In time possibly much more unusual and rare than in all of space-time, and given that the sun is a second generation star unless conditions are much better than they were here on Earth it may take a lot longer for (intelligent) life to develop than here. We may be 'early'.
So 'right now' we are probably rare in the sense that we are a space faring species that hasn't (yet) destroyed itself and that may happen only rarely, so rarely that there is never much or even any overlap in time between two species at that stage of development (or say, even the last 500 years or so if you want a larger window). That's 500 years to overlap across an extremely large population of stars and planets so it may happen but it is still a small chance.
But if you let go of the time requirement then I don't think it is all that rare for it to have happened multiple times.
Let me give one example of how important the Moon is: without the moon the tides would be very weak (just solar tides) and that would mean that there is no part of the world where aquatic life can easily evolve into amphibious life (no tides: no tide pools, so no half-way-house between land and water). It may still have happened but much slower.
And active tectonic plates cycle nutrient sediments that collect at the bottom of the ocean back up onto dry land. Without them all life would eventually migrate into deep water and below ground.
Have we decided if the moon affects tectonics or they are a happy coincidence?
You know, I'm not sure. Pangaea was 'only' 250 million years ago, but it sounds like there were 3 others - that we know of - and the oldest goes back more than a billion years?
I'm not sure whether tidal forces have a tiny or outsized affect on movement in the crust. Io is substantially affected by tidal forces, but that's a very different scenario.
In time possibly much more unusual and rare than in all of space-time, and given that the sun is a second generation star unless conditions are much better than they were here on Earth it may take a lot longer for (intelligent) life to develop than here. We may be 'early'.
So 'right now' we are probably rare in the sense that we are a space faring species that hasn't (yet) destroyed itself and that may happen only rarely, so rarely that there is never much or even any overlap in time between two species at that stage of development (or say, even the last 500 years or so if you want a larger window). That's 500 years to overlap across an extremely large population of stars and planets so it may happen but it is still a small chance.
But if you let go of the time requirement then I don't think it is all that rare for it to have happened multiple times.
Let me give one example of how important the Moon is: without the moon the tides would be very weak (just solar tides) and that would mean that there is no part of the world where aquatic life can easily evolve into amphibious life (no tides: no tide pools, so no half-way-house between land and water). It may still have happened but much slower.
Some interesting reading on this:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/australian-lungfis...