The older I get, the less likely I find myself believing that life came into being beyond Earth, much less intelligent life. The factors involved in life coming about number in the millions: so many more minutae than we currently comprehend.
We have absolutely no idea what our position is in the universe. We don’t even know where the “edge” lies. There could be life on the opposite end of our galaxy that is at the same rate of technology as our own; we won’t know for 100000 light years if they can even get a signal across and not degrade rendering it useless.
I doubt we are alone in the cosmos, the odds are not so high that this has not happened twice. They probably just look different, think different and survive differently if they have not destroyed themselves already which on this planet is looking increasingly our fate.