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New SETI prospects opened up by current information networking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2013

Elisabeth Piotelat  and
Florence Raulin Cerceau
Elisabeth Piotelat
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Informatique pour la Mécanique et les Sciences de l'Ingénieur, (LIMSI-CNRS), Orsay, France e-mail: elisabeth.piotelat@limsi.fr
Florence Raulin Cerceau
Affiliation:
Centre Alexandre Koyré (UMR 8560 EHESS/CNRS/MNHN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, France
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Abstract

This paper discusses ideas that impact the fc factor as defined by Frank Drake in 1961, i.e. the fraction of planets with intelligent creatures capable of interstellar communication. This factor remains one of the most speculative terms of the equation. We suggest that the ability of sharing information is an important parameter to take into account in evaluating the tendency of a civilization to make contact (or share data) with other civilizations. Thus, we give special consideration to the fraction of planets with intelligent creatures capable of producing and sharing large amount of data. First, we determine the level of our own civilization in the framework of Sagan's energy- and information-based classification, by taking into account the recent improvements in computing and networking technologies. Second, we distinguish two types of organization, hierarchical and heterarchical, with respect to information sharing. We illustrate this distinction in the case of SETI and we show that the probability to detect a civilization would be greater if it is heterarchical than if it is hierarchical and if we utilize heterarchical principles for SETI.

Keywords

civilizationcomputing technologydrake equationheterarchySETI
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 12 , Special Issue 3: The Drake Equation , July 2013 , pp. 208 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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