Good question!  Go ask the monkeys!  
Look at all these babyboomers in their retirement or semi-retirement lifestyle phase and now they actually have some time and self-created space to stop and gaze up at the stars and start wondering...."i wonder if...."?  Could be a recipe for a Sea Change.  I actually saw my local portal -- just for me!
No wonder the ill-illumined ones are getting a bit hot under the collar.  
cheers!
gnosis