Voyager's 125 pictures

[Javster]

http://imgur.com/a/1Mv7k?gallery

I found a collection of the 125 images Voyager (I think 1) had stored on it.

Quite interesting how it has everything from maths to what the planet looks like to polar expeditions to foetuses...

[Technical Ben]

Interesting. I'd say assuming that the recipient is "scientifically advanced/minded" is a bit of a strong assumption. Starting with biological images, instead of the general ones. Might be a bit scary for whoever reads the message!

I've always been told, take each step at a time, and teach the person as you go. So the series of photos/images would be best in reverse really, starting with general pictures, and ending with the atomic structures, dna and the map back to earth.

Though I believe the only persons ever to see this again are going to be humans, it's still an achievement to put it out in space and see where it goes.

Edited November 11, 2014 by Technical Ben

[Kryten]

I have no idea what the heck is going on with this one;

Obviously the first two are continental drift, but the last one?

[Dodgey]

It's still continental drift just look at the years.

[Godot]

I´d assume that aliens might be confused by the pictures.

But I definitely like that they included a picture of Jane Goodall and her chimpanzees in their picture collection

Edited November 11, 2014 by Godot
Added Pic-Link

[Kryten]

It's still continental drift just look at the years.

It's only 1 million years, and the continents are still in the same places. Look at australia; that's not drifting, that's some kind of uplift or sea level drop. Look at the middle east; it's not split or distorted, it's just gone.

[Sky_walker]

Mandatory knowledge for any alien civilization:

[Javster]

Mandatory knowledge for any alien civilization:

https://i.imgur.com/G4c2XXr.png

"We've discovered an alien civilisation as advanced as we are. We still can't crack what that "SENATE" is..."

[magnemoe]

It's only 1 million years, and the continents are still in the same places. Look at australia; that's not drifting, that's some kind of uplift or sea level drop. Look at the middle east; it's not split or distorted, it's just gone.

10 million years not one.

To me it look like Africa hit southern eurasia, Spain, Italy and middle east is crunched by this, then they separates.

Much of the same in central america

10 millon years looks a bit to short for so much changes.

[magnemoe]

Mandatory knowledge for any alien civilization:

https://i.imgur.com/G4c2XXr.png

More fun, aliens million years in the future.

I recommend an mission to intercept and change this to the current senate.

[FishInferno]

Well we apparently don't want aliens to know about war, famine, poverty, and the moon lading.

[Sky_walker]

"We've discovered an alien civilisation as advanced as we are. We still can't crack what that "SENATE" is..."

Walter F. Mondale... that must be some important message if it's in a second line. But we can't decipher it.

And all these words made of just one sign... they are so common, and all marked with dot... what does it mean?! We thought that dot means end of a sentence, but with deciphering this graphic... we are completely clueless what it means now.

Seriously - next to some meaningless buzzwords - this is probably the most stupid thing I could think of when trying to teach aliens a language and make them understand written text. Actually, forget it - buzzwords would make more sense on that than the list of senators and committee members.

It's still continental drift just look at the years.

Yea, that hand on the right side must have been the hint that helped you solve the puzzle, wasn't it? Cause I'm sure any potential Aliens would try to use it for deciphering the message. Especially when till now many graphics were illustrating a scale of an objects, so it must have been something quite small...

But I definitely like that they included a picture of Jane Goodall and her chimpanzees in their picture collection

That's one of the most confusing pictures in a gallery, actually. You know the context, so for you it's easy, but imagine for a moment, that you don't. You can't recognize humans (might as well by 3-legged robots) and these black things at the bottom - two look like a stones, or black plants, or some weird geological formations, and one black creature is touching these two things? Is it even a creature? Or... wait, there were some photographs about food - perhaps these black things ARE food. Good. We'll try it next time visiting Earth.

In terms of photographs though, probably this one, bottom, is the most confusing if you don't know the context:

Look at the middle east; it's not split or distorted, it's just gone.

Is that some secret US plan to get rid of the problem?

(yea, yea, stupid joke, couldn't help it....)

Edited November 11, 2014 by Sky_walker

[Technical Ben]

Well we apparently don't want aliens to know about war, famine, poverty, and the moon lading.

Never good to turn up at a neighbours just to moan. Bring some cookies (I believe the disc is gold, perhaps they eat that? ) and have a nice chat going over the "holiday" snaps.

[Aethon]

I have no idea what the heck is going on with this one;

Here's a chapter from an old book which lists the content of both Voyagers and others. It may help figure out what is what.

http://www.xenology.info/Xeno/24.3.htm

[Aethon]

Seriously - next to some meaningless buzzwords - this is probably the most stupid thing I could think of when trying to teach aliens a language and make them understand written text.

Have you ever heard of LINCOS? Its a mathematical language that some suggest could be used to communicate with other intelligences.

It's about a quarter of the way down this page.

http://www.xenology.info/Xeno/24.2.4.htm

[Camacha]

Strange to think that this might very well be the only thing left of humanity one day. All right, one of a handful things, as other probes are out there too.

[-Velocity-]

I´d assume that aliens might be confused by the pictures.

I don't think you give aliens enough credit. We live in the same universe. The aliens are either biological beings that evolved, are artificially evolved biological beings, or are machines that are aware of biological beings and that they exist and how they work. They are not stupid. I'm pretty sure they understand that the same 3 dimensional object can take on a different 2D shape when viewed from a different angle. They're very likely to use vision, though even if they evolved in a cave and have no eyes they'll still have learned about electromagnetic radiation. There are so many pictures of humans that they have to understand that humans are the ones who built the probe. Anything else would not be logical. We show DNA and they'll recognize its ability to be used in chemical life- so they'll know what a human looks like and that they use DNA. I could go on and on, but the point is, aliens and humans would have some very significant things in common- mainly that we all experience the same reality, the same laws of math and physics, and certain basic logic within this reality is universal. Aliens and humans should have some common ground to communicate, and I think it's silly to think otherwise- it's taking the idea that aliens could be very different than us way, way, too far. Though I suppose they could be so far advanced of us that they might not consider the messages they're sending to us true communication, similarly to how we can't talk to dogs but we can crudely communicate with them on a more basic level.

What medium could they have printed the photographs in that would actually last billions of years (or even millions of years) in space? Shouldn't radiation break down the chemicals that give the pictures color on astronomical time scales?

[Camacha]

There are so many pictures of humans that they have to understand that humans are the ones who built the probe. Anything else would not be logical.

You say this, but what if the probe itself would be some kind of life form? It will be dead in the electronics sense when they find it. Who's to say those humans in the pictures are not pets, or a notable life form from its planet? You reason from your own perspective, but if you look at the different Earth cultures and how they can totally misinterpret each others customs - even if we are the same branch of life and even species - these beings might be more alien than you think. They might pick out unimportant details as highly relevant and ignore the to us obvious messages.

I mean, the specific combination of materials might be the message instead of some scratches in one of those materials, right?

Aliens and humans should have some common ground to communicate, and I think it's silly to think otherwise- it's taking the idea that aliens could be very different than us way, way, too far.

What a dangerous assumption I pretty much assume they would be completely different, maybe even not recognizable as life. Don't forget even the creatures on our own planet are strange and diverse enough to have people disbelieving their existence when you show them a picture.

Edited November 11, 2014 by Camacha

[magnemoe]

You say this, but what if the probe itself would be some kind of life form? It will be dead in the electronics sense when they find it. Who's to say those humans in the pictures are not pets, or a notable life form from its planet? You reason from your own perspective, but if you look at the different Earth cultures and how they can totally misinterpret each others customs - even if we are the same branch of life and even species - these beings might be more alien than you think. They might pick out unimportant details as highly relevant and ignore the to us obvious messages.

I mean, the specific combination of materials might be the message instead of some scratches in one of those materials, right?

What a dangerous assumption I pretty much assume they would be completely different, maybe even not recognizable as life. Don't forget even the creatures on our own planet are strange and diverse enough to have people disbelieving their existence when you show them a picture.

They would understand that the probe is an simple spacecraft. Probably had something similar earlier. Yes details would be different but the overall design is easy to understand.

Probably easier than the images.

Lots of the activities would also be reconcilable like building, probably also eating, its however an decent chance they would see the chimpanzee as humans in some outfit.

Yes its a lot of weird life forms on earth, intelligent life with an technological civilization puts plenty of restrains on it. Or say it another way, most weird alien designs would not work as well as humans, either they have worse manipulative organs than hands, or better with the cost of poor mobility who would be an serious evolution disadvantage before they become toolmakers and evolution slows down.

[Javster]

I am very surprised that they didn't include the Moon landings. I'd assume you'd want other civilisations to see your space-related achievements.

[magnemoe]

I am very surprised that they didn't include the Moon landings. I'd assume you'd want other civilisations to see your space-related achievements.

They had an astronaut in space.

Someone who manage to find the probe will have lots of deep space activity and would not be very impressed anyway.

[DerpenWolf]

I have no idea what the heck is going on with this one;

http://i.imgur.com/sskzYp8.png

Obviously the first two are continental drift, but the last one?

I bet the last one is in the future so that any aliens that find the probe have a good idea on what the earth looks like at the time.

I'm very surprised at the lack of any moon landing pictures, you would think that a picture from the moons surface with the earth in the background (and or the lander) would be a top choice for a photo.

Also a Nuke going off might be an interesting choice, but that might send the wrong message...

Edited November 12, 2014 by DerpenWolf

[Sky_walker]

Also a Nuke going off might be an interesting choice, but that might send the wrong message...

Nuke? Where? There is no nuke.

[-Velocity-]

You say this, but what if the probe itself would be some kind of life form? It will be dead in the electronics sense when they find it. Who's to say those humans in the pictures are not pets, or a notable life form from its planet? You reason from your own perspective, but if you look at the different Earth cultures and how they can totally misinterpret each others customs - even if we are the same branch of life and even species - these beings might be more alien than you think. They might pick out unimportant details as highly relevant and ignore the to us obvious messages.

The aliens are not stupid. A microscopic examination of the probe would show lacks the complexity to contain an intelligent mind, and isotopic and elemental analysis would show it was powered by the radioactive decay of plutonium 238, whose decay products would still exist, in the correct ratios. It would be a very simple machine to them. Now, perhaps they DO recognize it as a form of life- they might, and some humans already consider machines as having a simple form of sentience. However, they'll recognize that the probe cannot have constructed ANYTHING itself, it didn't have an intelligent mind, and it doesn't appear to have any means of replication. It thus must have been created by something else, something more complex. Meanwhile, if the pictures survive, they show a bipedal creature that uses tools and has five-fingered hands. The most logical conclusion is that these creatures were the ones that created the probe. There are other explanations (such as the message being some sort of deception), but none of them are as simple and likely. You think that the aliens will be so stupid they might not even be able to apply Occam's razor? Without basic logical skills like Occam's razor, science is impossible, and they would never have achieved spaceflight anyway.

I mean, the specific combination of materials might be the message instead of some scratches in one of those materials, right?

It's hard to imagine a being that communicates by constructing messages out of metals, ceramics, etc. That is a HIGHLY inefficient method of data storage. Nature abhors such inefficiency. It is this very optimization towards efficiency and common sense solutions that makes it so likely that aliens and humans will have some common ground to communicate.

Meanwhile, they'll be smart enough to recognize that the structural layout of the probe is not a message either, it was necessitated by how the probe had to work. They'll know we're an alien species, have very different minds, and thus we need to seek a simple method for writing a message. Sure, they may look for messages in the chemical composition, but they would be absolutely stupid not to recognize as meaningful a clearly-designed pattern scratched into a gold disk, that appears to have no functional purpose.

What I AM more doubtful of is whether they would recognize the message as a message to THEM. However, the subject matter of the message, and the context in which it would be discovered, gives a massive hint as to why the message was sent and who it is for. They might have a hard time understanding why we would want to send a message to them, but how is an intelligent civilization ever going to evolve without curiosity, without a drive to explore? Again, we will probably have a common enough background with them that the message's purpose, and its contents are at least mostly understood.

What a dangerous assumption I pretty much assume they would be completely different, maybe even not recognizable as life.

Not sensible. There are thermodynamic, chemical, and evolutionary reasons why life should be recognizable. Even highly advanced machine life will still be recognizable as such.

[John FX]

I have no idea what the heck is going on with this one;

http://i.imgur.com/sskzYp8.png

Obviously the first two are continental drift, but the last one?

I think that is how the continents will look when voyager gets to the nearest star. If not then whoever finds it can extrapolate what the earth looks like then.

EDIT :

You say this, but what if the probe itself would be some kind of life form? It will be dead in the electronics sense when they find it. Who's to say those humans in the pictures are not pets, or a notable life form from its planet?

That`s the plot of Star Trek: The Motion Picture

V`Ger,

A sentient being that evolved from Voyager 6, a fictitious space probe (inspired by the real life Voyager probe) from the 20th century that vanished into a black hole and was given life by a race of living machines. The damaged probe was found by an alien race of living machines that interpreted its programming as instructions to learn all that can be learned, and return that information to its creator. The machines upgraded the probe to fulfill its mission, and on its journey the probe gathered so much knowledge that it achieved consciousness.

Edited November 12, 2014 by John FX