Ain't nobody here but us chickens

I'm not sure why, but lately I've become convinced that we are alone in the universe.  Just us, on our precious and singular little rock.  I don't think that it's the rock - my money is on the exoplanet guys finding a ton of Earthlikes soon - but I just have a gut feeling that they've all got bacterial mats, stromatolites, and that's the lot.



In the Drake equation, that's fi, the fraction of life-bearing planets which develop intelligent life.

It's a strange and profoundly melancholy feeling which makes even the most wretched human twaddle seen unbearably precious.