Chapter 171: Ten Extraterrestrial Technological Civilizations Exist in the Milky Way

Director Wu and the group of middle-aged leaders, who had previously questioned Jiang Zhe's expertise in astronomy, were instantly rendered speechless.

Everyone in the office was immersed in the formula.

Because they discovered that the formula was genuinely effective; as long as it was paired with precise and reasonable data, it could truly calculate the number of alien civilizations existing in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Director Wu couldn't help but swallow hard, his gaze filled with shock. "Just how much does one need to know about astronomy to come up with such a brilliant formula!"

The young man had rarely heard the Director use words of praise for others, so he had not expected that this time, they would be directed straight at Jiang Zhe.

"Director, is this formula really effective?"

Director Wu nodded with a serious expression: "It is genuinely effective; furthermore, this formula is a simplified version. I would very much like to see the complex version that he hasn't revealed in the live stream."

The playfulness of the research institute leaders on the side vanished instantly; they dared not look down on Jiang Zhe any longer.

It turned out that the reason he was popular was because he had the ability for it—something they did not possess.

However, they were still skeptical. Could the final result calculated by this formula really be accepted by everyone?

...

At this moment, inside the leadership conference room.

Station Chief Zhao and Old Wang were also dumbfounded.

Although they did not understand the formula, seeing Wang Lin and Xiao Shiyi both silent, they knew that Jiang Zhe's formula this time was once again genuinely effective.

Soon, Wang Lin revealed a smile and sighed repeatedly: "I never expected that Brother Jiang's level... is far beyond the limits of what I imagined!"

Xiao Shiyi whispered in his ear: "Do not underestimate the Mysterious Person's intelligence; if he brings out any more original content later, I won't be surprised anymore. The Mysterious Person is not someone you or I can fathom."

Upon hearing this, Wang Lin felt relieved: "Indeed, let's keep watching and see what the final answer is!"

...

In the lecture hall, Professor Hua Yunfeng, Old Feng, and all the other scholars watched Jiang Zhe's subsequent calculations with solemn gazes.

For astronomy, this was a transcendent moment!

It was just that this transcendent scene was not taking place in the form of a scientific journal or academic paper, but rather in a live stream.

This made many experts feel humiliated, as they had spent most of their lives working hard yet couldn't come up with a single original idea that could rock the academic world.

Yet Jiang Zhe just casually...

Good heavens, why is the gap getting wider and wider? Is this really a 24-year-old science host without any titles?

...

Inside the Tsinghua University dormitory building.

"He actually came up with this kind of formula?"

Professor Zhuang was filled with disbelief; Jiang Zhe's ability had once again shattered his perception of him.

As for the two women by his side, they were even more bewildered, but the data preparation work in their hands did not stop.

After Professor Zhuang came to his senses, he immediately began searching for data, preparing to calculate the number of alien civilizations using the formula before Jiang Zhe did.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Zhe was one step ahead of him, and Jiang Zhe's voice came from the phone.

"Next, we will plug in the data, and we will be able to know the final number of alien civilizations!"

"Starting with the first one."

"A: The number of stars born in the Milky Way Galaxy each year. This can be queried on professional academic websites, it's about 10. We take the number 10. A = 10!"

"B: The probability that a star has planets. Current data shows that half of the stars have planets. We take 0.5. B = 0.5!"

"C: The number of planets among them that have the conditions for life to emerge. For stars with planets, there are 2 planets that could potentially harbor life. This references habitable planets with liquid water. We take 2. C = 2."

"D: The probability of life emerging. Among planets where life could emerge, the probability of life emerging is 100%. This 100% refers to our Earth. We take 1. D = 1."

"E: The probability of that life evolving into intelligent life forms. Among planets where life emerged, 1% gave birth to an intelligent civilization. We take the minimum number of 1%. E = 0.01."

"F: The probability of possessing technology to communicate with other planets. Among planets with intelligent civilizations, 1% are capable of communication. We take the minimum number of 1%. F = 0.01!"

"G: The duration that such a technological civilization can exist. A communicative civilization can last for about 10,000 years. This is exactly 10,000 years for our human civilization from the beginning to the current technological era. Our modern civilization only developed communication methods near the end of 10,000 years, so we take our current existence time of 10,000 years. Therefore, G = 10,000!"

Having explained up to this point, Jiang Zhe stated the answer directly:

"Substituting the above values into the formula, N = 10 × 0.5 × 2 × 1 × 0.01 × 0.01 × 10000 = 10."

"Finally, we can conclude that there are about 10 communicative civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy."

"However, it is not difficult to see from the case that the probability of organisms evolving into intelligent beings and creating a civilization (E and F) is 0.01, and their duration (G) is very small!"

"Therefore, in the Milky Way Galaxy, there are at least 10 technological civilizations capable of mutual communication. If we also count those civilizations that have not entered a technological stage, the number would rise exponentially and become much higher!"

"Of course, this is just taking the minimum values; there are at least 10 alien civilizations that are more advanced than our civilization!"

As the series of words fell, Jiang Zhe paused for a moment to give the audience time to react.

At this moment, there were no longer any comments in the live stream.

Because everyone was stunned by this incredible result.

They did not doubt the authenticity of the formula; the audience members themselves had also calculated the same answer using these data points!

At this moment, a series of data and information flashed rapidly through their minds.

100 billion to 400 billion stars and planets is the number of stars and planets currently estimated to exist in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Taking the median value, 200 billion stars, with 10 technological civilizations capable of mutual communication.

Or perhaps the civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy have some hidden difficulty, which is why they are not communicating with each other.

But if we change our perspective and use this formula to roughly calculate the number of civilizations in the entire Observable Universe?

Just how many alien civilizations would that generate?

With so many alien civilizations, why is it that there are no civilizations communicating with each other?

"I'm freaking speechless."

"It's right, it's right, this formula is absolutely freaking correct!"

"10 alien civilizations, only 10 technological civilizations out of 100 to 400 billion planets. With such numbers, yet we still haven't received any signals from alien civilizations; this looks extremely suspicious no matter how you look at it!"

"That's right, it's very—or rather, extremely—suspicious!"

...

At this moment, inside the astronomical research institute.

In the director's office, Director Wu and a group of leaders were typing rapidly on their keyboards.

Everyone's face was filled with both immense excitement and heaviness.

They were able to collect more professional data than Jiang Zhe.

Plugging the data they found into Jiang Zhe's formula, they finally obtained a number of 17 alien civilizations.

Director Wu couldn't help but have a fiery gaze. "This is correct; based on our minimum figures, we calculated 17 alien civilizations."

"Me too, I also calculated 17!"

"Good heavens, I can't believe it. There are actually about 17 technological civilizations in our Milky Way Galaxy capable of communication."

"If this is really correct, why haven't we received any signals?"

Director Wu raised his hand to stop them. "Don't be impatient. Use this Jiang Zhe formula to calculate the possible number for the entire Observable Universe. Even if the answer is rough, I must know this number."

As his command fell, the sound of keyboards rang out in the room once again.

But soon, Jiang Zhe on the phone screen was one step ahead again.

...

Sharing this same reaction were Professor Hua Yunfeng, Old Feng, Professor Zhuang, and a group of other scholars.

Because the results they calculated were more or less within the range of 10 to 20; none of them exceeded 20 alien civilizations.

And it was indeed as Jiang Zhe said: the duration that a technological civilization persists is crucial.

They all discovered an implied truth—

If a technological civilization goes extinct within 10,000 years, then logically speaking, signals travel through space at approximately the speed of light.

A 10,000-year transmitted electromagnetic wave signal.

Suppose a civilization entered the technological age 10,000 years ago; the signals they emitted.

Would be captured today at a distance of 10,000 light-years away.

The farthest signal distance that humans can currently capture is 9 billion light-years away.

Researchers from McGill University and the Indian Institute of Science successfully captured the most distant galactic radio signal to date using a telescope.

This was also the first time humans had detected this type of radio signal from such a great distance.

If, even those alien technological civilizations that had already passed away, logically speaking, should still be capturable by Earth.

But unfortunately, no, they had not captured any signals from any extinct alien technological civilization, nor even from any existing civilization.

This final result of 10 made many experts feel both pleasantly surprised and fearful at the same time.

Professor Zhuang gazed at the phone screen, his expression extremely serious. "This formula is impeccable; it is correct. It is precisely because it is correct that it makes one feel more fearful. I expanded G to the maximum value of 1 million, and the final number of civilizations derived is about 500,000. In other words, the actual data for civilizations existing in the Milky Way Galaxy is between 10 and 500,000!"

Not only Professor Zhuang, but the other astronomy, physics, and mathematics professors also calculated the minimum to maximum values.

It was just that the maximum number of alien civilizations was hard to believe, so they simply adopted the minimum values instead.