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You missed the point. I've never implied there's no intelligent life out in the Universe other than our own, that I discouraged the possibility or that I wouldn't be thrilled, exhiliarated by the prospect. As William Shatner said, he considers it mathematically impossible for life not to exist other than on our planet(unless, of course you were compelled to believe mankind is singularly unique, all alone in the Cosmos, theologically speaking) considering the seemingly infinite vastness of space.

What I said was that even if somehow we discovered a planet that was Earth-like and seemed capable of harboring life, what would you do then? Hop into your starship, demand Scotty to fire up the warp engines and ask him to give it all she's got?

Even merely only sending a message that would travel at the speed of light at the incomprehensible rate of 186,000 miles per second, it would still take at least a quarter century to send a message, hope they were able to intercept it, understand it, embrace the reality of our existence, unravel the language, cultural barriers, and supposing they even gave a damm to be curious, bother about us, to send a return message, hoping we intercept, interpret it, all of which would take decades.

That's the kind of fantasy turned reality that I just don't have the emotional, existential resources, mindset to commit to on a such a long-term century-based time frame.