In 1977, NASA launched the “Golden Records” into space in hopes of aliens finding them. The records contain photographs of life on Earth, scientific diagrams and equations, and the coordinates of our planet. There are various sounds as well, including rainfall, the music of artists spanning Bach to Chuck Berry, and the brain waves of a woman who was thinking about what it feels like to fall in love. “Lame! Why didn’t we send the aliens any good shit? Like that YouTube video where the lady stomping on grapes falls down or Backdoor MILFs 14?” Because 1. those ideas are stupid and 2. they came out decades after the launch. “Backdoor MILFs 2 then.”
These interstellar time capsules were affixed to the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 satellites, which are now more than 14 billion miles away. The goal of the records was to convey not only what Earth is like, but the extent of human knowledge. The records also account for the different ways in which an extraterrestrial species may process information, whether it be visually, sonically, or even in a tactile manner (some diagrams were engraved into a piece of gold). “I just hope the aliens are bang-able.” They likely evolved for entirely different environments than Earth and would therefore have a physiology we find quite disturbing. “Honestly, I can work with that.”
Scroll through for the images included on the Golden Records in the order they were printed. The records offer an inspiring look at all humanity has accomplished. They also ponder the idea of storytelling itself. How does one convey something as complex as our existence without the use of language? The images attempt to do just that, painting a picture of human life from conception to childhood to adulthood. From how we acquire food and eat to how we build shelters and interact with nature. From scuba divers exploring the deep blue seas to towering metal skylines. “Ooh! Do they have that gif of the chick shooting a watermelon on a giant slingshot and then it just SLAMS into her face??” They wouldn’t… you know what? Yes. I’m sure they do. “Sick.”
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