[manicbovine]

It's much different from assuming a flat earth. There has always been good and readily available data supporting the hypothesis of a non-flat earth. Various cultures have used this data to realize that the earth is not flat.

Our dataset about life is ostensibly limited to earth-based life. If we abandon available data, we are limited to making wild untestable conjectures.

What is the alternative? Should we just stop thinking about it?