My alien friends

This is a little statuette that sits on one of my bookcases.

As a child I was (still am) fascinated with the idea of other consciousness's so I was fascinated with animals & what they think & the idea that there might be life on other worlds.

I suspect life is an inherent property of the universe, that its inevitable, and our galaxy (and there are billions of others as well) is no doubt teeming with life.

I was also obsessed with UFOs (& still have an interest) but I no longer believe these to be of extra terrestrial origin (why would they travel millions of miles across the galaxy lit up like a xmas tree to probe some Texan farmers ass?) and suspect they are little understood atmospheric phenomenon related to earthquake lights (earthlights) that have electro magnetic effects that can effect human brain chemistry leading to hallucinations which are dependent on the viewers social context (in the past they saw fairies, dragons & now aliens or the virgin Mary!)

The Drake Equation is a famous equation for determining how many intelligent, communicating civilizations there are in our galaxy.

The Drake Equation developed by Frank Drake is:

N = N* fp ne fl fi fc fL

N* represents the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Current estimates are 100 billion.

fp is the fraction of stars that have planets around them. Current estimates range from 20% to 50%.

ne is the number of planets per star that are capable of sustaining life. Current estimates range from 1 to 5.

fl is the fraction of planets in ne where life evolves. Current estimates range from 100% (where life can evolve it will) down to close to 0%.

fi is the fraction of fl where intelligent life evolves. Estimates range from 100% (intelligence is such a survival advantage that it will certainly evolve) down to near 0%.

fc is the fraction of fi that communicate
Question: What percentage of intelligent races have the means and the desire to communicate? 10% to 20%?

fL is fraction of the planet's life during which the communicating civilizations live. This is the toughest of the questions. If we take Earth as an example, the expected lifetime of our Sun and the Earth is roughly 10 billion years. So far we've been communicating with radio waves for less than 100 years. How long will our civilization survive? Will we destroy ourselves in a few years like some predict or will we overcome our problems and survive for millennia? If we were destroyed tomorrow the answer to this question would be 1/100,000,000th. If we survive for 10,000 years the answer will be 1/1,000,000th.

When all of these variables are multiplied together when come up with:

N, the number of communicating civilizations in the galaxy.

It's quite a large number even if conservative numbers are factored into the equation.

The big question is why haven't they been in contact?

Why is it so quiet?

Where are you guys?

Hello?