Why the hunt for alien life is pointless

While reading your report (Is anybody out there? Biggest hunt ever to begin for alien life, 15 February) I wondered why scientists are trying to persuade people to believe there is any point in contacting life on other planets. A five-minute online investigation tells me that the fastest object available would take 159,000 years to reach Trappist-1 (the most likely place to find life according to the article). Sending a signal would be quicker – about 40 years. It seems likely there is life out there, but, sadly, trying to make contact is pointless.
David Robson
London

• I question the purpose of finding extraterrestrial life when we clearly do not respect the life of creatures on our own planet. We hunt down, farm and kill life that exists around us. Why do we want to find more life forms?
John Boyd
Chorley, Lancashire

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