Advocates of Active SETI say it’s better to put our best foot forward first, before E.T. gets the wrong idea about us from shock jocks and reality TV. As in politics, define ourselves before someone else does it for us. Plus, they contend, they’d already know we’re here anyway.

Two new separate groups of scientists now want to send coded radio messages into the cosmos in hopes of deliberately attracting the attention of intelligent space aliens. Known as Active SETI (Active Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), it’s arguably no safer to entice unknown offworlders into our planetary living room than to invite total strangers in for coffee and crullers.

But even if they are totally unsavory, it’s highly likely that an interstellar civilization would already be picking up our electromagnetic leakage and therefore already know we’re here, Douglas Vakoch, President of the San Francisco-based non-profit METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) International, told me.

“It’s too late to conceal ourselves in the universe, so we should decide how we want to represent ourselves,” said Vakoch, an expert in interstellar message construction. “ Extraterrestrials may be waiting for a clear indication from us that we’re ready to start talking.”