h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A little boy living on tribal land in central West Australia believes he is alone in this big place. He has never seen the ocean let alone a foriegn land. No person on the populated east coast has bothered to contact him although they know he is there. He is very lucky, because if they did contact him he would be changed, enslaved and probably destroyed.
The question arises, should the boy stay at home or go forth and explore? The mouse is safe in the kitchen until the cat hears it!
Good luck SETI, on a cosmic scale we do have time on our side, most likely a thousand years or so for our signal to reach some one else and a further thousand years or so for them to reply. We may be ready by then.