Well said, this is what really gets me wondering just how astronomically (heh) lucky humanity is. I think the by far best argument for the Early Bird hypothesis is our status as a third generation system, in a relatively safe position in the galaxy, on a planet with the right amount of gravity, with a moon and gas giant asteroid shield, with a Goldilocks zone, with a fossil fuel reserve which required the right cascade of environmental disasters and evolutionary progress, etc etc etc.

Life seems to arise very easily, but the circumstances you need to build a space ship don't.