Therefore, I submit that we are in no real position to offer any certainty whatsoever on the chances of humanoid forms occurring once, twice, or any other number of times. To think we are is just whistling in the wind.


Nonsense LH. Just consider that there are vastly more ways of not being non- humanoid than there are of being humanoid. Most creatures on Earth are not humanoid, and there's no evidence that their different shape was the reason why they didn't develop intelligence.

And that's even before you consider differences in environment. Humans are humanoid, not because it's a necessary part of being "intelligent", but because our environment- the 4 billion year history of our environment- shaped us that way. And, on the way, we (or our ancestors and the other creatures) shaped the environment. The chance of that being replicated elsewhere, from a different starting point, are vanishing.

"All" that's required to develop intelligence is the ability to sense the environment, and to respond to it actively. Plus a body plan (if there IS a body that we could recognise) that allows a sufficiently complex processing mechanism to make that response complex. Plus a lot of luck (like primates surviving the Ice Ages). Plus, if you are the religious sort, the Grace of God to provide you with a soul...