# Selecting an item for aliens that best represents Earth **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 28, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813 "2009-02-28T19:32:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/21 "2009-03-01T00:50:06Z")
A newspaper. Any newspaper, as long as it’s not too partisan. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/22 "2009-03-01T00:58:37Z")
> [@Todderbob](#): > > How about… for not saving us? They’re saving you. What, you want they should stuff EVERYONE into the Buick sized object? ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/23 "2009-03-01T01:02:49Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > They’re saving you. What, you want they should stuff EVERYONE into the Buick sized object? They have the ability to transverse interstellar distances, it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine they can, some how, save Earth’s population. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/24 "2009-03-01T01:20:53Z")
A dollar. Well, assuming that they’re not the ones going to blow up the earth, in which case I’d chose a thermonuclear bomb. Actually, now that I think about it… Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/25 "2009-03-01T12:55:40Z")
> [@newcrasher](#): > > The aliens are not destroying the earth. They are here to preserve a piece of it before its inevitible destruction. They know an unavoidable catastrophe is coming and want a record of the earth’s existance. What item would you choose to represent that? > > No reason to hate on the aliens. Kill the messenger ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/26 "2009-03-01T12:58:06Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Kill the messenger I quit. What should have been a fun thread about choosing an item that best represents earth is getting thread-shit. Thanks for playing. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/27 "2009-03-01T14:22:56Z")
Invisible thread. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/28 "2009-03-01T14:37:15Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > A dollar. Well, assuming that they’re not the ones going to blow up the earth, in which case I’d chose a thermonuclear bomb. Damn, that was nearly verbatim what I wanted to suggest. Does a dollar bill rolled into an empty ammunition shell casing count as one item? ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/29 "2009-03-02T06:09:08Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > A dollar. One of each major currency, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/30 "2009-03-02T06:12:39Z")
Best represents earth/humans? Easy: Bottle of wine - it looks and smells good, but is actually the result of an organism drowning in it’s own shit. (yeast convert sugar to alcohol until there is to much alcohol for them to live). ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/31 "2009-03-02T06:14:39Z")
> [@newcrasher](#): > > I quit. What should have been a fun thread about choosing an item that best represents earth is getting thread-shit. Thanks for playing. 😕 People have been continuing to suggest items that represent the Earth. I only mentioned the part about the thermonuclear bomb because it tells a lot of things about human society. I do like the dollar idea more, though: you get a fair number of English words, the dominant language; the Great Seal of the United States, reasonably considered the dominant country; a picture of George Washington, a famous leader, a picture of a pyramid, one of the best known monuments of ancient societies; and it represents capitalism, the dominant economic system. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ETA: And it may contain trace amounts of cocaine, the dominant helluva drug. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/32 "2009-03-02T06:33:38Z")
I think I’d be inclined to put some non-fiction books in, both the educational sort and the more coffee-table sort with lots of beautiful pictures. Books about plant life, animal life, engineering technology etc, and copies of some of the major religious texts, including books on ancient mythology. For any space-faring species that wants to know what was here and how we made sense of it, that’d be a good start, although there’s no way you could cover everything, even picking-and-choosing the very best books and information available. I think it might have to be print version over digital, sadly, because there’s no guarantees the alien life forms have compatible systems to read our digital data. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/33 "2009-03-02T06:58:32Z")
I had interpreted the question as a single object, up the size of a Buick, not as filling a Buick up with objects. That definitely expands your options, but I think it makes the question less interesting. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/34 "2009-03-02T08:48:06Z")
The question in the OP reminds me of a story I read years ago about a an old farmer who is the point of contact. He ends up negotiating a trade deal for the alien’s tech, and guess what Terran idea he sells to them? Paint I wish I could remember the name of the story, or the author. Had to be at least 30 years ago that I first read it. I guess I’ll have to start re-reading all my anthologies. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/35 "2009-03-02T14:46:32Z")
I’ve been thinking about this for the last half hour or so - I think I’d take a grand piano, preferably a Bösendorfer. To me, there is nothing so quintessentially human as a piano; it serves no survival based function, it takes up space, it requires enormous resources and teamwork to make one, it takes a effort to maintain it. It serves no purpose except to make music. Let them puzzle that one through - it existed solely to make beautiful sound. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/36 "2009-03-02T14:54:32Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > I’ve been thinking about this for the last half hour or so - I think I’d take a grand piano, preferably a Bösendorfer. To me, there is nothing so quintessentially human as a piano; it serves no survival based function, it takes up space, it requires enormous resources and teamwork to make one, it takes a effort to maintain it. It serves no purpose except to make music. > > Let them puzzle that one through - it existed solely to make beautiful sound. Applause for your thoughts and answer. I have also been pondering this issue for over a day. I keep wondering if there’s something unique to Earth that extends in importance beyond what human beings have done with it. So far, I’m trapped in my anthropomorphic mind. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/37 "2009-03-02T15:19:34Z")
Chocolate and coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/38 "2009-03-02T16:52:04Z")
I don’t know - I gotta say, I’m with **Rigamarole**. A Big Mac. And a large fry, and a large chocolate shake. Value meal 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/39 "2009-03-02T17:02:05Z")
> [@newcrasher](#): > > A grey creature sits next to you. He hands you an Old Milwaukee beer in a can with a pull tab. "Earth will be gone in 24 earth hours. You have been chosen to be the sole survivor. We want to take an item with us that best represents this planet. We have to carry something approximately the size of one of your 1952 Buicks. Well, what better to represent the Earth than…the Earth? Grab a rock about the size of a 1952 Buick and a couple of handfuls of dirt. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813/40 "2009-03-02T17:07:04Z")
> [@newcrasher](#): > > A grey creature sits next to you. He hands you an Old Milwaukee beer in a can with a pull tab. "Earth will be gone in 24 earth hours. You have been chosen to be the sole survivor. We want to take an item with us that best represents this planet. We have to carry something approximately the size of one of your 1952 Buicks. > > “We can travel anywhere on the planet to get this item. You are obviously in a better position to choose what one item will best represent the earth to other civilizations.” > > What will you choose? Oops. Missed this part. What will I choose? I’ll choose to take him to a damn liquor store. Old Milwaukee? Are you NUTS? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selecting-an-item-for-aliens-that-best-represents-earth/487813.md?page=3)