My Question

1. Do you think there is life outside of Earth?
   No.

2. Do you think it is a good idea to be actively trying to contact aliens?
   No, because see above.

Most people think that all that is required of life is water and being a certain distance from a star. I'd recommend a book called Improbable Planet by astronomer Hugh Ross. When media talks about "habitable zone" they talk about liquid water being able to exist. But in order to support life, there are actually 9 different habitable zones (electromagnetic, UV, etc...) and all of these must overlap, which is completely improbable.

Every year, the probability of finding life on another planet--not just nearby but in the entire universe--drops with every new scientific discovery. When the Drake Equation was first published, it was assumed that one of every ten planets could support life. Now it's almost a certainty that there is no other planet remotely similar to Earth.