I've been lurking these forums for months but decided to register for this odd thread..
Since the first broadcasts of FM radio in the 30s and the first satellite TV broadcasts in the 60s, we have continuously showered the skies with our existence, ever increasing volume and power. A developed life-form as far as a few hundred light years away should be able to at the very least pick up on our chatter. They would need a massive array and fine equipment to make it audible but the signals should let them know that another intelligent life form exists.
We should also be ready for an uncomfortable discovery which we could make with certainty one day, that we may very well be one of a kind. If that were the case, we really do have an incredible mission to grow beyond our planet for the sake of preserving our intelligent life in and of itself.
Finally, our true and final frontier is to extend outside of our planet but we are still stuck in this jail which is our solar system. Escaping may never ever be possible.
I can almost imagine a situation where out there in space, there is a galaxy somewhere with multiple intelligent life forms that can communicate with each ther yet are forever incapable of meeting as they cannot leave their solar systems.
