Rigorous Logic vs. Methane Spirals from Uranus
Humans suffer from a chronic reliance upon childish "magical thinking" in many areas but most particularly when it comes to their hopes, an "emotion" that is a spider's nest of delusion, hallucination, gambling addiction and a willingness to plod on without maps or sense of orientation. All the above drives scientists to spend zillions of public cash in an emperor's new clothes game of "let's pretend".
Assuming, and it's a big assumption, that planets are formed via the disk accretion HYPOTHESIS rather than being ejected from stars or formed in plasma Z pinches (keep in mind kidz- the Universe is 99.9% matter in the plasma state), then one really needs to enumerate the ACTUAL requirements for coming up with a witches brew that supports life forms, let alone sentient life forms.
What must the necessary chemistry set contain other than a ratio of molecules in a liquid suspension that won't eat the paint off your Bently? Then there is the hideous apparition of sequence. In what order must all this occur? Then there is the ghastly specter of timing, how long must this molecule soup remain in each phase of development. Then comes a cornucopia of other requirements such as orbital distance and stability, quietude of the local galactic neighborhood (how many near extinction events has Earth miraculously survived? Let's do a crater count, shall we?), regularity of solar output, temperature fluctuations, a radiation shield atmosphere or medium favorable to metabolism, all of which have huge potential ranges that must all come together in a narrow band of possibility which, if all are RIGOROUSLY approached, equate to as close to zero as you can get without actually assuming an identity of zero..
The science fantasists should at least make the attempt to confront the eyeball spinning possibility that we are a freaking zero chance eruption of self-realization in a dead and destructive Universe. Philosophically, the implications of doing so are far, far more interesting. Feed this into your adding machines- in an infinite Universe of infinite duration, we may well be the ONLY life, let alone...etc., in this matter, energy, space and time basket. What that Zen realization might do to our computations of purpose, motivation and role on this ever so precious planet, might in itself, constitute the greatest revolution in human consciousness since the Clan of the Cave Bear matriculated from grunts of warning and pleasure to soap box oratory. of which I know absolutely nothing.