tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post113201678582995143..comments2024-01-10T17:36:15.040-07:00Comments on The Lippard Blog: Can SETI be Called a Religion?Lippardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16826768452963498005noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-1132069008147988952005-11-15T08:36:00.000-07:002005-11-15T08:36:00.000-07:00Good point, Solan. I hadn't thought of that. Yet...Good point, Solan. I hadn't thought of that. Yet another way SETI resembles religion.Einzigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06406227217230727209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-1132050165763711852005-11-15T03:22:00.000-07:002005-11-15T03:22:00.000-07:00Drake's equation with all its unknowns is just a v...Drake's equation with all its unknowns is just a variant of <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascals_wager" REL="nofollow">Pascal's wager</A>, which is also a bet made in the absence of any hard facts whatsoever.Solanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15453937.post-1132045828492548142005-11-15T02:10:00.000-07:002005-11-15T02:10:00.000-07:00I myself am skeptical of the whole SETI project (t...I myself am skeptical of the whole SETI project (though I would demur over labelling it a religion). As for the Drake equation, some of the assumptions that lead to conclusions with very high numbers of extraterrestrial civilizations (Sagan thinks there are millions in our galaxy alone) are quite dubious. Ernst Mayr in a debate with Sagan blasted his optimism about the likelihood of intelligence to evolve, while Ward and Brownlee's book Rare Earth summarizes the main objections to the probability of "complex extraterrestrial life."Danny Boy, FCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05188779170739251410noreply@blogger.com