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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
Cualquiera que sienta fascinación por la astronomía, está familiarizado con este proyecto de Carl Sagan. En una pequeña cabina de metal, nuestras voces, rodeadas de oscuridad y silencio, continúan su viaje infinito por el espacio interestelar. Es loable la pasión y visión planetaria de todos los que participaron de una forma u otra del lanzamiento, diseño y comunicación de los Voyager.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Murmurs of Earth was so fascinating that even the acknowledgments were worth reading. The book takes 3 approaches to providing the story of the message that we strapped to Voyager and sent out to the stars. Of course the odds against a random projectile message ever reaching any other intelligence are daunting, yet the project was carried out with admirable conviction.
We are first given an idea of the effort that went into planning the contents of the message. What might seem like a trivial or novel task was taken on by a team that wanted sincerely to produce a most genuine artifact of the people from Earth. They were forced to work within the constraints of both the medium and the politics of such a project which of course meant that the final product was not the most perfect representation of our rich diversity. We are treated to an insider's look at the decision processes involved and I'm convinced that no such endeavour could have been perfect.
The next part reads like a bit of a random stroll through culture and history. More fascinating content to support the value of the choices made, however I thought that some few portions of this section bordered on irrelevant to the story. (In particular some of Beethoven's background)
Finally the book helps us imagine where our message is going. Given the publication date we could perhaps acquire better information about this now but it's uniquely rewarding to read the optimistic views of the people involved with the project and their own hopes given the limitations that they expected.
We are first given an idea of the effort that went into planning the contents of the message. What might seem like a trivial or novel task was taken on by a team that wanted sincerely to produce a most genuine artifact of the people from Earth. They were forced to work within the constraints of both the medium and the politics of such a project which of course meant that the final product was not the most perfect representation of our rich diversity. We are treated to an insider's look at the decision processes involved and I'm convinced that no such endeavour could have been perfect.
The next part reads like a bit of a random stroll through culture and history. More fascinating content to support the value of the choices made, however I thought that some few portions of this section bordered on irrelevant to the story. (In particular some of Beethoven's background)
Finally the book helps us imagine where our message is going. Given the publication date we could perhaps acquire better information about this now but it's uniquely rewarding to read the optimistic views of the people involved with the project and their own hopes given the limitations that they expected.
“We are Robinson Crusoe on island Earth - inventive, resourceful and creative, but alone. We scan the rim of the horizon for any passing ships that might be sailing the star-encrusted ocean. Hoping to make contact, we call across the vastness of space, cupping our hands to our mouth to shout, ‘Hello out there! Is anybody home?’”
I was surprised to find that this book had far fewer reviews than I expected, which is a shame because it’s such a gem. If you start feeling a bit too misanthropic, this is a great book to restore your faith in humanity and your sense of wonder. It’s a fascinating story of an almost impossible task. How do you fit everything that matters about Earth and humanity into one golden record? How do you write a message for a civilization completely unlike our own, possibly millions or billions of years into the future? How can you express the wonderful diversity of humanity in an hour and a half of sound and images? It was very interesting to learn about the reasoning behind the carefully selected music, images, messages, languages, and diagrams. The music especially was my favourite. I found myself running to YouTube while reading, to look up recordings of the pieces mentioned, and discovered some incredible music. Everything was carefully chosen to give as much information about humanity as possible; our bodies, our environment, our families and social connections, our activities, our values, and our desire for connection even across the vast distances of interstellar space. The golden record was the work of many dedicated people in not quite enough time. It’s an ode to humanity’s love, curiosity, and loneliness in the midst of an incomprehensibly vast universe. The chances that Voyager will ever be found are extremely slim, but if it is, I hope the recipient might be able to understand the depth of the message we tried to convey, even if we aren’t around to hear the answer.
“The record says: however primitive we seem, however crude this spacecraft, we knew enough to envision ourselves citizens of the cosmos. It says: however small we are, something in us was large enough to to want to reach out to discoverers unknown, in times when we shall have perished or have changed beyond recognition. It says: whoever and whatever you are, we too once lived in this house of stars and thought of you.”
I was surprised to find that this book had far fewer reviews than I expected, which is a shame because it’s such a gem. If you start feeling a bit too misanthropic, this is a great book to restore your faith in humanity and your sense of wonder. It’s a fascinating story of an almost impossible task. How do you fit everything that matters about Earth and humanity into one golden record? How do you write a message for a civilization completely unlike our own, possibly millions or billions of years into the future? How can you express the wonderful diversity of humanity in an hour and a half of sound and images? It was very interesting to learn about the reasoning behind the carefully selected music, images, messages, languages, and diagrams. The music especially was my favourite. I found myself running to YouTube while reading, to look up recordings of the pieces mentioned, and discovered some incredible music. Everything was carefully chosen to give as much information about humanity as possible; our bodies, our environment, our families and social connections, our activities, our values, and our desire for connection even across the vast distances of interstellar space. The golden record was the work of many dedicated people in not quite enough time. It’s an ode to humanity’s love, curiosity, and loneliness in the midst of an incomprehensibly vast universe. The chances that Voyager will ever be found are extremely slim, but if it is, I hope the recipient might be able to understand the depth of the message we tried to convey, even if we aren’t around to hear the answer.
“The record says: however primitive we seem, however crude this spacecraft, we knew enough to envision ourselves citizens of the cosmos. It says: however small we are, something in us was large enough to to want to reach out to discoverers unknown, in times when we shall have perished or have changed beyond recognition. It says: whoever and whatever you are, we too once lived in this house of stars and thought of you.”
A bit of a random assortment of facts at times and there are bits that are dated, but overall it just makes you feel so good about being a human