Now to actually consider this topic seriously...
w.r.t. Von Neumann machines:
As far as we can tell, we're capable of interstellar travel --- although the 'we' that gets to the next star with any remotely habitable planets might be vastly different from the 'we' that begins the many-generation-long journey (unless we're in stasis during the trip). Could we expand fast enough to not be killed off when our sun burns out? If so, then it must be possible for a species to expand throughout the galaxy --- although that says nothing about the frequency of that sort of thing occurring; all it means is that it occurred at least once.
w.r.t. extraterrestrial life:
It could be that we're the only ones in our galaxy. Or perhaps, as the universe has been aging, the conditions for intelligent civilizations to form have been getting better? After all, the earth is 4.5 billions years old; that's a decent fraction of the age of the universe.
