Life is not necessary for intelligence. As a counter-example, intelligent robots are certainly possible. What other substrates might support intelligence?

Life does not require proper axial tilt or distance from supernovas. There is life on the bottom of the ocean that survive on the heat and chemicals from hydrothermal vents, a metabolic pathway that does not depend on the sun. What other possibilities are there that don't happen to be present on earth?

We are biased towards human size, time scales, and biochemistry. And time and again, we have been surprised by forms of life that work differently.