Comment by Mike 2000 on September 22, 2013 at 4:58am

Brilliant point.  Comfort-seekers have no place in serious religious discussion.  I personally suspect that, as life forms, we are alone, but that what we end up deciding that we ought to do will be in accordance with something horrible that predates the universe.  Not Cthulu, but similar in some regard.

Comment by Strega on September 22, 2013 at 2:00pm

"It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God--but to create him."

Asimov had a short story about this - it's a great quote :)

Comment by Doug Reardon on September 22, 2013 at 2:29pm

What if there are many other sentient civilizations but they are too far away, too far in the past, or too far in the future for us to have any interaction with; are we still alone?

Comment by Kairan Nierde on September 23, 2013 at 12:48am

Extra-terrestrial life may be nothing like our worst fears. Even if it is, it probably does not matter unless we make contact. Nothing to fear.

Finding other life and or sentient beings is not going to solve all of our philosophical problems. It won't give existence meaning. If we were to be 'alone,' we need only turn to each other for company. Scary, yes, but nothing we don't do on a regular basis.

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