The way I heard it: “If the Universe is inhabited, what a scope for pain and folly! If it is not, what a waste of space!”
Maybe it’s not a “waste of space”. Maybe the universe is chock full of more important things than “us”. And what if... just maybe... “life as we know it” means just what it says and the idea of “intelligent life” is a concept which exists only in our self-absorbed view of humanity and existence?...