Voyager's Golden Record - Bach - WTK 2, no 1, Glenn Gould

[nikanj]

GLENN GOULD! I'm so glad this is on the disk. As remarkable as a discovery of an object like voyage would be, if an alien civilisation were able to recover it and interpret the data on this disk they would not think of the technology as very cutting edge.

Glenn Gould and Bach however, now that's something man-kind can be proud of for many billions of years.

[jumpingviola]

I wonder if some alien analyze the background noize and find that the player also sings.

[MakeSensePlz]

we shoulda sent some global warming up to ruin some other societies planet.

[electricmaster23]

I wonder if Nasa decided to repeat this experiment today... I dread the thought of Ke$ha or Justin Bieber being the staple of modern music.

[airstation828]

@electricmaster23

if anything they should just update the record to something else like a cd or something like that

but no new music, 95% of today's "music" is crap not worthy to be ascended to the darkest regions of space

maybe some zep, queen or better yet pink floyd and some modern bands but not many

[MakeSensePlz]

@airstation828 thats not fair, if anyone deserves to be sent into space it should be justin bieber!

send him to the sun mwuahaha :p

[w4wxp]

I hope the ET's don't copy the music for their society when they find this, the Record Labels may sue them for royalties when they land on earth for a visit.

[aCitySoFar]

Carl Segan (RIP) chose these, he didn't want to put Bach in that selection, he thought "they'd (aliens) think we are showing off".

Sad to think that voyager 1 & 2 may get hit by an astroid or drift in to a star, or even get caught in a gravity of some other celestial object. I think we should send more probs out there and tell them the story of our planet and people and how our intelligence (or lack thereof) is becoming our undoing.

[mrgabest]

@aCitySoFar I disagree on one point only: we are very intelligent, just not terribly compassionate.

[Ackbarfangirl]

@aCitySoFar then again it could become near omnipotent and lose bits of its name plaque ;)

[QuestionAll1]

@aCitySoFar As Carl Segan (RIP) said, it's just a bottle in a 'ocean' of comic vastness (or something like that)

I think this is more symbolic than us actually trying to make contact. But I think its a nice idea to put more of these in space.

[vanderbilt887]

Good ol' Bach and Glenn now floating in the outer reaches of the Kuiper-belt. May someday some intelligent, music-loving extraterrestrial hear this wonderful music - or let it float in spacetime for all eternity.

[rickmcarthur77]

@vanderbilt887 hopefully they'll have a damn good listen and copy it and send it back on its way so glen can cruise the universe forever.

[llcoolfei]

lovely melody, but personally i would have put the c major of book 1 on the disc!

[pieguyfry22]

what if the aliens happen to be like Grendel from Beowulf and try to destroy us all because "they herd mine ohrr"

[b0ttomzone]

well i think bach and glenn gould will now officially outlive the human race.

[Linkzcap]

What if aliens don't have ears?

[nairda55555]

then im sure they will enjoy the pictures. but i highly think it unlikley that any form of life would evolve without some form of way to sense vibrations in the air, or water, or any other gas/liquid life could exist.

[BlindAspie]

Are these the actual recordings that were pressed onto the records? the ones I've listened to sound pretty good for 1977, and I am wondering if they might be different and more modern recordings of the works that were pressed onto the golden disc. Either way, thanks a million.

[dds504]

@BlindAspie Good for 1977? Analog such as record or reel to reel tape far surpass the sound quality found on digital like cd or this compressed format and cheap computer speakers. The highest end receivers still use vacuum tubes and haven't you been to a Best Buy lately? Seen all the records on the shelves now? Its not because of nostalgia. Its because they sound better. The same technology they were using in 1977...

[eeClaytonification]

lol the aliens

"where is that humming?"

[PhillipThunderGrunge]

they should have sent out Tchaikovsky or some of Chopin's work.... :) .....

[ScottZirpolo]

@PhillipThunderGrunge Yes, it's sorely lacking in Tchaikovsky.

I thought Chopin would have been a given. Odd...

[MXB2001]

Heh...records WILL outlast CD's after all...

[CaptainBluebear08]

SO appropriate that Glenn Gould is out there, right now. He was unearthly.

[faraz1729]

@CaptainBluebear08

Well said!

[dovesfan]

Just think, Voyager is still out there and will be long after we die, the thought this could be discovered in thousands of years in some other solar system or crashed in some alien planet...is fascinating.

[Sinfoniette]

Only if they could have played it, huh.

[pidgin]

The cover explains with pictograms how to play it.

[MrZenithL]

The instructions (including the rotation speed of the record) are written in binary. To be honest, looking at the plaque, "I" wouldn't know how to play the thing. And I'm human.

[clubsandwedge]

'"I"'? lol

[loknloll]

it is fascinating. the part i love to think about is simply the idea that finding this could be the most exciting moment in the entire history of another civilization...even millions of years after we're gone.

[MakeSensePlz]

@dovesfan or smashed into pieces by an asteroid or burned to ash by a star :)

[david7000lee]

ive a gem and you've but meek flesh