Somewhere at the edge of interstellar space, a spacecraft we built five decades ago is moving faster than nearly anything else human beings have ever built.
A record was a briliant choice. The technology to play it is simple enough that any decently advanced civilization could figure it out. I feel like I remember that there were pottery bowl "records" in the ancient world that were played by... I don't recall this part, because I'm now only remembering the X-Files episode about it... but I think it was with a fingertip in the groove.
I'm pretty sure the X-Files made the part up about ancient humans playing "records" made of clay, but if you come across anything that says otherwise, please send it my way!
I agree that this was a brilliant decision. I'm not sure how it could have been made any better, honestly.
but that page really is neat, and the rest of the acoustic/visual thing has me thinking down a new rabbit hole. Imagine a fully immersive look at cave paintings while someone sings or chants, or while you can hear the outside world really well! That's such a cool idea. Thank you, Faith.
PS -- THere's a little thing like what you describe in Calderstones Park in Liverpool. The Calderstones were, as you may know, part of an ancient burial place (or so goes the current theory). They have a little acoustic chamber you can step into where you can feel like you're inside the chamber and it includes the sounds that you might have heard. It's very unique and quite enchanting.
you're welcome. part of what I loved about The X-Files was their storytelling ability to take the fragment of a cool idea and expand it into something inventive and make us think about possibilities.
One of the writers on the Medium publication I run wrote about these records too. They're incredible! I've been fascinated by them since I was a kid. The decisions behind what songs made the cut, how they records themselves were made, and how (if?) anyone would be able to hear them as intended.
I can see like half of it before Medium asks me to make an account (#nope). But some readers here may already have an account over there, so let's keep that link up!
Yes! This one works, and the article is good. It's a great compliment to my (much shorter) piece, and says a lot of the things I would say if I had a few days to work on this puppy.
And for the interest of sharing the very romantic Carl Sagan Love Story layer of this endeavor with your readers, here's my take on this I posted for VDay - https://sleepyhollowink.substack.com/p/star-crossed
"Priceless" is probably an overused term, but I have to imagine that these are among the most valuable things we've ever created. After all, the Voyager is the furthest thing ever, and that record was our first serious attempt at reaching out beyond our heliosphere. I think it's at least up there with the Gutenberg bibles or the Stele of Hammurabi.
Defining a language that can be comprehended by extraterrestrial life is task and a half, given our inability to comprehend our own capacity for language 😂. I think the scientists at NASA did a splendid job. I cannot think of a better idea. Math, music, pictures, etc., that's us!
I think the metal disk made of copper and gold was an excellent choice based on the technology available then. Metal disk is probably still the best choice even though we can use different combinations of metals due to advances in metallurgy. The current magnetic disks used in computers do not last long before they start losing data, so a metal disk is a better choice.
The library sent to the moon by Israel is made of nickel that never degrade or needs to be replaced. So, hopefully, it can last a few billion years or as long as the moon survives.
What do you think about the "language" they attempted? I think it was smart, all things considered, but I wonder if there might have been other equally good things we could have added to the kit.
SILS Professor Paul Jones serves as an adviser to the foundation and helped curate the contents of the Lunar Library, which contains all of the ibiblio -hosted Project Gutenberg, all of the English language Wikipedia, and data for understanding over 5,000 languages.
Astrobotic is sending the Lunar Library 2: the largest archive of Earth, on the Moon. In the quiet expanse of space, a new chapter of human legacy will be etched on the surface of the Moon.
The Arch Mission Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the long-term preservation of earth’s heritage, has announced that the Lunar Library II set to fly to the Moon with Astrobotic in 2024.
The Lunar Library II is set to build upon its predecessor (which did not successfully land on Beresheet), on the lunar surface aboard Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lander.
This isn’t a sequel; it’s an expansion of an ambitious dream. The first Lunar Library, launched in 2019, was a pioneering step, containing 30 million pages.
Now, the second installment is a more comprehensive archive, housing more than 60 million pages of information.
The thing I'd really like to do is to give a copy of the record to a group of modern college students who aren't aware of the record and see if they understand the concepts on the back of the record, and then play the record and hear their critique of the choices.
I think that would be amazing. Alternatively, if you could find a feral kid or something, or a group that hasn't been exposed to any modern technology (increasingly difficult on the Earth nowadays), that would be very telling.
A record was a briliant choice. The technology to play it is simple enough that any decently advanced civilization could figure it out. I feel like I remember that there were pottery bowl "records" in the ancient world that were played by... I don't recall this part, because I'm now only remembering the X-Files episode about it... but I think it was with a fingertip in the groove.
I'm pretty sure the X-Files made the part up about ancient humans playing "records" made of clay, but if you come across anything that says otherwise, please send it my way!
I agree that this was a brilliant decision. I'm not sure how it could have been made any better, honestly.
They probably did, but the entry in wikipedia is nonetheless fascinating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeoacoustics
Great find! This does a good job of debunking the X-files claim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeoacoustics#Discredited_theories
but that page really is neat, and the rest of the acoustic/visual thing has me thinking down a new rabbit hole. Imagine a fully immersive look at cave paintings while someone sings or chants, or while you can hear the outside world really well! That's such a cool idea. Thank you, Faith.
PS -- THere's a little thing like what you describe in Calderstones Park in Liverpool. The Calderstones were, as you may know, part of an ancient burial place (or so goes the current theory). They have a little acoustic chamber you can step into where you can feel like you're inside the chamber and it includes the sounds that you might have heard. It's very unique and quite enchanting.
http://www.roydenhistory.co.uk/mrlhp/articles/mikeroyden/liverpool/calders/calders.htm
Updated with a better link 👆
you're welcome. part of what I loved about The X-Files was their storytelling ability to take the fragment of a cool idea and expand it into something inventive and make us think about possibilities.
Ever watch Fringe? I enjoyed the first couple seasons, need to get back to it.
I haven't but I've heard about it. I cut the cable when Buffy went off the air and haven't kept up since, for the most part.
One of the writers on the Medium publication I run wrote about these records too. They're incredible! I've been fascinated by them since I was a kid. The decisions behind what songs made the cut, how they records themselves were made, and how (if?) anyone would be able to hear them as intended.
That's really cool. Feel free to share that link if you can find it easily!
https://medium.com/the-riff/this-music-is-literally-out-of-this-world-9c79a24dcfd5
(should be in front of the paywall, I think?)
I can see like half of it before Medium asks me to make an account (#nope). But some readers here may already have an account over there, so let's keep that link up!
Sorry about that! Try this one:
https://medium.com/the-riff/this-music-is-literally-out-of-this-world-9c79a24dcfd5?sk=f62f1a9ce963e4faf86675e507f0df8e
Yes! This one works, and the article is good. It's a great compliment to my (much shorter) piece, and says a lot of the things I would say if I had a few days to work on this puppy.
Yay you know I love learning more about this record!
This comment is now on the record.
And for the interest of sharing the very romantic Carl Sagan Love Story layer of this endeavor with your readers, here's my take on this I posted for VDay - https://sleepyhollowink.substack.com/p/star-crossed
heck yes, share away!
Wonder how much those gold records would go for on Discogs.
"Priceless" is probably an overused term, but I have to imagine that these are among the most valuable things we've ever created. After all, the Voyager is the furthest thing ever, and that record was our first serious attempt at reaching out beyond our heliosphere. I think it's at least up there with the Gutenberg bibles or the Stele of Hammurabi.
Defining a language that can be comprehended by extraterrestrial life is task and a half, given our inability to comprehend our own capacity for language 😂. I think the scientists at NASA did a splendid job. I cannot think of a better idea. Math, music, pictures, etc., that's us!
Great job pointing out that we hardly understand how we think! Aliens and AI are two very useful proxies for looking inward, ironic as that may seem.
I think the metal disk made of copper and gold was an excellent choice based on the technology available then. Metal disk is probably still the best choice even though we can use different combinations of metals due to advances in metallurgy. The current magnetic disks used in computers do not last long before they start losing data, so a metal disk is a better choice.
The library sent to the moon by Israel is made of nickel that never degrade or needs to be replaced. So, hopefully, it can last a few billion years or as long as the moon survives.
More here: https://www.archmission.org/spaceil
I read "The little book of aliens" (https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Aliens-Adam-Frank/dp/0063279738/ref=sr_1_1?crid=4ZNDG5IZ7MBZ&keywords=the+little+book+of+aliens&qid=1708094778&sprefix=the+little+book+of+alien%2Caps%2C294&sr=8-1), which is written by an astrophysicist, and it talked about how unlikely it is for an advance civilization to find any of our current probes. They have to be watching the right place at the right time for it to happen. It is a very good book.
What do you think about the "language" they attempted? I think it was smart, all things considered, but I wonder if there might have been other equally good things we could have added to the kit.
SILS Professor Paul Jones serves as an adviser to the foundation and helped curate the contents of the Lunar Library, which contains all of the ibiblio -hosted Project Gutenberg, all of the English language Wikipedia, and data for understanding over 5,000 languages.
More here: https://sils.unc.edu/news/2019/lunar-library-lecture#:~:text=SILS%20Professor%20Paul%20Jones%20serves,for%20understanding%20over%205%2C000%20languages.
I forgot to mention that the next version of the library will be going later this year:
https://www.astrobotic.com/guest-post-arch-mission-foundation-more-lunar-more-library/
Astrobotic is sending the Lunar Library 2: the largest archive of Earth, on the Moon. In the quiet expanse of space, a new chapter of human legacy will be etched on the surface of the Moon.
The Arch Mission Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the long-term preservation of earth’s heritage, has announced that the Lunar Library II set to fly to the Moon with Astrobotic in 2024.
The Lunar Library II is set to build upon its predecessor (which did not successfully land on Beresheet), on the lunar surface aboard Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lander.
This isn’t a sequel; it’s an expansion of an ambitious dream. The first Lunar Library, launched in 2019, was a pioneering step, containing 30 million pages.
Now, the second installment is a more comprehensive archive, housing more than 60 million pages of information.
The thing I'd really like to do is to give a copy of the record to a group of modern college students who aren't aware of the record and see if they understand the concepts on the back of the record, and then play the record and hear their critique of the choices.
I think that would be amazing. Alternatively, if you could find a feral kid or something, or a group that hasn't been exposed to any modern technology (increasingly difficult on the Earth nowadays), that would be very telling.
This is indeed awe-inspiring. Reminds me of this post I wrote about the Juno probe back in 2016: https://nest-expressed.com/2016/07/05/je-suis-juno/ (Although my piece ended up with a preachy twist.)
Wouldn't it be funny though if some goofy civilization found the record on Voyager 1 and figured it was a fancy frisbee? "Xarlag, catch!"
The Juno probe is incredible, and it's still out there!
What a great post! Fascinating stuff.
Thanks, Jim!