http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1965
"This remarkable discovery appears to confirm the suspicions of most astronomers that the universe is swarming with Earth-like worlds."
It can't be a surprise to anyone that there are Earth-like planets out there. And it wouldn't be much of a surprise to find that life abounds out there too.
Life must be generative and evolvative (coined words). It would make sense that life can be naturally generated when the right conditions exist, and once life gets a foothold that it would naturally evolve toward intelligence.
As a result of the discovery this first Earth-like exoplanet the arguments against abundant life in the universe are now much weaker. You have to agree that the balance has been shifted toward a more realistic expectation of intelligent life out there.