[Apocrisiary (Michael)]

I don't think the discovery of life elsewhere will be a tremendous event. No doubt it has evolved and gone extinct numerous times in quiet corners of Solar systems just in our galaxy alone not to mention the Universe overall.
The big scientific discovery just around the corner will come when the large Hadron collider in CERN is switched on. We will see multiple dimensions come tumbling out of unfathomably small particles.
Hey Alex it might even unlock some secrets about that bugger GRAVITY.
Dark matter will need no further explanation as the total amount of mass in the universe will be revealed tied up inside these multiple dimensions.
We might even get a grand theory of everything.....which will be pretty close to a Simpson's quote...."Maybe its all just a bunch of stuff that happened".
However it turns out it is all amazing to think about and spectacular to observe.