Are there trillions of alien civilizations ?

When it comes to humans finding an advanced alien civilization, Sullivan says that such an alien civilization would likely need to meet one primary criteria.

“For us to have much chance in finding another ‘contemporary’ active technological civilization, on average they must last much longer than our present lifetime.”

The current senior astronomer of the SETI institute, Seth Shostak, weighed in on Frank and Sullivan’s new equation and their search for advanced alien civilizations.

“With so many stars and planets filling the cosmos, it boggles the mind to think that we’re the only clever life to have made an appearance Frank and Sullivan use new research indicating that roughly one in five stars is orbited by a planet that could nurture biology. After that, it’s just a matter of counting up the tally of stars in the visible universe, and saying that — with all the suitable real estate that’s out there, if we’re the only place with intelligent life, then we’ve really won the mother of all lotteries.”

Shostak further added that he believes that the odds that there is no alien life in the universe are “very, very small.” He also warned against being too optimistic or pessimistic about the new equation and what it could mean for the search for and potential discovery of advanced alien civilizations in the universe or even our own galaxy.