If the answer is yes, we are the only intelligent civilisation in the galaxy, and that makes us indescribably precious and valuable. We are the only island of meaning in an infinite sea of lonely stars. And without wishing to be overly romantic or sentimental about it, that would seem to me to confer on us a responsibility - the responsibility to act together as a civilisation to survive and, ultimately, to explore those stars.
Brian Cox, "Human Universe"