Quote - When I say 'right now', of course I mean that their 'signals' would be reaching Earth at about this time in our history and not a hundred years ago or older 

So basically you are saying that the study of Astronomy is like history: the study of things past. Only with astronomy we have no idea what the current situation is because of the vast distance and time required (thousands, millions, billions of years) for light and sound to travel to our mini planet?

EDITED: to fix my boo boo!

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi