Reuben: "Hmm.. that's weird. I would have said this: man has a long way to go before he can make any guess about what else is in the galaxy. Based on the small sample size, I think it would be prudent to withhold judgement."
No one's made a judgement! Hawking didn't say that he is certain that there is no intelligent life. He said there doesn't seem to be--that's a fact. He didn't say it's impossible, he said there doesn't seem to be advanced life, IN OUR REGION OF THE GALAXY. Where we've been doing a lot of exploration.
