It's an intriguing question. I always believed it was because the distances are too great, but that's only one facet of a complicated issue. Here's the video:
It gives you a lot to think about. It's still possible that there's life in those galaxies that are too far away for us to ever reach, but within our own galaxy, is there other life?
If there are other lifeforms out there, I wonder if we could ever safely meet. Think about the havoc that's been caused on our own planet when one species is transplanted to another continent. Either it hunts another species almost to extinction or there are germs that the native species has no defense against or some other calamity. It usually doesn't end well. So what would happen if an entirely new lifeform, something we might not even be able to imagine, showed up in our atmosphere, even with benign intentions? I see why alien invasions make such good scary movies.
On the other hand, could terrestrial life really be the only life out there? That thought fills me with dread. You'd think I'd be more frightened if there were aliens coming at me, but the thought of such an immense void is daunting ... and if we're the only intelligent lifeforms anywhere, that seems to put a big burden on us. We're it. We're responsible for all of the life in the universe! You see why that's a little scary?
And that leads to one idea in the video that really struck me. If Earth holds the only lifeforms in the universe (or even in our corner of the universe), we need to preserve that life. As the narrator says, "The universe is too beautiful not to be experienced by someone."
This is one reason I think space travel and exploration are so important: eventually, we'll need to spread out beyond Earth to preserve the small spark of life we represent. And right now, we need periodic reminders of how absolutely beautiful the universe really is.
Let's experience it.
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