"If we're alone and this is the base universe - that is, if the hardcore atheist materialists are right - then life evolving intelligence must be very improbable or a dead end, with all aliens who made it this far soon perishing for some reason."
The Fermi Paradox.
"Any civilization that achieves mass space travel will saturate the entire Milky Way galaxy with intelligent life in a mere 2 million years. Assuming each star system gets saturated with civilization in 500 years of colonization, and then sends two fleets of comet starships to two more star systems each. It becomes an exponential function. Starting slowly from the original star system, then rapidly saturating the galaxy near the end."
A diagram of how a galaxy can be saturated by intelligent life, once mass space travel is achieved.
The Chinese Politburo is manned by engineers, and is a highly competent ruling institution. In contrast, the US Congress, manned by lawyers, is a thoroughly dysfunctional institution.