I enjoy your articles. Thank you.
I like to say: This is our current understanding.
The history of science is replete with examples such that our understanding of a physical model required a better experiment and better measurement.
The reason to use the scientific method of course is that it is much more efficient for progress to look at things we've already shown to be true and proceed from there. If we begin with a assumption of something we cannot test rigorously by experiment then we have philosophy and this is not very efficient. The leap from pure thinking to testable, repeatable, controlled observables was a giant one. We observe that usually the simplest explanation is best.
I actually gain more of an appreciation for nature in knowing more about it. It doesn't destroy the beauty of it because I know more about it. It makes me enjoy it even more. If I can imagine all the cells dividing in my body and proteins and cell membranes or cell signaling. Those things are more incredible than say a UFO.
Having said this, I enjoy science fiction if done in a clever way.
Both scientists and non-scientists should have a sense of wonder about the natural world.
I would never fault anyone for wondering. We could all use more of that!
It would be incredible to discover "intelligent" life out there. As the character Ellie Arroway from the movie Contact stated: So if it's just us... seems like an awful waste of space.