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Hi Alex,
I'm going to take a slightly different point of view here.
The Universe may be infinitely large but this is something we will perhaps never know. As the Universe expands, more and more objects will slip through the cosmic event horizon and this actually shrinks our view of it. We are effectively constricted to the observable Universe.
In our observable Universe, the number of planets will be finite. As will the number of stars. It is not known how easy it is to produce life somewhere else in the Universe. If it is a property of our Universe that life will automatically form given a range of optimal conditions (Goldilocks zone) that is an intriguing proposition in itself. But why should this be the case?
It is possible, that a certain sequence of rare events or pre-conditions are necessary to "fluke" life. We do, of course, know that life exists on Earth. Evolution tells us something about the progress of life forms. But the beginnings of life we know little about. Perhaps, the probability of life forming is infinitesimally small. Much smaller in order of magnitude than the number of planets where we think life might form. It is entirely possible that the formation of life on Earth was a singular fluke.
Until we can sample other planets or perhaps get an intelligent signal from elsewhere, the proposition that life exists elsewhere is pure speculation. And intelligent life may be even rarer.
Regards, Rob
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