I feel like the ideal of life existing on another planet would improve my quality of life. The additional potential would do wonders for my everyday narrative.

>>Why is it sad at all? What would it do for you?

Some of us refuse to allow this kind of constant cynicism and pessimism that surrounds us to crush our sense of awe and wonder.

I don't know, what does learning any fact about the universe that is not directly applicable to my life do for me? Aside from potential side-effects (it's not uncommon that knowledge-seeking about one thing yields seemingly unrelated applications)... if you have never experienced the joy and satisfaction from learning and understanding something new, I can tell you, you're missing out.

So, while not knowing and learning about civilizations beyond Earth certainly does not negatively affect my life very much, I still assert that life would suddenly get much more interesting if we did. There is a reason why Alien Sci-Fi is very, very popular...

okay, maybe sad wasn't the right word either. How about disappointing?