In a Few Decades, a New Generation of Powerful Telescopes

question 57

Multiple Choice

In a few decades, a new generation of powerful telescopes especially designed to find extrasolar planets may be operational and producing data. What might these results mean for the Drake equation?

• A) With these results in hand, the Drake equation will become irrelevant.
• B) The structure of the Drake equation itself will undoubtedly have to be drastically revised.
• C) Astronomers will have much better values for the factors f_p (the fraction of stars that have planets) and n_e (the number of planets per solar system that are Earthlike).
• D) Astronomers will have much better values for the factors f_l (the fraction of Earthlike planets on which life actually arises), f_i (the fraction of life-forms that evolve into intelligent species), and f_c (the fraction of intelligent species that develop adequate technology and then choose to send messages out into space).

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Definitions:

Utility

In economics, the satisfaction or benefit derived by consuming a product, thus the preference for one product over another.

Market Baskets

A collection of goods and services used to track price changes and economic inflation over time, representing a fixed set of consumer products and services.

Completeness

A principle in consumer theory stating that consumers can rank all possible bundles of goods in terms of preference.

Transitivity

In preferences, it's the principle that if option A is preferred to B, and B is preferred to C, then A should be preferred to C.