Voyager Golden Record Images Decoding (Step by step - The simplest way)

[@brandongrachek3562]

Crossing our fingers the aliens have audacity installed

[@vav4502]

😂😂

[@essayn]

Otherwise they're not as civilized as assumed.😁

[@ritishify]

We also have the hope they will look for a tutorial and find this one (yes I am joking)

[@haraldkrieger6562]

​@@ritishifylets hope 😂

[@Xt3rmn]

😂😂

[@yoongzy]

Great tutorial! Helped me solving this puzzle. Gonna visit earth soon!

[@Krztoff09]

Bring beer.

[@JTMagXX]

Without that key, I’d never know to figure out the length of the record by multiplying the numbers above by 7.04 x 10 to -10 power. Thank goodness for that key

[@Themystergamerr]

I can imagine an alien civilization finding this and it being a huge deal for them. Just imagine if we found something like this

[@MartinHomeVideo]

Maybe we did but we had no idea what it was. Similarly they wouldn’t…

[@Adobi-m4q]

I feel like aliens are going to bring this back and tell us to stop dumping our trash in space 😂

[@GHOST-Clashofclans.]

😂😂

[@tonysu8286]

Me as a alien trying to decode the golden voyager. But now i can decode it. Thanks for the great tutorial!

[@cheesewheel8779]

Thanks for the great video, this video actually helps me quite a bit -because I am an extraterrestrial- because the voyager golden record is the subject of my grand presentation worth 10% of my diploma's grade

[@donstone2884]

Next time, let's just send out a timelapse video of the space probe's journey, hoping the eyes of whoever will view it can perceive the screen's wavelength 🤞🏻

[@hksg]

And how long battery will last? Or how long will be lifetime of your instrument? This golden disc can last 10billion years!!

[@donstone2884]

@@hksg solar panels

[@muddybasilisk7526]

@@donstone2884Until it gets too far from the sun

[@donstone2884]

@@muddybasilisk7526 if there's no sun, there's no solar system. if there's no solar system, there's no potentially inhabited planet with eventual people who'll be able to see it

[@IndigoCrimFilms]

@@donstone2884voyager is barely getting enough solar power to do checkins, the most basic form of its utilities.

[@punkmusiclessons]

Exactly what I was looking for, thank you! But still curious how they'd know to wire up the included cartridge. Is it because it's just electricity and that's universal? like how would they know to make their own electric to audio transducer?

[@joshward7009]

your voice is so perfect for this i love it

[@ronaldwong6092]

Does the voyager contain a turn table machine or record player to plug and play ?.

[@madhavdua1246]

Such great video and no comments! Guess I should do my part atleast

[@antbotsquad6769]

It is crazy to think that in the 1970s there was no audacity or GarageBand or whatever fancy audio software. All this had to be done with primitive computers and human thinking.

[@rioriggs3568]

INFO #1 : @6:40 - According to NASA, this pictogram does not indicate that decoding should start when the third audio wave ends. It shows how these lines are to be drawn vertically, with staggered "interlace" to give the correct picture rendition. I assume that the circles represent the data (pixels) that form the image. You draw the first image line (From top to bottom), then go back to the top and draw the second image line and so on, up to the 512th image line. This being said, there is an image "EXPLANATION OF RECORDING COVER DIAGRAM", indicating scan triggering after the third audio wave. IMO this makes no sense, looking at that pictogram, there is no way for anyone to logically come to that conclusion without the footnote. INFO #2 : @7:00 I believe the speed issue is due to the fact that these 12 in LP record are usually played back at 33 1/3 RPM and the Voyager record was recorded at half that speed at 16.65 RPM.

[@DryPastaGuy]

Now i realize this disc is meant for smarter more complex species who could somehow figure this out

[@FreeUgcgamecards]

Of course. What's the use of it being captured by some oogabooga aliens who can't even appreciate the presence of an alien civilization

[@user-wu7ug4ly3v]

It’s insanely difficult to decipher. I mean that key being the hydrogen hyperfine transition constant is such a huge leap to convert the binary code. They should give it to the best physics and maths students who have somehow never heard of the records to see if they would be able to crack the code.

[@jb7650]

Well you need a "key" which is available to an alien species, so you can't use anything like meters or square inch bald eagle democracys as a unit because it's made by humans. U need a fundamental unit which is universally available and the most fundamental thing in the whole universe is the hydrogen atom. So it kind of makes sense to use that.

[@c_karis_1]

Okay so this is probably an extremely stupid question, but why did they write the images on a record where an alien would have to decode everything with no clue what it actually does instead of just sending photos or printed images?

[@TwentyThrill]

Not a dumb question, I was wondering the same and I found that the complexity of the decoding process was intentional, as the record was designed to be deciphered by an advanced civilization that could understand the instructions and decode the images

[@nguyenvubui1258]

Because the memory of the computer in voyager is several kb not in gb

[@scotthuntsberry2898]

Because over time radiation and other hazardous parts of space would slowly destroy any printed images. The disk is made of a special material specifically to avoid this

[@therealspeedwagon1451]

Because computers back then were extremely primitive compared to today. The Voyager computers only store data in kilobytes, compare that to computers today, many of which can store data in gigabytes or even terabytes. Also over time data on computers can break down due to radiation and other factors, so encoding them on the very grooves of the record will allow them to far outlast any kind of flash drive or memory stored on a computer.

[@c_karis_1]

@@therealspeedwagon1451 That wasn't my question. It's obvious why they didn't store it on the probe's memory. I wanted to know why they didn't send physical printed images.

[@alexs3598]

Great video. I guess if it’s intelligent life they should know how do do all this lol. I wouldn’t be able to

[@timmartin7664]

If the average person or even an astrophysist can't figure out how to decipher the encoded information. without instruction, from someone that knows how. How in heck do they expect aliens to figure it out. 😂 This is insane. Not to mention they have to construct and analog phonograph. I guess this would be like the Incas or Aztects, sending us a message of their civlization, to the people of 2024

[@syr3472]

Like bro they gotta be Nikola Tesla of math, metro booming on audacity and mark zuck with the coding... Like how the hell aliens supposed to look at that disk and be like ahh yeaa they're they are. Should've drawn a picture of 2 humans and the sun or some shit.

[@Samuel-ll2kr]

​@@timmartin7664A group of scientist could easily figure it out

[@anumitapandit1672]

Why not just print out the photos and include a record player with the record in it already ready to play with a big green button to start? It's crazy that they didn't consider the fact that aliens' seconds would not be the same length as ours, they may not know how binary works, and WHY WOULD THEY WRITE A PROGRAM IN JAVA????

[@Frostism]

@anumitapandit1672 Because the technology wouldn't survive.

[@Sparky5]

The record will likely burn up with voyager on entry to another planet or star. Chances of it being caught by alien life while travelling is about the same as catching a grain of salt somewhere between our sun and the core of the Andromeda galaxy.

[@earldriskill3505]

I'd agree with you. Space is way too vast, and the Voyager is traveling too slow for it to go anywhere where some ET will find it. It's doomed to wander interstellar space into oblivion.

[@aries2764]

probably even smaller than that

[@abhayprasad5319]

Very informative

[@karbhn]

Yeah man i can feel you If you're from future reading this i dont know how advanced your technology is right now I just want to say There is science for everything You will find your answers in science

[@rishuuuuuu]

I don’t think aliens will ever decode it.

[@CB-lb2we]

Do you think we can solve wars, or climate change not yet. That 84 movie Starman was interesting to me.

[@MartinHomeVideo]

99% Earthians wouldn’t be able to decode it but scientists expect aliens to be …

[@ryanleethomas]

Can you share the file to the image sound .wav?

[@ScienceWorld1]

Here you are drive.google.com/file/d/19IBBTMHq3mMhQxg1iSsOWEJEy6krA7y-/view?usp=sharing

[@ryanleethomas]

Thanks, we appreciate you!

[@davidl5786]

Some questions for you : After some research and trial and error , I managed to make a very simple code in python that takes as input the txt file exported from audacity and prints the image . The first time it printed the blurry , grayish image of the Earth I was speechless . Here are my questions : 1) from what I understand audacity's sample data export just extracts the signal waves converted to dbm , right ? If that is true could you explain me the value you put in the sample data export window to "100000" ? 2) In the code , you extract the dbm's in each line of the text file , and then convert them to float , then do a round , and finally convert them to int , then I don't understand the calculation you do *(-1)*3 , what is it for ? For my python code I did not need to convert them to hex . Thank you very much for any answers , and great video !

[@JasonElliott88]

Yes a bit more detail on those lines of code would've been nice. I was confused by the intval(round(floatval(...))) too, and the (-1)*3... presumably something to do with generating 3 RGB colours to make 1 pixel, but I don't understand the logic either.

[@Mrshoujo]

I would apply a notch filter on the basic carrier wave so it's not affecting the image decoding.

[@soumilwarang]

What if the Alien getting hold of these records are outcasts Interstellar gold smuggler?

[@applepeel1662]

aliens coming here to see how to decode this damn thing

[@historyman8671]

This seems very confusing are we sure there really gonna be able to read this?

[@DryPastaGuy]

We can only hope they are able to decode the map to earth on the front

[@unebonnevie]

EXCELLENT explanation of the decoding process! Good thing there is no photos of WINDOWS stored in the golden disk; that would greatly disappoint the aliens!

[@fugithegreat]

Are the stereo channels for the same image (as in combining the info from the two tracks produces a higher quality or color image), or do they each contain different images?

[@Sonnell]

As I know each channel contains separate images.

[@derrickotieno7456]

Let's say there's extraterrestrial life out there. How do we know they use the same symbols as we do?. How will they decode such information?.

[@llynxfyre]

All images on the disk use circles and dashes and lines rather than human symbols in an attempt to be as universal as possible. One of the first images on the record is a key to convert the binary dashes and lines into English numbers

[@KC2MFCs]

But how did they program it to scan and read color images?

[@realg7848]

no way they gona solve that, they might eat it

[@RexplayzzOfficial]

Imagine it travels for light years, until it reaches a planet inhabited by aliens, crash lands, and then gets mistook for random space junk and is destroyed.

[@notredamehunchback7896]

😂😂😂

[@ryankeithgardner]

shouldve just put spiny disc image on it.. or make it auto play

[@lovingyou3769]

I thought when I was young that they will be a video player included in the golden disc to view the the converted audio to images. It turns out that they need to figure out a software to decode that information

[@kaunainkhan1977]

Awesome contents on this channel

[@curlymcdom]

A lot of this seems predicated on 1 second being some sort of intergalactic standard, when a second is measured based on an Earth day

[@wissamkadamani]

No it's not. That's the entire point. They can use their own unit of time. The hyperfine transition of hydrogen is the unit of time used.

[@llynxfyre]

​​@@wissamkadamanithis. The binary numbers count hyperfine transitions. Another life form can then interpret that in whatever time unit they have

[@nerolmars3701]

How will they know what a second is or how long a second lasts?

[@KoeSeer]

the ironic thing about latin is it was stopped taught at public school after Vatican II conference decided that mass could be carried in respective language of a country where it's held, effectlvely killed latin as a spoken language.

[@walkertel9940]

it's confused the greeting in chinese is“我们都很想念你们”which should translate as “we are missing you all”. how could the aliens be missed before we meet them?

[@lakewoodln1060]

No one cares about the Chinese anyway 😂.

[@SOLIDSNAKE.]

We are the aliens

[@HRJ1411]

So, Voyager one and two - the furthest human made objects from planet Earth, continue to communicate with us, but it is thought this link will be severed in the next decade or so . . . However, although their link to Earth will then be lost forever, their journeys will undoubtedly continue, perhaps for eternity? With these golden records, becoming a modern day message in a bottle. The meticulously thought out pictorial instructions, for how to extract the information, should it be found by extra terrestrial intelligent life, along with a stylus, for playing the record, are designed to last for billions of years, and while we don't know if they ever will be intercepted and played the concept and possibility I find thrilling. If one of these records is ever found by a sufficiently intelligent being from another world, and they do unravel how to extract the material, what are the chances that their home shares a similar gravitational force to Earth's? And if it is materially dissimilar to ours will their constructed record player produce the sounds correctly, or will this tremendous human endeavour be wasted?

[@peterantony2581]

What if our technology is unique and aliens are in totally different kind of intelligence

[@pikkon899]

The record in this video was decoded with technology that didn't exist in the 70s when the record was made. Audacity wasn't a thing in the 70s. A .wav digital audio file did not exist in the 70s. Windows OS did not exist etc.. The record was constructed to be played as intended, meaning with a record player and a stylus, with instructions yet it was still able to be played by other means, in this case, on a computer with software that did not exist in the 70s. That right there is enough to show us that with entirely new technology, software and the will, an advanced civilization can decode and play the record. That's the whole point. If we can do it through different means, they can as well.

[@JesterFlemming]

Why are the numbers negative?

[@callex6754]

why not printed pictures?

[@garyfrancis6193]

Aliens : Do you have any more Chuck Berry?

[@charleskamya-cb8up]

If many humans can't. Don't think that aliens can . Question . can humans understand if aliens sends their golden discs?

[@beswelt]

thx for this great video!

[@JasonElliott88]

Well done, very cool, thanks

[@JohnGrapes]

Really cool

[@adityaupadhyay6932]

Who said this is simple to understand😮

[@exception05]

Ah, now I get it. Sillima hemen, lu!

[@ShahidSaleem-jc2pk]

But how exactly are sound and images suppose to tell aliens how to find earth

[@notredamehunchback7896]

What if scientist create a container with the same materials of golden record then put the printed images inside? Then make a carve in top indicating to break it. That decoding method is very hard, even humans have a hard time, dicipher that thing.

[@Frostism]

A box of printed images wouldn't work due to the technology and constraints of the 1970s. Also, printed materials are heavy, and would degrade quickly in space. Images don't have the context given by the Golden Record, with clear decoding instructions. Without instructions to interpret the images, they could be misunderstood or completely incomprehensible.

[@lilchem369]

Best wishes for you.

[@ehrix4468]

Wouldn’t time be different for someone that’s not us??

[@ScienceWorld1]

Actually it doesn't matter. If they measure hyperfine time in their time, everything will work.

[@Sev51]

I am crying

[@ioanbota9397]

Realy I like this video so so much like you can imagine

[@LauraNungaq-ge3zv7]

Hi I saw her by Tim Hortons

[@earldriskill3505]

For this Voyager to be found by some ETs, even if somehow they exist, would be like you and I hitting the Powerball lottery.

[@Page25Entertainment]

Watch the movie troop zero about this record its a great movie.

[@joanlapeyra]

Let’s hope they have a disc player and audacity

[@mehanaouihoussem656]

How they can read that Its way hard for an alian

[@CamiloSanchez1979]

I feel the requirements are way too high. If a civilization is capable of advance technology to safely capture the space probe, then they are probable smart enough to figure out how to play the record without providing such intrincate information, unless the instructions itself are a way to convey that we have knowledge of quantum mechanics.

[@borealis_3882]

This is likely the only way to convey the usage of a record in a manner universal to all potential intelligent lifeforms granted they have the same basic calculus system as we do, which we can assume they do if they're able to retrieve such a craft

[@DukeHard]

Could of just sent a record player....

[@Frostism]

The electronics would die before being found.

[@sugandhasharma7886]

Kismat par ji rahi hai duniya 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@JTMagXX]

So the key is hydrogen atom symbol, and you need to know that this particular symbol is a sign of something that happens every 10 million years, and apparently it’s common knowledge that this symbol tells you to multiply other parts of record by this symbols secret code key of 7.04x10 to-10 power which equals 3.6 seconds….safe to say this will never be understood if found.

[@Captain_Corntm]

They should've just attached a link to this video, would've made life a lot easier for the aliens I think

[@victortovar9353]

I hope aliens have Google out there…

[@thequietkid9151]

Those aliens better be smart

[@change15893]

Why not just send them a record player?

[@epilepticsquid8856]

We did

[@jamesg6980]

It would be a shame if the plate landed and a group of beings said “It’s just a weather balloon”.🤦‍♂️

[@nickiminajj3119]

Or if it collided with something and shattered into dust!😂😂😂

[@Frostism]

How would they mistake that?

[@sugandhasharma7886]

Kismat par ji rahi hai duniya 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@P4boot]

Human’s greeting aliens in “peace” is funny. We are not even in peace with ourselves. We deserve to be alone in the universe if you ask me.

[@mayra2651]

I don't understand this. How would an alien know about decimals and binary numbers?

[@antoninkrizanic7233]

So first aliens have to watch this video before decoding.

[@MartinHomeVideo]

I don’t think anyone who doesn’t come from earth can decode it. Also I find assumption that the hints and “keys” there can help in any way, quite naive.

[@davidmoxon]

The aliens already have Voyager. Unfortunately, their copy of Audacity had expired.

[@raibinpaul]

Alien ethu kittiyal thalla thalli marikkum 😂

[@TheTrueKailash]

i always wondered how this would be done thanks. part of me would love aliens to find and decipher it, a bigger part of me thinks it's just going to get smashed on a rock in a billion years 🙃

[@lolizero265]

Someone probably would of made a bad apple version of this decoding

[@kuladipbhowmik3173]

I really hope they know python or Java programming 😅. They can apply for a job on Earth

[@jamesg6980]

They left off a list of all 10,000 religions to be wary-of when they get here.

[@Nzeenzi]

No alien is gona understand the images on the golden record. What happened to drawing stickmen, it worked with cavemen

[@Augustprincess24]

The real question is: how the aliens are suppose to catch a space ship travelling at 35000 miles an hour without damaging it?!!!

[@sophalcv]

Just keep in mind that it's 35,000 mph in relation to the Earth. For context, the earth is moving something like 67,000 mph around the Sun but we obviously don't feel it because we're moving with it. All this is just to say, is that speed is always relative. So the aliens could see this at a speed that's less or maybe much more than 35,000 mph. Earthlings can get things to that speed with rockets but who knows how it'll go down for the aliens. The bigger issue is that voyager still isn't moving fast enough to hit any stars for tens of thousands of years!

[@muddybasilisk7526]

By catching up to it, grabbing it, then slowing down. Simple astrodynamics

[@Augustprincess24]

@@muddybasilisk7526 simple on the paper

[@earldriskill3505]

If they can travel through interstellar space, maybe they will have the technology by being able to beam it aboard their vehicle, like Star Trek. 😅

[@JTMagXX]

This is all mind blowing…. But how the hell is anyone supposed to know the equation of turning 1s and zeros into a billion number, and that needs to be multiplied by another equation that two circles equal….why not just write the final numbers out and equation instead of making it almost impossible to decipher?? These mathematicians are too smart for their own good…so smart they’re actually dumb in common sense

[@jb7650]

"write the final numbers" and how are you supposed to do that in a way that an alien species can read it? You can't use human-made conventions because they are random. Base 10 number system? Random. Seconds? Random. U need to use a universally and fundamental unit-system and the most fundamental thing in the universe is the hydrogen atom. And tbh a base 2 number system is also more fundamental than base 10.

[@earldriskill3505]

​@@jb7650 Binary numbers, such as 1 and zero are still human made conventions. Everything on that record are human made conventions. How are the aliens going to decipher that the two circles with the line and dot represent hydrogen atoms? Just my thoughts.

[@llynxfyre]

The final numbers are written out in binary. Each of the binary numbers on the disk measure hyperfine transitions rather than seconds. The writers are assuming that an intelligent alien will understand what a hydrogen atom is as its everywhere and be able to translate the number of hyperfine transitions into their own number system.

[@marcelo_koman]

We need a powerful audio editing software, so we choose audacity 😂😂😂

[@marcelo_koman]

I'm just kidding by the way. It was ment to be a "I record on logic pro x" type a joke.

[@syarifusman27]

they are need audacity first..

[@FreeUgcgamecards]

Should have sent a hard copy as well too, right?

[@peepa47]

I would say that greetings in 55 languages is the stupidest thing ever. No alien would be able to decode single one of them, from 2 sentences, and 55 of different languages will confuse anybody able to play the record.

[@LauraNungaq-ge3zv7]

Hi how are you She loves him

[@DIY-DaddyO]

This is ridiculous. 😂 The hoops you have to jump through and the assumptions made, I mean “it’s obvious this represents a hydrogen atom” 😂 Seriously? If another human can’t simply decode the message, what chance does an alien have? NASA, you’re too clever.

[@andretheprince]

FACTS. HOW CAN ALIENS 👽 DECODE IT . IMPOSSIBLE

[@dawson6294]

If a species is capable of retrieving voyager, surely they have a great understanding of chemistry, mathematics, and astronomy. They would likely be able to decode this given time. It might not be immediately obvious that the diagram represents a hydrogen atom but if you're a scientist trying to decode this you would be making a lot of guesses and trying to put yourself into the shoes of whoever sent it, and you'd probably figure it out eventually. Heck even without knowing that detail they could probably figure out the units of time by experimentation

[@NateWithWho]

@@dawson6294 or they could just keep adjusting the speed while spinning the record to get the perfect sound.

[@Autumn_Actually]

​@@NateWithWho They could end up thinking we sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks

[@jb7650]

Well you need a "key" which is available to an alien species, so you can't use anything like meters or square inch bald eagle democracys as a unit because it's made by humans. U need a fundamental unit which is universally available and the most fundamental thing in the whole universe is the hydrogen atom. So it kind of makes sense to use that

[@ECOWoodVeneer]

I dont know aliens can do math

[@chrisgizas6795]

A picture book on how to play the record would have Sufficed.. A picture book of our Mathematics would explain much more.. If anything or anyone finds this Gold Record, they will simply see a ROUND GOLD ELEMENT with scribbles on it of a Man with his Dong out..

[@Frostism]

The pictures would lose all color before making it to anywhere

[@chrisgizas6795]

@Frostism oh.. I meant an engraving on a Gold panel with step by step instructions..

[@Frostism]

@chrisgizas6795 It might not be the universal way.

[@timmartin7664]

If the average person or even an astrophysist can't figure out how to decipher the encoded information. without instruction, from someone that knows how. How in heck do they expect aliens to figure it out. 😂 This is insane. Not to mention they have to construct and analog phonograph. I guess this would be like the Incas or Aztects, sending us a message of their civlization, to the people of 2024

[@Samuel-ll2kr]

They would have a team of scientist figure it out 🤡

[@GunsAndRoses-p1g]

Good luck aliens to decode it 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂.

[@Prabha1306]

After teens attendance here

[@NPassosiation]

A feel like this is making a lot of assumptions 😂. Suppose we human count in base 10. It works well since we have ten fingers, but who's to say aliens don't use base 9 or base 14? Ther number pie would probably be someting else then 3.1415. So why would we also assume they'd understand binary or even study and see atom the way we do? 😂

[@Plan-C]

They are never going to bother with all this crap. A picture says a thousand words. Cave paintings would probably have been better imo.

[@mrwhatever9025]

The audacity of this guy...

[@skyylow]

Typical human - Send a fax and before it leaves the solar system, it become obsolete.

[@fullsenderman8291]

Way to over complicate something i can see our tax dollers were hard at work

[@JeaneGenie]

Hate to think how much money NASA squandered on this. In the vast emptiness of space there is zero chance of Voyager ever being discovered by intelligent life form. They must have been very naive back then to think it was a good idea 🤣

[@llynxfyre]

Voyager does more than carrying the disks. Also the golden disk was less about another alien finding it (they're well aware its a tiny chance). It was more about humanity reflecting on itself and sending evidence of our existence out into the universe to prove that we were here. They say it on the disk. "We are attempting to live past our time, so we may cross into yours."