[behnamoh]

As Arthur C. Clark said: Either we're alone or we're not. Both are equally scary.

To think that with billions of stars, each with at least one planet, intelligent life only happened on one planet (the Earth) means intelligent life is super rare, even if life in general happens on many planets.

This means if we get hit by an asteroid or don't get passed the Great Filter, the only ones who "think" about this universe and give a meaning to it will be gone forever.

[WalterBright]

I suspect that intelligence is an inevitable evolutionary step once a nervous system is in place. Nearly all animals have evolved towards increasing intelligence.