I often get a good little laugh when people tell me that aliens don't exist in a mocking way. (I've never said they do, only that I think it's highly possible)

An intelligent being in the universe mocking me for thinking that intelligent life could exist somewhere else in the universe. It's quite fascinating. We are literally evidence that it already exists and is possible. The argument really is whether it exists again, and to think it might seems totally reasonable.

That's a long winded way of saying that your approach is probably the most logical one.