[jerojero]

Aliens provide me with a similar hope that religious people get from God. I think as I grow older humanity's prospect look bleaker and bleaker, it might very well be my generation. I'm relatively young and so I'm pretty sure I will be alive to live the "okay, we really are screwed" or "yes, we've successfully pulled out of this one" moment.

But Aliens? I think the discovery that there is some intelligent life out there would completely shake humanity. That would be a kind of event that I would most definitely want to live through. I would want to experience how humanity changes with it... positively or negatively.

[pschuegr]

At risk of sounding cynical I think of the words of some wit on Twitter in the early days of the pandemic: "Rest assured that whatever happens, we will learn nothing from it."

[jhugo]

> I'm relatively young and so I'm pretty sure I will be alive to live the "okay, we really are screwed" or "yes, we've successfully pulled out of this one" moment.

Consider how many moments in history had people feeling this way and how often it was the latter rather than the former outcome.

[seren]

At the same time, if they are really far away, we might not be able to communicate meaningfully with them. So likely after a first phase of hype, it might dwindle down.