Dear Dr. Loeb,

I have immense respect for you as a scientist, but the naivete of this article reminds me of the poignant refrain from the idiot Lennie to his keeper George in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men: “Tell me about the rabbits, George.” In other words, the likelihood of (1) our encounter with intelligent life beyond our solar system, but close enough in space-time to enable two-way communication, and (2) such a discovery being inspiring enough to overcome the bitter and persistent tribalism that is probably innate to our species—is about the same as, or less than, that of two penniless migrant laborers, one of whom is severely retarded, realizing their dream of a farm of their own for raising rabbits. As Bob Marley once sang, “If you know what life is worth/You will look for yours on Earth.” While we may well be collectively doomed (by climate disruption, if not by tribal holy wars), individually we still have options. The best option I know was first articulated by Lao Tzu: Let us all strive to “take care of everyone and abandon no one” and to “take care of everything and abandon nothing.” These are, of course, asymptotic goals. But we don’t need imaginary little green men to tell us this!