I fully agree with that, and I don’t take the view that so many scientists do, what with mentioning the “Goldilocks Zone,” and requiring liquid water for life. Having a similar or the same composition of gases in the atmosphere, and a similar planet size. In all the threads I read on here about this specific subject, not once have I read in the article anything like that, at all. They always keep saying the same thing over and over, as if we’ll be able to start traveling there in a few years or so.
It’s almost as if they believe that all life in the universe requires the same things we need for basic living.
I took an honors colloquium in college called “Life in the Universe” with a professor who worked for JPL. Fascinating class. One of the most exciting forms of life they were studying was methanogenes. These bacteria lived in the very hot undersea volcanic vents and consumed methane. There’s a distinct possibility that these same bacteria live on Venus and Mercury and even in the deep oceans of Europa or Titan.
People always say, “Oh, there’s no life there,” but they’re thinking macro. If you think micro, the possibilities are quite profound even just in our own solar system.