"M" == Modemac writes:

M Maybe it's the optimist in me, but the discovery of a new,
M "potentially" Earth-like planet makes me hopeful for the future of
M Drake's Equation.

M Given the state of current technology, it seems that we may not be
M able to conduct any kind of detailed study of the new planet in
M Gliese for, oh, maybe thirty to fifty years. But when that time
M comes, all eyes will be focused on it. For *if* they find some
M kind of evidence of life, it could radically alter the equation.

No, it won't. It may alter the values we assign to the various
factors of the equation, by giving us a better estimate of them, but
it will not alter the equation.

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