We decoded NASA’s messages to aliens by hand

In 1977, twin golden records were sent into space on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. Still sailing through space at nearly 60,000 km per hour, the records contain sound, songs, and images from earth. But how did NASA include images on an analog record? Here, we decoded the audio, and see the images the way that aliens were intended to see them.
Video by: Cory Zapatka, William Poor, Sophie Erickson
Graphics: Alex Parkin
Audio: Andrew Marino
Executive Producers: Nilay Patel, Eleanor Donovan
Director of Audience Development: Ruben Salvadori
Social Media Manager: Dilpreet Kainth
General Manager: Stephen Belser
Network Development: Sarah Bishop Woods
Thanks to: Alessandra Potenza, Ron Barry
Special thanks to Ron Barry for walking us through his own audio decoding process, which got us excited in the story over a year ago. You can read about his own adventure and watch his process produce results in real-time in his own video in the links below:
boingboing.net/2017/09/05/how...
• First Ever Decode of V...
Link to Manuel’s code on GitHub:
github.com/aizquier/voyagerimb
Link to the full audio data:
/ voyager-golden-record-...
The Verge’s sponsors play an important role in funding our journalism, but do not influence editorial content. For more information about our ethics policy, visit www.theverge.com/ethics-state....
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[@VergeScience]

What images or sounds would you send to aliens?

[@anlog540]

Certainly not a Justin's Bieber song.

[@HahtaanDaetori]

An image of our solar system or images of volcanoes or other things that may occur on our planet and the aliens planet

[@addaccount9246]

Certainly a queens songs

[@ralpherichchan]

Happy Birthday Cory! 😃

[@georgplaz]

a photo of my latest meal at that fancy restaurant everyone is talking about ;o)

[@chachcadi271]

Alien 1: why are there so many weird symbols? Alien 2: Did you think they were going to speak English like us?

[@spike480p]

Alien speak using english wtf

[@Anonymous-tm7jp]

Aliens speaking in English? That means Britain must have colonized the entire galaxy at some point. *LAUGHS IN BRITISH*

[@lasajnae9626]

@@Anonymous-tm7jp my brain just got colonized after reading this

[@rachelcookie321]

@WoodChipings that was the joke

[@shravankhedekar3302]

@@Anonymous-tm7jp what if Britishers are actually aliens send to the earth to colonize it?

[@geraldsittly1512]

- Aliens find disc - Aliens didn't figure out how to decode - Aliens google for decoding methods - Aliens watch this on youtube

[@panchitoborja]

I am the alien

[@jacarijones4395]

amarjaannn your a hater kid make your own joke why you reply lol your like 6

[@lm-]

Ez jo

[@finnis2344]

waylon lewin bruh he wasn’t talking to you lmfao he was replying to amaraannn

[@awesome1ru]

Lawl

[@GmodAdict]

The way I’ve always seen the Golden Record isn’t “a message to the stars” but more a “If we are here no longer, we were still here”

[@Totally_Bonkers]

Damn, that message is kind of better

[@abhishektarun09]

that's deep

[@niichisann]

That actually makes more sense, because by the time it reaches another star system (IF that happens), humanity might be long gone.

[@fluffypuffyboy586]

yeah like the graphity people spray "i was here" but instead "humans where here"

[@TheLordOfBeans]

We wuz here -human

[@Silversorcerer]

I get the distinct feeling that he intended the record to be like a time capsule. We're intended to discover it again after we get very advanced at space travel and be reminded of how we once were.

[@purecatharsis4]

" OH LOOK! an alien device! with a disk! oh wait its ours nevermind~"

[@thomaslok5808]

Yes, cause I have always wondered with the amount of complexity in the cover, audio, and images. There’s no way aliens would understand, for example the morse code and binary, these systems are created by us for us, so aliens would definitely not understand what the lines are on the cover. Another thing is even if they do understand, the units such as minutes and hours, are both based on the Earth, something aliens don’t have so how would they understand.

[@teomandemir8918]

​@@thomaslok5808 Aliens being able to understand binary is just pure hope. But seconds, minutes, days or even years are taught by hydrogens movement which is the most common element in space.

[@thomaslok5808]

@@teomandemir8918 That is true, but my point is that the idea of seconds, hours, days and years are all arbitrary. An alien year could be a thousand times longer than one Earth year, and one alien day could be 10 times longer than Earth day. So there is no way they would know what we are talking about.

[@ravindransomasundaram1810]

This reminds me about the movie " Planet of the apes" one day the golden record might land back on the earth itself.

[@Sda-vh1or]

Government: sends Golden discs to space Alien government: hides it from their public

[@brianpatrickofficial]

S 2 da 685 11.12.11 that’s exactly what our got damn government does 😂

[@tapatiolays4174]

@@brianpatrickofficial ikr

[@brianpatrickofficial]

TapatioLays yeah it’s pissing me off

[@nidhi4079]

Sounds similar

[@WherDoiLive]

truth, alien polpulation belives we are still cavemen. We are under cuarantine

[@Julio-wr7pz]

Alien: "What do you think this is?" Other Alien: "I don't know, let me open Excel real quick."

[@mujtaba8302]

So we're counting on aliens to decofe it using python or ms excel... Lol

[@syauqilintang4970]

yea, i hope they have the similar program somehow (we didnt even know if they had a computer or not)

[@frederikvilms1281]

@@syauqilintang4970 if we randomly found one like this we'd be having our brightest minds working on deciphering it i think

[@jonathanodude6660]

@@mujtaba8302 did you watch the vid? were counting on them converting decibel values into brightness values, and laying that on a grid.

[@Rob-vy6zx]

@@mujtaba8302 I want to see it decoded analog using the original method.

[@joshuekz7243]

Imagine in the future if the aliens that found the record managed to decode it, and when they arrive to our system, the sun would already be a red giant and the earth was eaten by it, that will be depressing.

[@magneticman245]

We should launch other probes that have a golden record, but rather than sending them out into interstellar space, we should put one in orbit around each planet of our solar system. That way, if aliens find our solar system long after the sun has destroyed Earth, they may find a probe near one of the surviving planets and they can be sure they found the right star.

[@twotruckslyrics]

i tapped read more and was jumpscared by that “and the earth was eaten by it” part 😭😭

[@newheadstart]

​@@twotruckslyricspussy

[@kemalistpatriot5228]

​@@magneticman245Jupiter might be the best. Since The Sun is going to be a white dwarf Neptune and Uranus might be too risky since they may leave the solar system. The first 4 planets are also eliminated because The Sun is going to be a red giant at some point. As for Saturn, the rings might damage the probe.

[@emreevo8]

I don't think it will survive for 5 billion years.

[@eclipse4376]

Its so insane how someone actually knew how to create this disc, just every single tiny thing with the very limited amount of tech for the time is so impressive

[@milkman2143]

Golden Record be like: "John has 2 apples, calculate the mass of the Sun"

[@xcybitt721]

Yea definitely. But maybe it's designed so that the aliens actually are intelligent enough for communication?

[@malcolmweatherby3254]

@@xcybitt721 thats what they're hoping

[@Vivi-sz8pe]

lol HAHSHAHAHAHAH

[@hati3]

LMAO

[@notsosolowing1295]

Hmmmm... Hmmmmmmm... 4?

[@TheFockingTeam]

"Easy to understand" with 3 guys from earth explaining the instructions.

[@Whimsy3692]

They need to have the instructions in Swedish.

[@juanvillalobos9044]

Khe vergas?🤯

[@bensilver28]

With 1 guy that helped design it.

[@drsatyamupadhyay]

"Insanity"

[@KarlPlaysShooters]

Maje vos que haces aqui?

[@freddyandfoxy7526]

This man should put this on a satellite. As a tutorial for aliens who can't figure how to decode the Golden record

[@charles1057]

Fr

[@AryanKumar-jo1pz]

ya just write the youtube link so he can watch the tutorial

[@charles1057]

@@AryanKumar-jo1pz and the link is broken 💀💀💀

[@studioustok]

They won't understand English lol

[@drownd_]

​@@studioustokomfg you're soo smart!

[@X39280]

id be terrified if one day this same record gets sent back to us

[@jondoesit1240]

Dude it would be crazy

[@comet.x]

with a note that says 'shut up they'll find you'

[@bryangutierrez4801]

Spoiler, that's the final reveal of the show the signal that just released on Netflix

[@aqmail6036]

Would be hilarious if the reply is just "👍"

[@richardlee5412]

In a Saturday Night Live segment ("Next Week in Review") in episode 64 of the show's third season (originally aired 1978), Steve Martin's character, a psychic named Cocuwa, announced that extraterrestrials had responded to the record with the four words "Send more Chuck Berry"

[@ClementGarkTrichon]

Alien finding the Golden Disc : "Awesome, free gold!" *melts the disc*

[@Beeper332]

That's what I'm saying. what if there cave men and just destroy it.

[@syauqilintang4970]

well but gold isnt that rare in space so...yeah ._.

[@pwe...2626]

@@syauqilintang4970 isn't rare but we still value it, if we value it why can't they?

[@Heisler146]

@@pwe...2626 they might not, a scivilian that has the ability to detect and intercept the probe would be sufficiently advanced, advanced enough to astroid mine, making gold rather cheap. They could be plating their spaceships with gold since it’s a cheap heat shield to them

[@sonroj4157]

@@Heisler146 Nah, gold no an spaceship, I don’t think so, gold is not an strong material, maybe they could use it in different tecnology.

[@fishermanlad4270]

Imagine if an alien race sent us a “golden record”, but we were only evolved into cavemen

[@SophoricDeathcry]

It could've happened already and maybe our cavemen ancestors destroyed it xD

[@gertvandenbosch4820]

The voyager won’t find intelligent life, intelligent life will have to find it themselves. It won’t just crash to be found by a fish.

[@jeiyxx]

Damn

[@lucas-xf7rc]

@@gertvandenbosch4820 it is a preety stupid damn big longshot , but not impossible

[@Ob_Bashar]

Nebra Sky Disk :D

[@ThePersonWhoKnocks]

I wonder if aliens would even have the concept of music as we know it, or if they would think our Golden Record is just a collection of strange noises.

[@SpottedHares]

if their smart enough to decode the record then their probably smart enough to deduce that the main band of frequency are the hearing range of the species that made it. and just like we do with whale calls they could distort it into a range that fits their hearing better.

[@LiamDerWandrer]

@@SpottedHares If they have hearing.

[@coconut7630]

if there is a record player

[@gregor_man]

@@coconut7630 On the cover there is a scheme of the record player, suggesting the spiral track and the pick-up. If I were an alien I would examine the plate with microscope, and the groove will be seen. Maybe aliens will examine that with laser or electron microscope, then they're expected to process the réseau manually. (Or aristally :-) ) If the aliens are 400 yards long and live under the mud then the connection of these two civilizations will be failed.

[@koa_al]

The aliens after finding this: *Hey doesn't this look like the Golden Disc we sent a thousand of years ago?*

[@timsohn7057]

Underrated comment lol

[@infinitespecter6998]

Oof we are alone

[@atibaaier5426]

scp 1342 vibes

[@Pikasatupu75]

Imagine Golden Disc coming back to Earth after thousands of years later.

[@allftw2677]

@@Pikasatupu75 we will probably be on earth and other planets aswell , in other solar systems hopefully and beyond

[@bgsbrito]

1. Aliens find disc 2. Aliens find earth 3. Sell it to pawn stars 4. Fly away

[@zay3304]

bruno brito 😂😂

[@zefallafez]

Rick brings in expert to authenticate it. Then offers $200 and says there isn't a big market for old records.

[@bgsbrito]

@@zefallafez 👌🏻🤣🤣🤣

[@drumphil2006]

The best I can do is $20 and 78 likes

[@bgsbrito]

@@drumphil2006 sold

[@MarsFKA]

A billion years from now, when everything that we have ever built on Earth has crumbled into dust, when the continents are changed beyond recognition, and our species is unimaginably altered, or extinct, the Voyager Record will still speak for us. Carl Sagan

[@StormsandSaugeye]

Finally someone else gets it...

[@mrwhatever9025]

True that we have no idea how many times Earth has reset itself.

[@rickkwitkoski1976]

@@mrwhatever9025 Yes we do. Five major times and several minor times. A 6th major time is happening right now.

[@BartvanderHorst]

Or was hit by a rock within a hundred years.

[@bboi1489]

2 billion years later on a distant planet: "Broken Ancient Space disk may have been a message from another planet."

[@mont9150]

this is the hardest easter egg so far in the universe

[@p-5199]

Yeah

[@deathvai364]

YET, remember that the biggest Easter egg is yet to come

[@pryt0n180]

@TXSTDMMY god is real depends on what u think if u think god does not exist, god does not exist, if u think god exists, god exists. there are infinite realities so there will be realities that god exists and that god doesnt exist but we dont know if our reality is that if god exists or not but i think god exists because of course who made us who made the universe

[@johnthefool8462]

@@pryt0n180 We can only believe on one thing we are not special noone made us we made our selfs so if there is live beyond that there is no god and if theres no life beyond then there is a god but after keep thinking that basic life can happen by water then i believe we dont have a god and there are more life beyond

[@PanzerkampfwagenausfTschechosl]

@@johnthefool8462 once again. That is what you believe. But you can never be sure. None of us can. It just depends on if you believe or not.

[@LoganCovers91]

It's quite ironic that this message meant for other alien species can't even be read by 99% of the species that made it.

[@slidex4535]

99.999999999999999

[@ADEehrh]

Maybe we wanted to do our best to look as intelligent as possible.

[@dsp4392]

It definitely highlights how ignorant of the basic laws of our universe most people are. But the message was not meant for any individual to be deciphered, it was meant to have the most chances of any alien _civilization_ to be able to decipher. You can't just send a map to a remote planet and expect any idiot alien to figure it out. The golden record is meant for aliens with a workable knowledge of physics and math, the only potential universal language we know of.

[@stevethea5250]

@@dsp4392 Don't forget the language of love

[@festethephule7553]

@@stevethea5250 Not as prominent as lust with regards to biological organisms. After all, the goal is to reproduce, nothing else. So that's a much more common language between biological organisms.

[@MrPartyWaffle]

I can only imagine, through my own feelings, what an alien might be feeling the moment they get that circle. It gives me a feeling of wonder.

[@christianreynolds1324]

This makes me rethink all the crazy symbolism in ancient Egypt and other civilizations around the world.

[@purinm6545]

Plot twist: this ends up on a planet where there are other humans and it becomes that planet's biggest mystery.

[@TemptedL9Gaming-Subscribe]

There's a picture of a human from earth that looks just like a dude from that planet

[@astronaut6418]

GUYS STOP. This is giving me a headache

[@ultra_axe7812]

Postiviitea well, they will have our location

[@brandonjames4675]

yeah its happened to us, aliens brought a story/photo of jesus/god and now its our mystery on understanding if its a real thing or a bunk

[@pukk6094]

Brandon James what? I’ve never heard of that?? Edit: don’t believe in it but still curious

[@ContinuEntertainment]

NASA: Sends gold disk to aliens Aliens: These idiots don't have email?

[@captainmarvelous1221]

😂😂😂

[@impulserr]

u mean galaxnet? Imagine u send files and upload is done before ur finger finish mouse click

[@someinternetbox168]

riten we wouldn’t be using a mouse

[@emanifung6806]

The Catmother LMAO

[@22subsnovideos98]

Bruh 😂😂😂

[@thetinysideoftiny7625]

The fuzzy, blurred, black and white images at the end, set to the melancholy blues music was haunting in a beautiful, artful, timeless way. I imagined another race of beings viewing this a million years from now and it gave me chills.

[@luigidisanpietro3720]

Galactic Imperialist: Hmmm... I wonder which civilization should we conquer next? Assistant: Sir, we found a crude disc that advertises the location of a far away civilization.... Galactic Imperialist: Oh, how convenient!

[@yeahwellll]

Imagine aliens with an IQ of about 20 finds it and they just use it as a frisbee Edit- to the people replying to this comment taking it completely seriously and literal: yall might be dumber than the aliens im talking about

[@Hpmanenz]

They like "Cool a space frisbee"

[@davids7476]

C is for Cookie and dats good enough for me.........***CRUNCH, Ah yum yum yum!

[@Microphunktv-jb3kj]

Iq 21 is down syndrome... pretty sure they can't even throw a frisbee, and some if can... inadequately

[@kerbalstar5309]

LOL

[@davemarco7014]

Well it will just burned up in there atmosphere

[@daveroll6463]

In reality: Aliens: *find the golden disc* Also Aliens: *blind and deaf with a very different body structure*

[@stephanieblopes]

David Reoul Hahaha, this would happen.

[@sukhad374]

You just.K.O.

[@hitroy1054]

**disc squashes microbe**

[@trwygon]

what if they have religions and they think its a gift from god or something like that and dont let anyone analyse it because that would be "doubting God" :00

[@lilmeatevan]

So we’re talking hellen Keller here ?

[@stefanmaster2099]

fun fact: when our star burns out, the golden record may still exist and will be the last relic of humanity

[@simotamihnea3109]

Just imagine aliens actually receiving this and not be able to decode it because it's too complicated, then they throw it away

[@WTTDoesGeography]

Bro do you think aliens would throw away something recieved from SPACE? I don't care how barbaric they are, if they can catch a sattelite then they CAN decide it

[@newheadstart]

😂

[@colony8286]

Nasa creates a map were earth is, aliens visits, military shoots its down Aliens: man it was a trap

[@chris_ez]

Underrated comment

[@raffyrodriguez9777]

Alien be like: f*k this cave mans

[@colony8286]

@@raffyrodriguez9777 lmao pretty sure they already have flying cars

[@WittyOriginalUsername]

So you also saw Starman

[@vanilla5930]

@@colony8286 more than that lmao

[@michaelb4538]

Alien's : But we stopped making record players a trillion years ago.

[@v4l3nt1nn]

the Universe in 14.5 bilion yo. way less than 1 trillion

[@MDzaki-uk2ll]

Oh well, big oof

[@michaelb4538]

@@v4l3nt1nn why be a trillion years old? When we can be a billion years old. No, but you are right yes. I didn't really think aliens were having discussions about record players either but as people say it's only a really bad joke.

[@michaelb4538]

@@MDzaki-uk2ll ha

[@tinytreehugger1]

@@michaelb4538 mike hunt. good one.

[@F-35BLightningII]

One day, we are going to get something similar here on earth. And when decoded, it states. *_Be quiet, or else they'll find you to_*

[@official-obama]

once we find it in the crater and read the message, it adjusts its propellers and flies back

[@DanSlotea]

Interpreting the drawings and decoding the disk knowing already how it was made is a pretty easy and straight-forwatd job. Whoever or whatever finds it might have different concepts that don't match the authors' ideas.

[@rastari9679]

NASA lowkey tryna promote they mixtape and give them a soundcloud link

[@brivvy]

😂

[@3blindmices]

I’m weakkk

[@Dualusional]

I died as soon as I read it.

[@sooph1e]

LMFAO!!😂😂 Now I kinda want it to be true🤣

[@basstrap6818]

"Gave"

[@lolbit5119]

imagine if the thing just falls in a black hole

[@girlgarde]

Then 300 years later, it comes back massively upgraded into a giant spaceship who thinks that its creators are fellow robots and that we Humans are an infestation keeping its creators from contacting it so it seeks to wipe us out. Also, it regards organic lifeforms as not true lifeforms even though we talk to its probe, react to whatever it does and do all sorts of things that proves that we're lifeforms. Why? Because it likely absorbed organic hating robots at some point......

[@natplayz1989]

Oof

[@Ob_Bashar]

@@girlgarde V'ger

[@tristansgaming7048]

Then it well be spit back out another one

[@katrina6984]

@@girlgarde that honestly sound like a really good plot.

[@Mintymondos]

Voyager 1: * crashes into a alien sea with life* Da fish: ay other fish I found a cool piece of junk”

[@TheMR-777]

Man your statement had so much potential

[@jana31415]

i really hope we get an alien golden record as our first sign of extraterrestrial life soon i really wanna see how other species would do this

[@glitz4942]

when aliens play the other side they will be like ' oh man this side is broken '

[@OphelyaGMS]

This comment is super under appreciated.

[@superNova5837]

Lol

[@glitz4942]

@@OphelyaGMS 😅

[@stephenaviaspace5056]

Humans be like meanwhile on earth: I hope they see the pictures. Aliens meanwhile: is this a small model of thunder?

[@jayantahuja1986]

Wah bete, tum to bde heavy driver nikle 🤣🤣🤣

[@pdawg6949]

Aliens: *find the disc* instead of decoding the image, starts vibin to the noises

[@seelz1136]

task failed successfully

[@carolinacalazans7905]

They be like 😃💃 just dance!! Us: 👁👄👁

[@charles7075]

Bruh😁😂😂😂😂😂

[@azmysalim9144]

Wkwkwk🤣🤣🤣

[@thatdude034]

That's kinda the point though. The disc also contains music.

[@44Bigs]

Decoding the images using Excel is a great illustration of how the chosen encoding held up for 50 years.

[@Dazlidorne]

7:36 I must admit, this is amazing.

[@eerice704]

Imagine how terrible it would be if the Voyagers crashed into a planet with aliens smart enough to decode the records, but the records got destroyed

[@cndvdxyhjblbilg]

Someone reply to this guys comment please

[@MaestroToken]

@@cndvdxyhjblbilg ok.

[@Issar137]

That's just depressing ,thank you.

[@AngelMartinez-kj4dh]

I read about something similar to that... basically ( I forgot where I read it, sorry ) The whole point for the the Voyagers is to be captured while on space, just like if we had any Alien technology we would try our best to capture it and make sure it doesn’t get destroyed. Well that’s what at-least we are hoping for

[@Rjc2k2]

Even the crash site of the voyagers would be enough to tell an advanced civilization that there's life on other planets, what are the chances our satellites look exactly like theirs? If the civilization is advanced enough to send resources out to space, theres a chance that they would send a similar disk, or capsule of their information back into space

[@Tarmac_Tales]

Reply from Aliens - K

[@larce4158]

Nah they'd just leave us on read.

[@AardvarkXYZZY]

Who dis?

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

"Send more Chuck Berry!"

[@fiercelypolygons3696]

*5 minutes later* *DESTROY PLANET EARTH, WE MUST CLEANSE IT OF ITS FILTH*

[@fransfrans5228]

Or it could be worse like "rawr xD"

[@colboy123]

Thank you! This was really helpful, we appreciate your help a lot

[@55giantsfan22]

Ive never seen it broken down like this, pretty crazy

[@sleepingseb4312]

can't imagine how mad would an alien be when he finds it like wtf why didn't they just send us a picture book

[@XxZigiixX]

Why do you think they used solid gold for the disc?

[@davidlamb1107]

​@@XxZigiixX The same reason -- radiation

[@boardman1061]

*receives “book”..... the aliens are blind*

[@reeeeko3600]

@@boardman1061 lmao, I know where you got that from (-、-)

[@omdavbu]

The golden records has a projected shelf life of 2 billion years... I don't think stacked traditional media will last that long.

[@emptytrashcan33]

What if the alien just replied "i have a bf lol"

[@DINKEZA]

LOL UNDERRATED

[@EduardoHerrera-fr6bd]

'taken lmao'

[@LNLBD]

Or "I like you as a friend."

[@alcatraz1044]

HAHAHAHAH😆

[@emptytrashcan33]

@@abhinavchaurasia9258 father earth went to buy a carton of milk

[@PiroSly]

love this episode, it means so much yet people forget

[@cheetahsflame1279]

Thank you for this i was really struggling with decoding this i just found it while traveling around

[@strawman9246]

Two adolescent aliens find it and start playing frisbee.

[@rapidrabbit7175]

Or if not frisbee, they melt it down and use it to replace fillings in their teeth . . . assuming they have teeth of course.

[@dallast8379]

They'd pawn it for space drugs

[@strawman9246]

@@dallast8379 Alien rapper wears it as a necklace.

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodfa8051]

@@dallast8379 then during an alien drug bust the record gets found and sent to the alien government then decoded and BAM we got some extraterrestrial liTTLE shiTs here

[@djblaze2395]

Straw Man I’m dead 😂😂

[@yxxnie]

"We made it as easy as possible to understand" Oh yeah, even I, a human, can't understand those...

[@insanezombieman753]

thats cause you dumb af boi

[@boinman6799]

Insane Zombieman oof

[@yxxnie]

@@insanezombieman753 Dumb eh? You won't understand the drawings on the record if they didn't explained it. Now what if you're the alien? Will you understand it? No right? There's no one that will explain it to you. Think twice before you say something, you're the dumb one, not me.

[@insanezombieman753]

@@yxxnie lol calm down dude im just joking

[@yxxnie]

@@insanezombieman753 oops sorry dude I have a bad mood today. Sub to PewDiePie btw

[@Confron7a7ion7]

I think the important thing about the records isn't if they can be decoded. Let's be real, our species will be long gone when, or if, they are found. The important thing is that it demonstrates that at one point life on another world not only existed, but was smart enough to send any kind of message at all into space. Imagine how we would react to finding an object that was both clearly unnatural and clearly not human made. Even if we had no idea what it was. It would forever change how our species sees itself.

[@wilkinsle1987]

Imagine if the voyager did a full loop and arrived at earth 200 years later with people discovering it not understanding a single thing.

[@lightflame_669]

lets hope they donate $3 to wikipedia once they find it

[@bena7153]

Lmao

[@markdavidson2607]

Are u nuts wikid loves u.???

[@FelipeVanDerDonckt]

i did

[@abhishekagarwal787]

that's one of the best comments ever

[@saadawan5502]

I almost killed myself laughing 😂😂😂😂

[@7elep]

He had to fly all the way into space to get that disc, This man has some serious dedication.

[@mikeoxmaul45]

Wake me up when someone needs wooooshing

[@cosmiccake791]

Ok

[@khabardar1919]

😂

[@nikolaivikturski4557]

@@mikeoxmaul45 found the redditor

[@princessloveheartglitter]

Was a joke

[@NoobMaster-we6ll]

Aliens - "This goddamn Egyptians are trying to contact us again with this symbols"

[@sillystephys7123]

Yes. This was a great idea. Let’s tell them where we are and how we are literally made. Bravo hippies

[@thatoneindiankid1097]

The catch is that this disk will still be floating around in space when we all are dead. That gives me chills

[@stepdadofacrab5008]

It’ll probably be destroyed by an asteroid or, if it finds its way into a habitable planet, it would burn up in the atmosphere. Maybe it’s already been destroyed, who knows

[@quesopez98]

@@stepdadofacrab5008 it’s almost impossible to be destroyed by asteroids, and I’m pretty sure there are heat shields on it

[@vinzer72frie]

@@stepdadofacrab5008 it will never cross its path anything they will have to catch it moving

[@hazardeur]

@@stepdadofacrab5008 i am sure there is some nerd here that can calculate it better than me but the chance of hitting anythign in space by accident is infinitessmally low. especially if it goes out of the solar system into interstellar space, which it probably already did

[@pjbj12]

IKRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[@likeabossgaming7427]

Aliens replied I have a boyfriend

[@3blindmices]

JHON CARLO OBOGNE lololol

[@yasisoufi]

JHON CARLO OBOGNE 😂🤣 I might have fallen in love again.... looking up at the stars .. waiting for him to come to me ...😂😂😂

[@californiabrotherhood8114]

JHON CARLO OBOGNE or may be they incade us thinking we are making weapons of mass disintegration.

[@plasticage2085]

Aliens: SENT MORE CHUCK BERRY

[@burningmatch09]

Nah, they'd probably leave us on read.

[@randompopsiclecat7012]

imagine finding this in an escape room

[@R3CKLESSRHINO]

alien finds it and wears it as a necklace 😂

[@Zhiar]

>alien finds record >goes on KZbin >watches this video >likes this comment

[@davidzatica408]

>goes to reddit >nice

[@sorrychangedmyusername3594]

>sees Area 51 meme >ayy lmao nice

[@Mark-yb1sp]

Zhiar Ali I was feeling bad tonight until I read your comments. Now I feel pretty good. Thanks Zhiar.

[@thatboyxavion]

Lmaooooo😂😂

[@emmett3067]

>Discoverts Redtube >Never seen again

[@help9918]

the golden record is probably earth's most fire mixtape.

[@williamchen1040]

take this dub

[@minotaur953]

It’s a copy of sgt peppers

[@danielgomez2741]

It got gobbled up by a black hole.

[@rwirwillie487]

It went golden on billboards

[@thewalrus829]

@@minotaur953 Goo goo ga joob

[@nittosstudio]

Im glad you made this video, if the aliens have any trouble deciding they can just KZbin this 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@Jim54_]

I wonder if you could use the clockwork radio principle to power a probe that won’t be needed to be activated for decades, or possibly even longer. Like a probe sent to Alpha Centauri perhaps, with Solar Radiometers on the probe to both activate the probe as it nears the Solar system its aimed towards, and recharge the clockwork mechanism like a giant self rewinding watch that never stops running. The electronics would have to be powered like a clockwork radio, negating the need for batteries or Nuclear power, which will degrade over extremely long periods. This is the issue with the voyager probes as they age, despite the fact that the electronics and computers within the probe are functioning perfectly after nearly half a century of constant use. The probe would have to be large and capable of making independent decisions, which may require a large amount of older hardier computer chips. You could even go a step further, and have small landers on the larger probe that could be fired and directed towards other planets. They could be hardy probes, with a self contained non rechargeable clockwork power source of their own. Preferably a hardy probe to gather planetary data quickly, similar to the Venetian and Titan probes of the past. The only issue would be having a secondary rechargeable clockwork mechanism to power the transmitter, which would have to be very powerful for the extremely long distances to earth. Storage of information until broadcast would be vital. If Spacex can reduce the cost of launches further, perhaps we could have a mother ship probe that could launch smaller satellites like a Clockwork Cassinis, to examine planetary systems and their moons, as well as launch the aforementioned smaller probes This is a bit long winded and hypothetical but, its worth thinking about

[@416cz2]

Imagine a Dj alien finds it and uses it for a sample pack 🎧

[@Giovanna-tw5zz]

DJ ALIEN 😭😭😭😭

[@fia5594]

defo gonna be a banger

[@bathin813]

You guys are hilarious

[@dave2.077]

are you implying aliens are familiar with hiphop culture

[@papiangelus]

Universe type beat

[@theantichrist6307]

Alien 1: I can't decode this darn thing. Alien 2: Forget it. Let's go blaze it up.

[@boomer19]

**whips disc back into space**

[@nev861]

@@boomer19 yeets disc back into space

[@xyrenaxypot9100]

@@nev861 alien dog caught it

[@eltigretomrr]

I’m just imagining that a civilization with the IQ of 15 find it and breaks it, trying to use it as a frisbee.

[@Parzzyval]

Someone commented the same thing four years ago. Nice job trying to copy.

[@eltigretomrr]

@@Parzzyval why do you care so much lol.

[@therealspeedwagon1451]

Now the only catch is: how do they find this thing? Think about it. This is a teeny tiny record on a tiny probe floating through the vast eternal emptiness of space. Calling it a needle in the haystack is a gross understatement. This would be like finding a single special grain of sand on all the beaches around the world.

[@feceh5832]

Imagine gold is extremely rare in their civilization and by sending the disc, we single-handedly crash an alien economy.

[@brandy6040]

the most human thing we would ever have done

[@tyler89557]

We already crash our own economies. What's the economy of an alien civilization or two?

[@berrylicious674]

I've read a comic with aliens that live in a sort of water planet, and their most rare item is "Pulasti" or plastic lol

[@SoshoKozadokaGojiraChargedUp]

BOOM, GOLD BOMB

[@Roozyj]

Honestly, if they find out what it is, I doubt it would be sold. If their civilisation is similar to ours, it will be researched throuroughly, maybe even crowdsourced. And if it were to be sold, I don't think the value would come from the materials.

[@bashergamer_]

Imagine one of these words being offensive to aliens lol

[@zinho9169]

@@jakeisfortnite7751 You ever heard of a joke buddy?

[@Glandov]

@Jonathan Rodriguez yo just leave him alone plz.

[@Glandov]

@@kyloren7070 all I'm doing is just to stop cyber teasing. I'm not trying to be a hero. Just doing what all other people should do...

[@jttekton]

ｈｅ ｍｕｓｔ ｂｅ ａ ｐａｒｔｙ ｐｏｏｐｅｒ ｏｏｆ

[@Einargizz]

"I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle."

[@elijahvincent985]

In easy terms, these signals are just modified NTSC signals slowed down to 1 line every 1/60th of a second. It even worked for me on the online WAV2PNG convertor by changing the speed of the recording at a specific number (44100 hz to 16000 hz).

[@kelvinxyz]

I dont aliens are gonna ever decode this complicated frisbee

[@berks10]

1. Aliens find disc 2. Invade Earth 3. Nasa: *Insert pikachu meme*

[@decomposing_while_alive2002]

Shocked Pikachu face

[@iaw1stperson]

GloriousTapeworm lol wtf, no it’s not

[@KalemStLouis]

Duck Sauce perhaps but perhaps life evolved differently than here, what is also most likely. Maybe predators do not exist on other planets.

[@mikeoxsmal8022]

@GloriousTapeworm No most allen woundn't do that. The more advance a culture is the more peaceful

[@givemeyoureggs456]

@@mikeoxsmal8022 what if they just see us like animal tho?

[@notforeverbg1276]

Imagine if aliens found this and they said, "its another one of those insects trying to talk to us, just throw it in the pile of discs from the insects"

[@ButWhyMe...]

I have no doubt that if aliens (the smart ones) actually made contact with us, it will end just like Christopher Columbus. Or at the most, they will think of us like animals or insects.

[@Shzy.]

What if in those insects (our created imaginary god exists?)

[@ButWhyMe...]

@@Shzy. Nothing? Tbh I don't think anything would happen. But am I glad to see someone (else) who sees god as imaginary!

[@Shzy.]

@@ButWhyMe... because it doesn't make sense God here on earth matches every (fantasy) of humans! Be slave then you're good if not then you will end up in hell These concepts sound like ancient events rather than a God who is running entire and beyond Universe God can't be that small man! Nah universe is so diverse and our concept are so tiny on earth!

[@crispywings9066]

@@Shzy. shut up

[@slavicprincess]

They really need to do this entire mission again

[@Nanamowa]

I think all future space probes should include higher res versions of the same information we put on the disk back then along with new information given our increased ability to compress information today, given that we can still reliably compress the information in a format that could survive for thousands of years in space like a ceramic or golden disk.

[@wailfaridi2070]

So we're counting on aliens having MS Excel to decode the pictures lol

[@ShadowViking47]

Excel is not that complicated. Ever graph a line by plugging values into a function in your math class? Excel is just doing that.

[@wanyekest3253]

ShadowViking47 yeah but how do we know if aliens have excel or even know what a straight line is on a golden record we dont know anything

[@ShadowViking47]

@@wanyekest3253 You're underestimating how universal this type of simple math is. Excel is just software to plot data points. Graphs are just what we humans use to represent that data. They could use something completely different but it would still depict the same idea.

[@anonymoushuman8443]

We expect aliens to know what a record is 🤦

[@rav8149]

They put a TV in that thing. So they should be good.

[@tearssssss9292]

Imagine if we received one back sayin “u ok hun? x”

[@sophieminter0]

Or if it said "Renegade renegade."

[@DorfVG]

@@sophieminter0 or just "k"

[@crystalsampson7988]

Or u up still?

[@kayy2510]

Or we got left on read

[@EVGore]

@@kayy2510 or 'haha fairs x'

[@utsavpoudel645]

Thanks for helping to decode , Our planet just figured out about yours

[@julieta203]

Aliens : man not another Golden Record (throws it on huge pile)

[@godschosenpeople5084]

I’m sure the Egyptians thought hieroglyphs were going to be very simple to crack too lol

[@AAGAMINGYT]

Go fuck yourself. Just so you know you went against gods words by having a land without a messiah. "Gods chosen people" my ass

[@olas701]

Lol

[@fructosecornsyrup5759]

@@AAGAMINGYT You sound hangry, friend. Have you eaten a snickers bar yet?

[@cyco781loco1]

AA Gaming go have a joint a calm the fuck out

[@Youtuber11776]

were*

[@164hozey]

So y’all telling me that someone already snitched that we out here

[@AurielleAurora]

hahah

[@zoharborage6609]

Yeah.......unfortunately we have to suffer because the smart idiots... think it's smart to give out our area code.

[@mahlononthemoon2728]

lol

[@ceagst]

​@@zoharborage6609 As if we'd still be here if the disk is ever found.

[@trevic1346]

if we get invaded.. im blaming nasa

[@Fiddlestickswastaken]

Thanks bro, just came across the disk and couldn’t decode it. Thanks for the help!

[@SgtJoeSmith]

a thousand years from now aliens will call nasa tech support to see how to decode record

[@ryokautsarchannel8229]

Alien when they found golden record: look! Human still uses these lmao

[@digitalsolution8483]

Haaha

[@MakelBelieve]

🥺be nice 👽

[@StevenAkinyemi]

If they are smart enough to know it is a record, then they are smart enough to know it is outdated.

[@doges_6864]

What if the aliens are simple that just act like animals eat, kill, sleep and dont ride Spaceships *it is possible*

[@axel7541]

@@doges_6864 Then they won't find the record. It's as simple as that. The record is meant to be found by an intelligent specie more advanced than we are today , because there's such a slim chance of the record ending up on a planet, so the aliens are supposed to find it in interstellar space. If there are animal -like aliens out there, this record is not for them.

[@mikahherrera8691]

Aliens: weird flex but ok

[@amouramarie]

This is genuinely how I think aliens would react lol. "Okay, kid. Yes, yes, we see you. Good job."

[@jennifer1087machel]

🤣

[@tirza1752]

dead meme but ok

[@vladimirvilliani6732]

lmfao

[@sashabasha449]

The best way of communicating is pictorial style, like ancient Egyptian left their massage in pictures.

[@lilyb023]

aliens aren’t gonna know that our lines represent numbers that represent words that represent audio seconds that you have to extract or something.

[@user-ks5gh5dn5c]

When I was in high school, my physics teacher told me that he wouldn’t be surprised that if one day we developed a telescope that could see far enough into the universe only for us to find ourselves staring back into it. I think about that a lot.

[@wolfetteplays8894]

Futurama reference

[@Nonamelol.]

This could have many different interpretations, what did he mean?

[@user-ks5gh5dn5c]

@@Nonamelol. I think he meant how interconnected everything is

[@smeradiotv1319]

She was wise

[@Nonamelol.]

@@smeradiotv1319 He

[@jcmdfgdfg3df]

This is the video aliens will watch when they find the Golden record and search in KZbin for a tutorial "How do decode NASA golden record"

[@dogz7506]

Lmao

[@BlueFlagAlpha]

lmao

[@evilpapaya4634]

Lmao

[@donthompson3793]

Lmao#4

[@edgarcetino1231]

Ayy lmao

[@newbie4789]

Imagine the alternative reality where we are the ones getting the golden record. It will be Epic

[@AJ___USA]

I honestly don’t think any other life forms will ever find this but if they do, that would be amazing and proof of our existence

[@Slowstopper]

Nasa: leave a hint to where our planet is Aliens: Ha we got em boiss

[@sin4477]

if they ever invade nasa gets taken out first

[@sgt_tyguy5930]

The public: I hope we find aliens NASA: I hope aliens find us

[@hemipemi]

Aliens: I hope they don't notice us

[@notyourfriend-li7rq]

It's obvious that they have to find us and not the other way round.

[@CyrilViXP]

Aliens could be not very friendly, you know. Evolution is not very humanistic thing

[@notyourfriend-li7rq]

@@CyrilViXP I agree. The exact reason why Hawking didn't want the message to be sent out !

[@yc_knight6370]

It will be better if they find us

[@shockostrichpaak640]

Love the images having scale references like an alien knows what a kilometer is lmao

[@g.cordero8512]

Thank you for this explanation. ¿How can I get the record associated to images?