If life is merely accidental, then 'intelligent' or sentient life could take the form of something dramatically different, non emotional, machine like, etc. On the other hand, it depends if our consciousness/intelligence is something that only exists or comes into being after the emergence of a vessel capable of holding it, or is something a priori to that vessel's emergence and existence. If the later is true, this suggests that we live in a universe which is conscious/intelligent as a whole. It also would explain why consciousness remains such a mystery, because it is outside of the realm of thought and logic, 0s and 1s, and therefore independent of the vessel itself. Then science would only be capable of measuring it's effect, but incapable of defining its essence. Certainly something to consider.