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I've studied astronomy and philosophy for a while, two fields that, when combined, can help think about questions like this one.
As soon as we were able to detect large gas giants in remote solar systems, we began to spot them everywhere. Interesting, huh? So it turns out there are far more stars with planets than we expected, including some configurations we didn't know were possible. Further, it is very likely that earth-scale planets will turn out to be common as well.
The more we see, the more we see how likely extra-solar life is. And, frankly, even life elsewhere within our solar system is a strong possibility, even if we assume that carbon and water are necessary.
But here's a thought... Life is just a word for a certain level of complexity, that results in reproduction, repair, and a few other traits. Why assume that it takes a world just like our own? It might not even take the compounds (or elements) that are a big part of life here.
So yeah, there's life out there. It's just too unlikely that there isn't, in a *huge*, near-infinite universe.
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