There is a time for politeness and there is a time when you are obliged to be rude.

The earth has grown a nervous system, and it's us.

It's a no win situation. It's a mug's game. The religions have contrived to make it impossible to disagree with them critically without being rude. They play the hurt feelings card at every opportunity.

We should get used to the idea that we'll probably never be able to find - and confirm - a good explanation of the ultimate origin of the universe, though I see no reason to believe that we can't press much further on this question than we have managed to date.

I think many people are terribly afraid of being demoted by the Darwinian scheme from the role of authors and creators in their own right into being just places where things happen in the universe.

...but I also can't prove that mushrooms could not be intergalactic spaceships spying on us.

There is no polite way to suggest to someone that they have devoted their life to a folly.