Voyager 1 - Did anyone argue against the info disc?

[JohnGalt]

@Colibri

I think you are conflating the golden plaquessent out with Pioneers 10 and 11 in 1972 and 1973 with the golden records sent with Voyagers 1 and 2 in 1977.

I was an undergraduate at Cornell in the early 1970s when Carl Sagan was on the faculty. I went to a lecture by him in which he discussed the development of the Pioneer plaques before they were launched. He specifically talked about the debate over whether to include directions on the plaque and the potential risks.

He also mentioned the controversy over the naked figures and the protests by some that we were sending “porn to the stars.” On the other hand there were also controversies on the part of feminists because it was the male figure holding up his hand in greeting, and because the female’s genitalia were “censored.” He also mentioned that the faces of the figures were intended to be racially ambiguous.

I’d have to dig up which of Sagan’s book talks about the human figures. After all the controversy started, he said he was glad that they didn’t include a very short line showing the front part of the female genitalia - that would have caused such an uproar that the entire plaque would have been removed from the project.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@standingwave

It also contains 116 encoded images which can be seen here.

Great! There’s stuff on Youtube, as well: Voyager Golden Record - Le 55 lingue presenti - YouTube

[Elendil_s_Heir]

And here is President Carter’s written statement: Voyager Spacecraft Statement by the President. | The American Presidency Project

[Starving_Artist]

@shstrang98

What did Stephen Hawking have to say about it? Hasn’t he always been opposed to contacting extraterrestrials? The quietest animal in the jungle gets to live the longest, right?

First of all they could have waited a little while longer (1978) and sent an optical disc (laser video disc) that would have been less pathetic looking. I’m guessing they didn’t send something magnetic is due to the unfriendly nature of space.

But more importantly why did they need to include any biological info about humans at all? They could have sent out info that didn’t detail where we are and give info about our planet that could be used against us hundreds of years from now.

"Great, in 25,000 years we’ll all be slaves mining cobalt on the planet Mongo just because NASA wanted to say (smiles and waves) ‘Hi’."

~ Jay Leno, circa 1977

[Petey]

@md2000

It was pointed out a decade or two ago that if the earth exploded, only 3 names would survive - written on a plaque on the moon are “we came in peace for all mankind - Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and president Richard M. Nixon”.

Nitpick - 4 names - Michael Collins’ name and signature are also present.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

There are also lots and lots of people’s names on Mars now (mine among them): A Martian Has Died | The Planetary Society

[BlinkingDuck]

@ZenBeam

This is a good question. Sure, many organisms, maybe even most if you went by weight*, don’t like Oxygen, but are there any examples of multicellular animals that don’t use Oxygen?

I’d expect intelligent animals to be much much more likely to use Oxygen than typical life.

• I have no real clue.

I am not an expert on this…not even close by any means…but I am interested in the subject and have read some items on it. I guess I have become a CHON guy. Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen. This most likely means a carbon based multicelled organism reliant on water and breathes oxygen. I have a feeling that any interesting/multi-celled life we find (if any - not so sure we will) will look not all that alien not really much more so than some animals found on Earth and probably liking about the same temperature. If true, this owuld make Earth interesting just because it is inhabitable.

However, I LOVE to hear scenarios of multicelled life primarily based on something different, like sulferic acid instead of water

[Luvz2Fly]

Hey all - Does anyone know the quote someone said about the disc basically stating that what is more improbable that someone find this disc or that a specie who evolved from apes built this craft to send out and be discovered. It of course was much more poetic than what I just said which is why I am looking for it!