Heh I remember talking to my friend about how extraterrestrial life may end up being our end. Besides, I don't know why people get so worked up over finding life on another planet when we should focus on preserving our own. Besides, who cares if we find life on another planet. If it isn't intelligent at all it will not benefit us as human beings at all.
The most logical way to actually find life in my opinion is to abandon all projects looking for it and expand our exploration technology so we could actually develop enough to start searching for it beyond our Solar System. Even better, we could start developing some technologies because the Earth's non regenerable resources are running out quickly, our population is exceeding, and the Earth is growing more hostile (in habitability) and more alike Venus' every couple hundred years.
I'm not really saying we're wasting our money and time on these things, but I'm saying that we have more important issues and interests to deal with. This of course is a interesting topic, but not a major important one.
I'm not proud to say it, but I love astronomy