Mike.
"Since Seti only searches for intelligent life, it fufills Mankinds basic instinct to believe that he is not alone."
- You could be right - but then you could be wrong. I have a hunch that the majority of our 7 billion hardly ever give it moment's thought, and really couldn't give a hoot either way - too busy dealing with the nitty gritty of daily survival. We certainly aren't justified in assuming that the 3 million ETI searchers are a representative sample.
"But to be alone in the Galaxy, or worse, to be alone in the Universe....could drive Mankind into the depths of despair, trying to answer the question, Why?"
- I disagree, very much.
- Firstly, why should there be such a great emotional investment it the matter? Although I think we can be reasonably confident that there is intelligent life elsewhere - and if we don't find it, that doesn't mean it's not there - there is the possibility, however exceedingly unlikely, that we are 'alone', for all practical purposes at least.
- Secondly, from my personal perspective, it has no connection whatever with the question 'why?'. The idea of such a connection seems to suggest a reliance upon a new mythology - something akin to 'second coming'. No, I see no cause for despair, unless it is created by the error of seeking a metaphysical answer in the realm of the physical.
