Month: March 2011

I remember looking at Drake’s equation as an undergrad and wondering why, given the 100 Billion galaxies and 100 Billion other solar systems within the universe that nice Mr. Sagan told us about, we hadn’t met any of the other inhabitants. Or at least we weren’t aware of it.

Recently I’ve thought of a simple conjecture that may explain it. The only model of scientific discovery we have is our own, so I can but anthropomorphize, BUT the physics, medicine and chemistry of interstellar travel is arguably much more complicated than genetic engineering. Never mind intergalactic travel. Last I heard, we’re not planning to travel to another solar system but we now have the tools to modify the DNA of us and every other living organism on the planet. Our tools are crude but advancing quickly. Yet the effects of these modifications could be promethean.