The universe is very large. Very, very, very large indeed. It has a lot of planets in it. Our technological prowess is not even close to sufficient for getting out there to directly inspect any of those other planets (we haven't even been to Mars in person yet), but we can tell the planets exist. It therefore seems rather likely that, among the 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets (count 'em) in the observable universe, and an unknowable number beyond, there is at least one other with a significant biosphere, with complicated native organisms. Where there are complicated organisms, there is the potential for personhood to be achieved, though not necessarily in a form we'd readily recognize or find comforting to meet.
As my credential for this topic mentions, I don't believe that aliens are lurking in our midst or any such thing; UFOs are not credible in my eyes, never have been. But it's really quite a bizarre idea that, in all the planets out there that could, none of them have or one day will have life on them. There's just so many, and our own existence proves that life is possible. And our sapience proves that sapience is possible.
Meeting any aliens is another matter. I'm kind of hoping that some sort of FTL method will be developed at some point in history, though I would be surprised if that were possible at all and absolutely flabbergasted if it were figured out within my own lifetime. It would probably permanently blow my mind. Maybe we'll figure out cryogenics instead, that sounds more plausible.
