[varjag]

This is absolutely not what the article was about.

"If we are staring out into a giant graveyard, it does not augur well for our own future. But if we were to detect advanced life forms elsewhere, it would give us hope that we can find a way out of our own crises."

[pfdietz]

Actually, detecting intelligent life out there would be the most horrible news we've ever received. It would mean the Great Filter that prevents colonization of the galaxy is before us, not behind us, and that we're almost certainly doomed to fall to it.