re: Are the Rare Earthers Optimists?
Actually, these days I am noticing more of a pessimism about
alien life than in the recent past, fueled in large part both by
the Rare Earthers and religious fundamentalists who want to
make sure we stay God's Chosen Ones. But maybe that is due
to the media always focusing on the negative for a story that
sells.
You are correct that we have yet to hold any real evidence
in our hands, though the smoking guns have certainly become
more plentiful in the past few decades. That's why we have
to keep searching, right?