Ever since Sagan showed the flask of chemicals getting zapped, creating a goo of amino acids and whatnot, I've wanted to know how life started. Then I want to

Ever since Sagan showed the flask of chemicals getting zapped, creating a goo of amino acids and whatnot, I've wanted to know how life started. Then I want to know the role of disruption in the emergence of us (intelligence). Randomizers cataclysmic events, plate tectonics, seasons, lunar tides, epochs, and so forth. Would evolution have stalled had there not always new niches being created? Should SETI be focused on planets (in the goldilocks zone) which have had pretty rough histories?