“Hello From the Children of the Planet Earth”
Tags: History, NASA, Life, Voyager, Philosophy

Questions on pictures and messages of the Voyager Golden Record

Cosmos / All rights reserved

I read a text for college today that briefly mentioned the images sent into cosmic space by NASA in 1977. The data disks with pictures, music pieces as well as 55 greetings in the most common terrestrial languages were sent to infinity as a greeting message to the aliens. The carriers of the pictures and the audio messages were the so-called “interstellar space probes”, spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. The data disk, a gold-plated copper disk, therefore bears the name “Voyager Golden Records”, which sounds as sophisticated as its contents.

This golden calling card of mankind was sent out by NASA as a kind of social media post to the Internet cosmos. With the music background of Bach, Beethoven, Armstrong as well as “ethnic music” the aliens can look at themselves through 116 black and white pictures not only our society at that time, but the whole history of origin, our gene structures, physique, flora and fauna of our at home planet as well as our progress in its detail. The sense behind it is to arouse the interest of the aliens for us and to send a message which says something much more than “Hello from the children to the planet Earth” (the greeting message in English) about us.

A Wikipedia list with the short description of the pictures can be taken apart from the physical and chemical data to the earth also many privatete information, among other things that we, the humans, have children and they grow up together with father and mother (see the picture with the child nursing mother and the picture with the father a child on its shoulders carries). The image of a full family is present. The children then sit in a circle and learn, surrounded by their family and nature: The pictures show a coast with a lighthouse, sand dunes, forests, snowy landscapes…. Dolphins jump picturesquely over the water, an insect flies to the flower, a tree toad lies chilling in a human hand. The plurality of nations is expressed by a dancer from Bali, a man from Guatemala and a craftsman from Thailand. The athleticism of man is expressed through the shots of athletes and gymnasts. Houses and cities are also represented: Oxford with its Gothic church spires, Boston made of a few house boxes and a river panorama, Sydney Opera House and even Taj Mahal are included. A woman with a microscope or an X-ray as well as the pictures of astronauts and a rocket launch from NASA are supposed to point the aliens to our intelligence, because we are the ones who sent this message into space. The last three images are particularly exciting: a beautiful sunset with dramatic red sun (but we remember that the images are coded as black and white) reflected in the sea, and the birds flying in a line. The scene reminds us of the children’s movie “Lion King”.

The last two images underline our sense of culture: four musicians (one woman and three men) are playing a piece of music in a fancy living room. Behind them — fancy pictures, under their feet — a carpet with oriental pattern. The men are wearing suits, the woman’s hair is nicely styled back, she is wearing a simple black dress. The last image is a sheet of music with Cavatina by Beethoven and a violin.

Now we imagine that the data disk got into the hands (or legs) of the aliens — and they listen to the Cavatina, which, by the way, was written in Saint-Petersburg. This is the culmination of the career of humanity — the genius underpinned by birth, family, learning, playing with animals, plurality. (It would be very exciting if the painting of Mona Lisa would appear as the last painting. Painting probably didn’t praise NASA the way music does).

Life as it is: Oxford is nice, Boston is okay too, family is fun, Beethoven everyone listens to, women with microscopes, athletic guys in shorts, learning kids, man from Guatemala, sunset, bird, desert, Africa. First association — earth is a paradise. Second association of a woman living on earth, studying at a university and writing this text now wonders: is earth really a paradise?

These pictures stand for all of us, although we were born after 1977, because no new data plate was sent so far. But is it us who live in this paradise from 1977?

NASA has deliberately chosen not to include images of poverty, disease, wars, religions and ideologies. The natural disasters have also not been included in the golden “collection”, whether intentionally or not. At this point, the question of the authenticity of the image of mankind (humanity, not USA) sent into space arises, and somehow also the question of ethics. I wonder if they were just portraying the good side of progress to look good or to express humanity’s intentions to be good or better than we were? Do the Voyager images reflect our past or rather our intentions? And can humanity even exist without sacrifice, of the weak, the poor and the sick? Isn’t the dark side part of the truth? Why can we present the satiated, learning children in front of a globe made of plastic, but not the poor children in Africa with bellies bloated by hunger and thin little arms? Would progress ever be conceivable without setbacks like the wars? Would Hiroshima have been conceivable without progress?

Many questions arise. The more questions arise, the more the incompleteness of the overall picture comes to the fore. And then the image sent into space turns into a photoshopped Instragram profile from which any “negative” events have been deliberately erased to maintain the marketing image of earthly people. Strange feelings emerge at the thought that this message will continue to cross the boundaries of universes for several generations. A golden plate alone in space with the aim of withering alien interest for humans.

The cosmos has always been sad. The infinity — always cold. And — how funny and sad at the same time — we, the mankind, search in the sad and cold for someone or something by the best image of ourselves. We try and photogenically represent what says more about us than this data plate. The whole thing resembles the Tinder algorithm. We hope the aliens wipe us right after our pragmatic-emotional composite of genes, family, progress, science, and stream. Even though we are long gone, we need this alien interest, this recognition of space.

The stars are beautiful when you look at them with a lover or beloved, friends, dog, cat, family. When you press a body to your body and look at the stars together. But when you face the starry sky alone, the feeling of being impressed and curious alternates after ten minutes with the feeling of cold infinity and then you want to go back to your warm living room in Oxford.

Is someone waiting for us in space? And if so, would we send off another picture of ourselves today if we could? And if so, would not only Boston, but the homeless of Boston, be on it? Somehow, I hope so. Even on Instagram, attitudes are already changing. Then why not change the profile picture of humanity and upload an authentic one without Photoshop? That way, maybe we could acknowledge our historical mistakes a bit and overcome them instead of putting on gold and copper makeup and shoving business cards into hands that maybe aren’t even extended in our direction.