So many solar systems out there, life evolved in many planets for sure. No proof but no doubt.
Life? Probably. Something that has thinking capabilities? Much more doubtful.
One proof is that we are thinking, and so are dogs, cats and monkeys to a lesser extent.
That’s hardly proof considering these examples all share a common ancestor. I ask you, can you communicate with a slime mold? Even the slime mold is more similar to ourselves than any potential life we’d find elsewhere, as we share a common ancestor.
What's so important about "sharing a common ancestor"? It doesn't say anything about the spread of different types of life that could evolve, considering we have a sample size of one, and it also says nothing about how difficult it is for any particular form to evolve intelligence.
Because there are probably an uncountable number of different turns life could have made instead to lead to dramatically different outcomes. Life iterates on itself. Mutations on top of mutations. Mitochondria could have just as easily never been enveloped by our eukaryotic ancestors and life would look a hell of a lot different today.
Having a high cardinality of permutations doesn't say anything one way or another about the probability of life arising. it's just hand waving.
I’m not arguing about life merely arising. I’m arguing about the unlikelihood of our idea of intelligence.