Intelligence, like flight, or sharp teeth, is just one of the myriad tools in the evolutionary arsenal. It may be quite rare. It may be as specified as the duckbill of a platypus. Steven Hawking has his doubts about whether or not intelligence is even that great of an evolutionary step. Our destructive nature is often an impediment toward our own survivabilty. We’ve only been on this planet for a brief period; our longevity, if it occurs, will be the accomplishment by which intelligence as a survival tool will be measured. But we have millions of years ahead of us to be deemed successful as an intelligent species. I have my doubts that we’ll make it.

Colonization of distant worlds may be our only hope, and ultimately, the only way our species could achieve any sort of immortality; the end goal of every organism.