Chapter 172: There is an extraterrestrial civilization, but we can't receive a signal.

At this moment, the voice of Jiang Zhe came through once again.

"Perhaps everyone thinks 10 is a bit too few. After all, we calculated it based on the minimum number, but many people have taken larger values to calculate—taking one hundred thousand, a million, ten million, a hundred million—and the final number of alien civilizations obtained is inconsistent. Since there are such alien technological civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy, it is understandable that we haven't received a signal, right!"

"But what if I use this formula to roughly calculate the entire Observable Universe?"

"To satisfy everyone's request, let us calculate the number of alien technological civilizations that might exist in the entire Observable Universe on the spot!"

As his words fell, all the experts and the audience straightened their backs again, listening even more carefully!

Because the Observable Universe does not necessarily possess galaxies like the Milky Way Galaxy, the final calculated result would certainly have a huge discrepancy.

It gave them a feeling that the Jiang Zhe formula could not calculate the entire universe.

But in the next second, Jiang Zhe did not play by the rules again.

"As everyone knows—"

"There are approximately two trillion galaxies in our universe."

"Our Milky Way Galaxy is one of the ordinary galaxies among them."

"Not every galaxy has habitable planets, so we will adopt the minimum habitable value for galaxies in the universe: 2 million."

"This is low enough, right?"

"Referring to the fact that our Milky Way Galaxy possesses at least 10 communicable alien civilizations, then what about 2 million galaxies similar to the Milky Way Galaxy?"

"Next, we will use 10 x 2 million = 20 million as the number of communicable alien civilizations."

Speaking to this point, Jiang Zhe suddenly frowned and asked back: "20 million communicable alien civilizations—would that be too many?"

"It's okay, let's adopt an impossible minimum value: there are 200,000 galaxies like the Milky Way Galaxy in the Observable Universe."

"After calculation, there are still 2 million communicable alien civilizations."

Without giving the audience any time to react, he continued, "Wait, wait, wait, 2 million communicable alien civilizations is still too many. No matter, let's continue to reduce it, reduce it to an impossible degree!"

"Taking the minimum for the entire Observable Universe, there should at least be 200,000 communicable alien civilizations, right?"

Having said this, he smiled and did not speak further.

In fact, in a past life, someone had already calculated via the Drake Equation that there are at least 530,000 communicable alien civilizations in the entire Observable Universe.

In fact, when seeing this, the hearts of the audience and experts were already surging, their faces full of astonishment.

The experts all knew that according to the latest scientific astronomy magazine reports, the galaxies within the entire Observable Universe are as numerous as ox hairs.

Even if it does not reach the 2 trillion galaxies in the Observable Universe that Jiang Zhe mentioned, there are definitely at least 200 billion galaxies.

Within 200 billion galaxies, one-tenth are habitable galaxies = 20 billion habitable galaxies, similar to the Milky Way Galaxy.

According to Jiang Zhe's minimum value calculation, it would definitely be possible to calculate that the entire Observable Universe must possess 200,000 communicable alien civilizations, and even far exceed that number!

Finally, after a simple second calculation, there must be at least 1 million alien civilizations in the entire Observable Universe!

As a series of calculation results were reached, the expressions on the experts' faces became increasingly grave.

Because they discovered that the calculated results did not match the actual situation at all!

Even though there were so many civilizations, there were no signals from alien civilizations!

...

In Su City, at the Astronomical Research Institute.

Director Wu looked heavily at the latest result calculated using the Jiang Zhe formula: 530,000.

The number of communicable civilizations he calculated was 530,000.

"The data obtained by every astronomy practitioner is inconsistent, and the final calculated results are also completely different."

"But our Astronomical Research Institute has the most advanced and accurate data, which is why I calculated 530,000 communicable alien civilizations."

"Other amateurs certainly wouldn't be able to calculate that many."

"But since there are so many communicable alien civilizations in the entire Observable Universe, why haven't we received any signals from alien civilizations?"

This question also caused the astronomical experts and leaders on the scene to fall into deep thought.

They looked at each other, wanting to use their professional knowledge to answer, but the results they pondered indicated that there were no alien civilizations in the Observable Universe.

Because only if there are no communicable civilizations can there be no electromagnetic signals from alien civilizations in the universe.

But!

This contradicts the Jiang Zhe formula!

If they clearly exist, why don't they make contact?

Could it be that the Jiang Zhe formula seems reasonable but is actually ridiculously wrong?

Director Wu picked up his phone with a depressed look, seeing the bullet comments also discussing this controversial fact.

"Which expert can tell me, I calculated 1 million communicable alien civilizations, why haven't I received any alien civilization signal in the end?"

"Yeah, could it be that we are in an information cocoon? Actually, have astronomical research institutes around the world already found alien civilizations?"

"Could it be that the [Jiang Zhe formula] is actually wrong?"

"It hasn't been found, and the formula isn't wrong. I am a staff member at the Su City Astronomical Research Institute. I have been watching Teacher Jiang's live broadcast, and his formula has already been recognized by our Director Wu. Director Wu calculated 530,000 communicable alien civilizations. This data is backed by real data; your calculations all have flaws and errors."

"Wait, so that means there are really 530,000 in the Observable Universe?"

"Yes, but Director Wu's reaction is the same as yours. The beginning is correct, the process is correct, but the final result cannot be linked to reality. We also don't know why alien civilizations exist, yet it seems not a single electromagnetic signal has been transmitted. I can swear on my chest: our institute has not found any alien civilization signals."

The person who sent the bullet comment was the young man from the Astronomical Research Institute who had previously recommended Jiang Zhe to Director Wu.

After his and Director Wu's verification, the audience in the live stream was even more convinced of this formula and the results.

Since the professionals have come out to speak, if they don't know about it, how could we ordinary people solve it?

...

At this time, inside the Beijing Science Lecture Hall.

"Is the Jiang Zhe formula credible? Can someone answer this?" Professor Hua Yunfeng scanned the audience and asked a question.

Soon, a young astronomy staff member in a black suit stood up to answer.

"Teacher Hua, and Teacher Feng, the Jiang Zhe formula is correct and credible; I just contacted the dean of the research institute in the suburbs of Beijing, and it is correct."

"Not only is it correct, but he also ordered people at the monitoring station to rearrange the data, and finally calculated more than 540,000 communicable alien civilizations."

"His answer is that the formula can calculate the number of communicable alien civilizations, but the actual result is that we have only received suspected signals from alien civilizations, and have not truly found any alien civilization signals."

Old Feng couldn't help his curiosity and asked: "Then what are the [suspected] ones?"

The young man answered: "Suspected is just suspected. Some are emitted by stars, some by supernovae, and others by magnetars; there are also pranks by foreign radio enthusiasts. The final result is: we [listen and search] in all directions of the universe, and what we find in the end is only [suspected], not a single one [confirmable]!"

Once these words were spoken, it was as everyone at the scene expected.

"Although my calculation was wrong, I said it earlier: the Jiang Zhe formula is correct, but it definitely doesn't apply to the entire universe; otherwise, the result wouldn't be wrong."

"Exactly, exactly. This formula might be fine and very professional, but there are big problems when applying it; you can't say Jiang Zhe is wrong, nor can you say he is right."

"So this [Jiang Zhe formula] is actually useless?"

"According to the current situation, yes, the Jiang Zhe formula is useless."