I agree with the people who say that we should avoid extraterrestrial life. Every time in our history when a civilization encounters another civilization that it has not encountered before, usually the less advanced civilization is wiped out. Almost always, the more advanced civilization goes on an imperialistic streak and kills off/enslaves the less advanced civilization and/or the less advanced civilization begins to die, because they encounter diseases that they have never encountered before, and they have neither the immunity to avoid getting diseases nor the medical tech to treat them. While a few members of the less advanced civilization might survive, they are usually forced to integrate into the more advanced civilization, and most, maybe all of their former culture is lost.
Should the day come when we encounter sentient extraterrestrials, we will probably be that unlucky less advanced civilization, because they've managed to cross light-years worth of distance to reach us, when we haven't even been able to manage a manned trip to the planet next door.
In other words, we're sixteen kinds of screwed if that ever happens.
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"Yeah, so this one time, I tried playing poker with tarot cards... got a full house, and about four people died." ~ Unknown comedian
Happy New Year from WP's resident fortune-teller! May the cards be ever in your favor.