It's possible that whilst the universe is full of life, intelligent life is quite scarce. It could be we are the first in this Galaxy.
It could be that others have come and gone but never quite made it to space. Cave paintings go back 40,000 years. I'd say that displays a level of intelligence. Yet there was a significant period of time until we managed to develop agriculture (30,000 years), or writing (37,000 years).
At lot can happen during that time. In fact during these years humans could have died out many times, succumbed to the changing climate or disease.
But considering all this, you have to take into account that the universe consists of upwards of 2 trillion galaxies, at least as far as we can see. That's a lot of potential. But if we can never make contact, does it even matter if its there or not?
It could be that others have come and gone but never quite made it to space. Cave paintings go back 40,000 years. I'd say that displays a level of intelligence. Yet there was a significant period of time until we managed to develop agriculture (30,000 years), or writing (37,000 years).
At lot can happen during that time. In fact during these years humans could have died out many times, succumbed to the changing climate or disease.
But considering all this, you have to take into account that the universe consists of upwards of 2 trillion galaxies, at least as far as we can see. That's a lot of potential. But if we can never make contact, does it even matter if its there or not?