Should we call the cosmos seeking ET? Or is that risky?

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Astronomers have their own version of the single person's dilemma: Do you wait by the phone for a call from that certain someone? Or do you make the call yourself and risk getting shot down?

Instead of love, of course, astronomers are looking for alien life, and for decades, they have sat by their telescopes, waiting to hear from E.T. It didn't happen, and so now some of them want to send messages out into the universe and invite the closest few thousand worlds to chat or even visit.

Others scientists, including Stephen Hawking, think that's crazy, warning that instead of sweet and gentle E.T., we may get something like the planet-conquering aliens from "Independence Day."

The two sides clashed at a major science conference Friday.