You are reading too much into my post and implying things I never said or meant. So I am not lying about it. I never said it was solved or accurate and if that's how it comes across it was not my intent. If I wanted to make it have more authority I wouldn't have said its an estimation and might not be right. How are you turning estimation and "might not be right" into solved? If you prefer replace "might no be right", with "highly likely not right". Furthermore I didn't pick a number I like on faith. I picked one of the numbers the equation was famous for from the original meeting.In order to use the Drake equation as a prediction it's necessary to have solved it. Saying the result is an estimate merely means solving the equation with a margin of error.
Otherwise all you're doing is holding it up as a false appeal to authority in order to pretend that whatever number you make up is "scientific". On top of that, it requires either being completely ignorant of what the Drake equation is (a spur to debate, not a true equation with predictive value) or knowing what it is and lying about it.
Estimate x estimate x unknown x unknown x unknown x unknown x unknown does not equal 100,000,000. The result is unknown.
You've picked a number you like from faith and falsely claimed science as an authority. That's neither more nor less reliable than the other poster who's claiming to know the number from mystical knowledge. Or gods or aliens. Or something. It's all the same thing.
The Drake equation is just one model used for approximating the chance of life on other planets and its the most well known model.
"Saying the result is an estimate merely means solving the equation with a margin of error."
Technically that's correctly. As I understand it the equation has an extremely wide margin of error at the moment based on our understanding of planet and star formation and chance of life. The equation itself is pretty much correct its the inputs to the equation that are based on estimated data formed from our understanding of galaxies. As we the human race explore and gather more data we can use narrow down the inputs to more accurate numbers. Feed those inputs into the equation and get more accurate results. No one is saying its accurate and solved in its current form. Our understanding of galaxies and planet formation is growing year by year but still very limited.
"That's neither more nor less reliable than the other poster who's claiming to know the number from mystical knowledge. Or gods or aliens. Or something. It's all the same thing."
I disagree as the inputs to the equation are being refined every year based on scientific data. That makes it a little more reliably although there is still a long way to go.
For example astronomers reported, based on Kepler space mission data that the data implies fp · ne is roughly 0.4.
Analysis of microlensing surveys, in 2012, has found that fp may approach 1.
This is not faith, mystical knowledge, or gods and aliens. Over time the input data will be refined more and more and in turn the output will get more accurate. The equation itself seems pretty solid to me, it just needs more accurate input data to get better approximations from the output. Something we have already seen since the equation was first shared.