When we talk about what life we will find on other planets it is all speculation.
Remember I am saying that "human intelligence" (and the concept of technology and knowledge accumulation and transfer beyond the immediate person to person) is the result of a confluence of a whole herd of factors.
Lifespan is one factor. In a short life span there is simply limited time for accumulating knowledge and unless there is some method of accumulating and passing on that knowledge and transferring the knowledge beyond the immediate group knowledge gained in that short lifespan gets lost.
On need (and I'll try to tie it into the above); need (and desire) drove another uniquely human trait and that is "trade". The idea of taking something readily available in one area to an area where it was not readily available and trading it for something that was in short supply somewhere else is one of the things that indirectly led to the human transfer of knowledge and technology.
Looking at the example of other animal we see something entirely different, the animals going to the source. Again looking at the example of the imagined "Mental Society" since going to where an item is is easier than moving the item slowly through trade it's unlikely trade as we know it would develop.
Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!