Images Which Will Be Found By Aliens Billions Of Years From Now

By on November 3, 2012 in News 6

More on MIT artist in residence Trevor Paglen’s previously discussed Last Pictures project, which involves sending a satellite into permanent “graveyard orbit” whose cargo is a “nano-etched silicon disc” which will not deteriorate for billions of years. The disc will contain a hundred images to be seen by beings of the distant future, offering a window into the existence of humanity and planet Earth. Via Wired, the images selected for immortality are rather macabre, including:

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  • Andrew

    A person is supposed to be of sound mind when making their last will and testament, but I guess that’s not an option for the human race.

  • Anomaly_of_Anomie

    Cool idea but the images couldn’t be more bleak, boring and nonsensical.
    Who are these people that claim to speak on behalf of mankind?

  • BuzzCoastin

    it’s reasonable to assume that people millennium ago
    decided to preserve information they thought valuable for future observers
    so far
    we have understood nothing of what they left

    this project is likely more of the same
    the great tragedy of humanity is that
    it cannot store and preserve knowledge for longer that a few hundred years

    • Enheduanna

      That’s an absurd idea. We can read millennia-old texts in dead languages. Information preservation works fine, and indefinitely, provided the materials last and aren’t lost or destroyed.

      • BuzzCoastin

        humans on earth = ~ 1 million years
        historical record = ~ 4000 years
        really accurate historical records = ~ 500 years

        yeah, it’s an absurd idea
        I like all the reliable accounts of great archeological sites:
        Stonehenge, the Pyramids, Göbekli Tepe, Atlantis, Easter Island, Machu Picchu, the pre-Hawaiian architecture in Hawaii, the Kingdom of Fu Nan, Angkor Wat

        I stand corrected

  • DrDavidKelly

    Perhaps billions of years is a bit too long?