Should AA "Tetons" be on Voyager 1 + Voyager 2 (launched 1977)?

[Heroique]

Chances are you’ve heard about the Voyager Golden Record placed on Voyagers 1 and 2 – a playable golden disc with sounds & images to help educate any intelligent life about the life and geographical features of our planet, especially its human civilization.

Its contents were selected for NASA by a group headed by the popular scientist, Carl Sagan.

However, did you know that among its 116 images (actually 115, since the first is for calibration), image #43 is AA’s “The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming” (1942)?

I presume the Sagan-led team chose this image to communicate, or suggest, what the earth’s geographical features “look like,” and if so, I may not be the only one who’s curious whether the team considered the image’s significant manipulation (or “considerable printing control,” as AA explains in The Print). Many of us, that is, might consider this image quite a “departure from reality,” and at risk of misleading, to some degree, any intelligent life that might come across it. On the other hand, AA does say that he tried to keep all its values “logical,” and perhaps this is what helped the image pass the audition, get on board, and fly among the stars.

But setting aside the prickly “Reality” word for now – if you were a member of Carl Sagan’s team and asked to recommend a single AA image for inclusion, would you have chosen this particular image – or another? What reasons would you give for your selection?

[dsphotog]

Oh no, aliens will think this planet has 10 zones, but no color!

[Daniel Stone]

Not sure about another Ansel Adams shot for sure, maybe 'Monolith', since it shows such a sense of grandeur and sheer scale:

http://blog.syracuse.com/shelflife/2008/02/adams.jpg



Now, if (I) were an alien looking for a new planet to call home, and the "Tetons and Snake River" was a representation of "Earth", I'd probably move on to the next galaxy

But if they included a picture of a young Ursula Andress on the disc, I might reconsider giving earth a 2nd look



-Dan

[Vick Ko]

ha ha, this thread did motivate me to see the other photos. "Teton" seemed to fit right in.

[Vaughn]

Daniel, Grand Tetons, to be sure!

[Brian C. Miller]

Interesting that the United Nations building is on the disc twice. Maybe they figured the aliens would get lost in New York, and needed a land mark. (Of course, a lot of photos are "courtesy" of the UN.)

"Tetons" is fine by me. What I would have done, though, is not used any stock (snap-shot quality) images. These discs will be the remainder of the human race. So why cheap out on it?

[BrianShaw]

... a playable golden disc ...

Playable on WHAT? I read on the internet that aliens are well beyond both analogue and digital technologies.

[Jac@stafford.net]

I do not know what they were thinking. They could have put a B&W and a color image (not of AA's) to inform them that we see in certain colors.

As for decoding ... oops. More later.

[Heroique]

Daniel, Grand Tetons, to be sure!

That was hilarious! Maybe the “Snake” has a symbolic role to play too.

Now, about decoding and play back:

Here’s what NASA says about the format for the images & sounds – and how intelligent life is supposed to play the disc:

...The golden record is encased in a protective aluminum jacket, together with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions, in symbolic language, explain the origin of the spacecraft and indicate how the record is to be played. The 115 images are encoded in analog form. The remainder of the record is in audio, designed to be played at 16-2/3 revolutions per minute...

Wow – the images, including “Tetons,” are analog. I thought they’d be digital. The analog format will likely cause a condescending remark or two from the intelligent alien who comes across it.

[paulr]

The analog format will likely cause a condescending remark or two from the intelligent alien who comes across it.

If the aliens are hipsters they'll think we're the coolest planet ever for sending them an LP.

But seriously, I'm distressed by this. Bill Clinton's family vacations to the Tetons raised the popularity (and the prices) of the valley beyond what I'd ever imagined. Now we're going to add rich extraterrestrials to the crowds.