies in Space. William Morrow and Co., New York.
Owen, T.: 1980, in Strategies for the Search for Life in the Universe (ed. by M.D. Papagiannis) D. Reidel, Dordrecht-Holland.
Papagiannis, M.D.: 1978a, in Origin of Life (ed. by H. Noda) Center Acad. Publ., Tokyo, Japan.
Papagiannis, M.D.: 1978b, Quart. J. Roy. Astron. Soc., 19, 277.
Papagiannis, M.D.: 1980a, in Strategies for the Search for Life in the Universe (ed. by M.D. Papagiannis) D. Reidel, Dordrecht-Holland.
Papagiannis, M.D.: 1980b, in Strategies for the Search for Life in the Universe (ed. by M.D. Papagiannis) D. Reidel,Dordrecht-Holland.
Papagiannis, M.D.: 1981a, in Origin of Life(ed. by Y. Wolman) D. Reidel, Dordrecht-Holland.
Papagiannis, M.D.: 1981b, in Extraterrestrials-Where Are They? (ed. by M. Hart and B. Zuckerman) Pergamon Press.
Sagan, C. and Drake, F.: 1975, Sci. Am. 233, (May) 83.
Shklovskii, J.S. and Sagan, C.: 1966, Intelligent Life in the Universe, Holden Day, San Francisco, USA.
Sturrock, P.A.: 1980, in Strategies for the Search for Life in the Universe (ed. by M.D. Papagiannis) D. Seidel, Dordrecht-Holland.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1982 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Papagiannis, M.D. (1982). The Colonization of the Galaxy -- A Key Concept in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. In: Mariolopoulos, E.G., Theocaris, P.S., Mavridis, L.N. (eds) Compendium in Astronomy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7766-2_34
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7766-2_34
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-009-7768-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-7766-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive