Forty years ago, the scientists at NASA attached a gold disk to each of the two Voyager spacecrafts prior to their launch. On that disk was a message from Earth to whoever or whatever found it.

It contained sound recordings: a human heartbeat, greetings in 55 languages, a baby crying, a Bach concerto, Chuck Berry doing “Johnny B. Goode”, and many other sounds both natural and manmade. And pictures: people, animals, landscapes, machinery, buildings, and so on. A message that included our location in space and information about the beings that created the disk, along with instructions, in symbols, about how to access the information.

Our initial reaction to being told about or reminded of this endeavor can be informative. Reactions could range from “What a great idea!” to “What did they include?” to “What did they leave out? Who did they slight?” to “Damn waste of money.”, and many other variations on those listed. Attending to our initial response is a chance for us to learn something about ourselves, about our present state of mind.

It’s also an opportunity to think about our world in a slightly different way. If you were making this recording today, to be found at some indeterminate time in the distant future, at an unimaginable distance from here, what would you put into that message? What would you leave out? Who would you ask to help you put it together?

Or would you say it would be a waste of time?