Sounds a little like a state lottery ad: "You can't win if you don't play"
The main difference being, when playing the lottery, the only thing you learn is how much money is left in your wallet after you buy the ticket.
If the search for other life is the imaginative spark that ignites the engine of scientific research, it really makes no difference whether we find any or not. The trip will provide its own benefits and outcomes, even if the destination hoped for is never found. Don't tell the true believers that, though. Columbus would never have petitioned the crowned heads of Europe had he not thought he was going to contact the civilizations of Asia.