[Will]

I would have voted/posted earlier, but I seemed to have developed a bug in Internet Exploder... no new windows can be created (well, they are created, just not with anything inside...

Anyway, my view would be like Geo's. I think that intelligent life -- other than us -- already has existed, exists currently, and will continue to be formed throughout time. The vast size of the universe is more than the human mind can begin to comprehend (but we still try to understand anyway). Just in our own galaxy, by the most conservative of estimates, using the criteria for life like us to exist, there are millions of suitable places. In this galaxy. There are millions of galaxies. So if only one in a million produces intelligent life, there are still millions.

Now as for us ever meeting any other intelligent life... I doubt it will happen. AFAIK, there isn't even a theory on how FTL travel can occur, at least for something having mass. Tachyons are theorized, but nobody has confirmed their existance. And even at near light travel, it would take a very long time to reach any other civilization. I very much doubt humans would want to travel to aliens, since there is no real short-term benefit, just a single long term goal. And if they came to us... well, they most probably would have developed nothing like we did. Their entire basis of thought would be completely different. So I have no idea what they would be thinking if/when they show up here.