Regardless of whether or not life beyond Earth actually does exist, it is fascinating to consider how extraterrestrial life might view Earth and Earthlings. Most of the time, people tend to focus on how humans on Earth would respond to aliens, should they come into contact, However, during lecture the other day, I was intrigued by thinking about this other perspective: how would aliens perceive Earth? What would Earthlings want aliens to know about us? Would aliens interpret everything that we send into space in the same way that humans intended?
The world faced these very questions when the Voyager spacecraft was launched in 1977. Golden Records were sent into space on the spacecraft in the case that the Voyager spacecraft is discovered by extraterrestrial life. According to the Wikipedia page, the images and sounds on these phonographic records are meant to illustrate Earth’s diversity of life and culture to any intelligent for of extraterrestrial life
On these records, there are 116 images and sounds (from sounds of weather to sounds of animals), songs from throughout history and all around the world, spoken greetings in 55 languages (ancient & modern), and written messages from president Jimmy Carter and the secretary of the UN Kurt Waldheim. There is a wide range of images, ranging from humanity and cultures, food, architecture, animals, and even chemical composition. There is also variety in the music included. The musical sections range from classical (like Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart) to Gospel (like Blind Willie Johnson) to rock and roll (like Chuck Berry) to international music like (Valya Balkanska).
While it must have been extraordinarily difficult to choose the images, sounds, and musical selections included on the Golden Record, perhaps the most controversial inclusion was a silhouette of a nude woman and a nude man. Originally, this was supposed to be a photograph of a nude couple, but after a lot of backlash about the nudity, only a silhouette was incorporated into the Golden Record. Despite the controversy, the Golden Records do contain a drawing of an anatomically correct male and a female. In addition, the record also has a pulsar map and a diagram of a hydrogen molecule.
Personally, I think that the choices made for the Golden Record do a good job of portraying the stated goal of portraying Earth’s diversity. I wonder what would change if we were to make another Golden Record to send into space today, as so much has changed since 1977. What would you have included in the Golden Record?
(Source: NASA)
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