Long have I watched this thread without comment, but I feel
I should say SOMETHING, since I find it such a fascinating
"thought experiment".

First of all, the odds of detecting even a fairly powerful radio
transmission across interstellar distances drop off staggeringly
fast.  Think about how dim a star is even across only a few
light years.  Now consider the power of your local ABC/BBC/
whoever affiliate related to that star.  Even well short of
another star the signal would be hopelessly dim.

But then, we are listening with fairly big ears...

As for an alien race assaulting us, I would tend to think
that by the time a race can manage interstellar travel,
it would be far more lucrative for it to mine out asteroid
belts and uninhabited planets than to muck about with
places that had life (intelligent or otherwise), since alien
life would represent a possible threat which could be easily
sidestepped with the planet it's stranded on (see the
microbes in "War of the Worlds").

Mike H.

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