Frank Drake - What is the Far Far Future of Humans in the Universe?

Consider humanity’s astounding progress in science during the past three hundred years. Now take a deep breath and project forward three billion years. Assuming humans survive, can we even conceive of what our progeny might be like? Will we colonize the galaxy, the universe?

Frank Donald Drake was an American astronomer and astrophysicist. He was most notable as one of the pioneers in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the founder of SETI.

Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[williamflaherty]

Frank Drake was one of the greatest astrophysicists of the century, notably famous for Drake equation.



Reply

[richardshansky]

I met Frank Drake and Carl Sagan in 1976 in Boston at the AAAS national meeting. I was 18 and it was the thrill of a lifetime.

[keithwalmsley]

I don't think we can answer this, as Arthur C Clarke said in the context of 2001, trying to describe the world of the aliens behind the Monolith would be like Moonwatcher trying to describe the world of Dave Bowman and 2001 as depicted in the film.

[scottc]

Yep, 40 years ago people were smoking cigarettes on the plane, while I was sitting at the bar in the center of the plane sipping Manhattan's. Crazy.

[pandoraeeris]

Today I learned Frank Drake is still alive.

[hobarttobor]

predictions are easy, getting it right is impossible.

[TheCosmicRealm]

Scientists cant even get the weather right yet they ask questions like this as if they can now predict the future? Lets get real already.

[Fuliginosus]

We've come close to nuclear disasters already--it's hard to imagine going on for another billion year (or even a thousand years) without screwing up.

[sujok-acupuncture]

Dear Robert Sir .... please do a programme on the present situation of humans . It bet we will start crying after the end of the programme

[AORD]

We are probably not the pinnacle of evolution. We don't understand enough about the universe to say that colonizing the universe is unlikely.

[jojoglemond]

Discounting that our sun will become a red giant and swallow up the earth, I doubt the earth itself will survive that long without being destroyed by a massive asteroid over the next few billion years.

[Jaggerbush]

Very optimistic - the question itself was ridiculously optimistic.

[jimhockley]

before the twentieth century there was no such thing as a rush hour.don't know where or when it first happened, guessing probably a big city like new york or philly. but i remember the rush hour in the fifties and how it caused smog and produced traffic jams and waits. remember in the sixties it got worse and they started putting in more freeways and widening roads. continued until this day. people driving to work. each one spewing toxic elements into our environment harming the land, the water, and the other plants and animals.in many cities it became something you tried to avoid or find alternate routes. and more people got cars and jobs and they never minded driving to work because either they loved their job or they loved the money they were making.
but things are different now. there's rush hours all over the world on every continent and the islands too. people have embraced the "american life style" (the car) worldwide, not knowing the consequences.but cars kill. there isn't an animal that hasn't been killed by cars. many have been extirpated before anyone even knew they existed.
you put in a road and the animals will use it. coyotes and bears find easy passage on roads. reptiles love the smooth warmth and go into torpor. raptors know they can usually get a meal from a rat or squirrel darting across the road. and ravens are wise to the benefits of road kill. stuff like at.plus who wants to be in a rush hour everyday. wouldn't it be nice to have that time to spend with family, like maybe gardening, visiting neighbors, or making music or something?
nope. too busy gotta get to work.and now with the price of gas at all time highs and after numerous wars for petrol and putin holding back what never should have been let to happen in the first place. . .almost a billion people are still commuting back and forth twice a day to work polluting the air, extirpating whatever animals are still left, and wasting time sitting in a vehicle. how stupid are we that we tolerate this? is there no way out?i mean obviously this pollute commute cannot continue and the longer it does the worse for humanity and the other life we share on this lovely planet.so what do we do? how do we stop it. can we change it? or are we gonna drive our planet to death.and please don't say solar or electric cars. they're still cars. they still kill

so. someone with internet skills could create a post where people who commute can send their data and their needs and then they could be introduced to someone who has the same job and commutes the opposite way. if they trade jobs they both can eliminate their commute and there's two wasteful gas burners off the road. if that succeeds hopefully the rest of the world will jump on the bandwagon and our skies, lakes, oceans, and the whole planet will be happier, quieter, cooler, and healthier.plus, whoever starts this process and many others who contribute will have the opportunity to make a lot of money.
a second solution to the pollute commute would be if the local governments made a law that employers have to hire locals.

or a third solution: a reward system for employers and employees who have eliminated the need for a commute.
but it doesn't matter what kind of cars we get off the road, electric or gas. they all are wasteful negative factors.
cities were not planned. they just grew. and then came cars and they had to grow faster. next generation needs jobs but the local jobs are taken so they have to find jobs where they commute. but if they traded jobs with someone who works close to where they live that whole commute could be eliminated. how much money would that save?how much pollution would that eliminate?

[djsarg]

We have studied 20 million stars, and not one can support life as they are ALL too unstable, we are alone. The Sun is the only stable star. Of the 4, 100 solar systems studied, not one looks like our solar system, able to support life. Almost all the 4, 100 solar systems studied have Hot Jupiters. In normal planetary systems giant planets form beyond snow line and then migrated towards the star. A small percentage of giant planets migrate far from the star. In both types of migrations, any rocky planet like an earth is lost in these planetary migrations. Most stars do not have planets. Many stars are in bi-star systems, thus no earth-type planets. Thus we are alone.


Have not found another galaxy that can support life. Must have stable arms.

[panmichael]

Just hang around for a billion plus years and you'll get to see the actual picture.

[browngreen]

Only a complete dreamer can believe that humans will avoid early extinction by our own hand. 😢

[benbarkerdreaming]

We will integrate with technology and allow it to develop consciousness ... Unlimited intelligence with consciousness... That's where we are going... Total domination

[TEKANNON-bzfm]

What we hope is the far future for humans in the universe is that they will find a way to clone Professor Khune so that his show can go on for eternity!

[shawnewaltonify]

Frank, you owe yourself to admit the possibility that with the help of ai, mankind could solve the finite energy constraints of colonizing star systems, and in addition, find a way to travel at necessary speed. The possibility is objectively true at this time, and admitting this will make you happier because you will believe something that is true; and you deserve to be.

[ansleyrubarb]

...hello from Chuck, I believe that there will be those who observe the changes, and in their way will adapt as needed. Also Nature when left alone will also adapt. I would pray & hope our respect, integrity & knowledge to increase in good ways. Life here in what I call GOD'S Garden will improve, respectfully, Chuck...captivus brevis...you tube...Blessings...