Though "intelligent life" might exist elsewhere in the universe, I don't think it's a certainty. Likely any race that evolved elsewhere in the universe would neither have technology we'd even recognize, as it would not only likely differ from ours in evolution by at least millenia but would most probably differ in how its development path, nor would aliens seem at all likely to look humanoid. It's quite likely life, if it evolved elsewhere in the universe wouldn't even have much of any resemblance to any life forms on Earth. We think of life as being carbon based life using DNA. How likely is it that life elsewhere would develop similarly? (Maybe we'll find out someday) Who's to say the Earth itself isn't alive in some sense and we're fleas on its back?
I bet insects don't view humans as intelligent life and we don't view bacteria as intelligent life. Why would two life forms, differing in evolution and technology by potentially millions of years and alternate paths see much of any similarities? Do we even really have a good definition of what life is? Does it have to speak English
for us to consider it intelligent? I just mean that it's not impossible that even trees are alive and have senses which can experience life and react to the environment. Simply because the "life" of a tree might be seen as metabolically much slower than humans, they still "bleed" in a sense ... sap in a tree operates in a manner similar to blood. Trees "see" light and bend toward it. They are composed of individual cells and reproduce and have DNA etc. Yet simply because they can't walk or talk in any way obvious to us, we don't see them as obvious life forms. We might appear like buzzing flies to a tree. How intelligent would humans appear to a tree? On another planet, if we found trees we might consider that life (though unintelligent ... but how can we really know? Wouldn't it take some form of intelligence to grow, seek out sources of food and reproduce? Intelligence seems less a black and white issue but more shades of gray).
My view is that if it walks on two legs, with knees and hands and eyes ... it's human ... if it doesn't look human, then it's likely wearing a costume. Unless I really have some first hand knowledge of aliens, I'm rather certain I'll remain skeptical of most the claims. Maybe that's because of television. Even the funky lights in the sky, or flying saucers seem most likely something human made, hoaxes or natural phenomenon and not a creation of extraterrestial intelligence. I might be overly skeptical but it's simply because some information people present you with is inaccurate, biased and/or untruthful. Maybe future firsthand experiences will change these views.