Most scientists agree that it is probable that life exists elsewhere in some form or another.
From there the disagreements abound. Is it too far away to ever make any form of meaningful contact? Is it too primitive such as simple single cell life form? . DId it exist in the past and is now extinct?
Obviously we will not know until why find some kind of evidence and that may not be for a long time.
I still hope it is within my lifetime that we find SOMETHING even if it is nothing more than a living microbe or slime or something on one of jupiters moons, or some other world.
What makes it a little exciting right now is we are learning more and more all the time. We are learning about exo planets which exist within the habitable zone of other stars, and which are the right size to support life, and the number of such worlds are growing. We are learning more and more about small worlds near us such as water on other worlds and envirnments rich in the necessary conditions for life.
Even Venus has suddenly revealed that we may have overlooked something. The surface of Venus cannot plausibly support life as we know it but astronomers are taking a closer look at the venusion atmosphere where there is a region which could support simple life forms floating in the air.
The detection of a gas in the planet’s atmosphere could turn scientists’ gaze to a planet long overlooked in the search for extraterrestrial life.
www.nytimes.com
We are learning more and more about life here which would seem to indicate that life might be more abundant than we realize. People fear extinction level events but in fact despite several such events life here on earth goes on. Life is actually very resilient once it takes hold. We are learning that forms of life exist in nearly all of the most extreme envrionments here on earth. This hints that life of some rudimentary kind could live on other harsher worlds.
We are still only BARELY beginning to look out at other worlds our ignorance far exceeds our knowledge but we are learning more and more every year. With a little luck we may discover something big within the next few decades.