in the 1970s the US launched exploratory spacecraft destined to outlive the sun and the earth. as the sole artifacts of our species, these spacecraft were adorned with tiny markers that would serve for aliens to identify us. 1973’s pioneer spacecraft was adorned with a tiny etched metal plaque designed together with the help of physicist carl sagan. it bears diagrams of human beings, the location of the solar system on a star map, a depiction of the hydrogen atom and images of the craft and its history. 1977’s voyager spacecraft featured a second generation of identifiers: gold records encased in bronze cases. the records contain samples of human languages and sounds as well as images encoded in analog. the exterior of the case depicts some of the same things as the pioneer plaque: a star map and hydrogen atom. the rest of the diagrams serve a new purpose: they describe how information is encoded on the record so that advanced alien civilizations could recreate one to read its data.
between the two, it seems like the first would be far more successful because it depicts organic life in drawing form. the second appears machine-made, and it seems unlikely that aliens would have eyes or ears that respond to the frequencies that ours do. aside from that i find these inspiring because they suggest that if you are proud of making something, you will encode it with all the knowledge that you can so that it can act as a true artifact of your culture. for an object to be a true artifact, it must provide
1. who made it
2. where it was made
3. what cultural context it was made in
4. how to use it
5. a common reference
