Message in a bottle
actually...on a silicone nano wafer
What message would you leave to the future? Or other planets?
That’s the question being asked of us on the 50th anniversary of the Golden Record being carried into deep space in a time capsule from Earth in 1977. Then, there were greetings in 55 languages, laughter, whale song and music, including from Yolngu people. On the anniversary of that, we are all being asked if we would like to record our one message to go into deep space. But you only have until tomorrow!
What on earth can we say?
Help.
We are sorry.
Come save us.
Humans are the very best and the very worst of creatures.
One message already recorded says
“Hello friends in space, I’m nine years old, and I live on Earth. I love looking at the stars at night and imagining who might be out there, I want you to know that we’re curious about you and hope you are happy where you are.”
The project lead here in Australia at the Powerhouse Museum recorded her message in Arabic which translates as:
“I would like the universe to remember that we carried contradictions within us while searching for meaning. That we were human beings who dreamed, made mistakes, loved, and created memories.
“That our story was not only about our achievements, but about the small moments between us, our love, our uncertainty, our constant attempts, because that is what made life worth living.”
Messages to others are always about who we are. A project like this seems to give us opportunity to reconnect as humans and as earth dwellers. I find this appealing, as algorithms and hate politics divide and atomise us, it’s reassuring to find something to unite us. But it’s not simple. Where to begin? My thinking has veered wildly over the last few days. Of course I am over thinking and over complicating but in some ways this project ( which let’s face it, I probably won’t record anything for) is acting as a device for me thinking about where we or I stand right now. In some ways I feel like the human race, or much of it, is like a Thomas Hardy protagonist writ large. For those unfamiliar with Hardy novels, many of his protagonists have what we called at school, a “fatal flaw” or what Aristotle calls hamartia, which seems to mean something like “ missing the mark”. His characters fall victim to their own pride, jealousy, blind acceptance of fate, rigid moral codes, excessive idealism, vanity and impulsivity. I think even a cursory glance at the rise and fall of empires across time might identify pride, arrogance, blind allegiance to a moral code or vanity as part of the downfall. Sure droughts, invasion and political upheaval all play a role too…but maybe as a collective we have a built in obsolescence. In earlier times the fall of the Roman empire or the Ottoman empire didn’t threaten most of the planet’s living creatures. Empires now ( think nuclear weapons holders, Russia, United States, China, France, United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea) in efforts to enforce or maintain power put us all at risk.
So is my message something around how it’s been good while it lasted but our time is up?
Or do I lean into my generally hopeful nature? Sure the planet is warming, and our system seems about to collapse under its own weight. But maybe, just maybe, and hopefully something new takes its place. Tim Hollo in his recent dispatch from Between the Days referenced this beautiful quote from mycologist, Merlin Sheldrake
“Composers make; decomposers unmake. And unless decomposers unmake, there isn’t anything that composers can make with.”
“And in unmaking, of course, you are actually making as well.”
It’s comforting to me, this unmaking as making idea. Breaking something down to make something new. Like compost. Or unravelling a jumper to make a new one. Sarah Wilson talks about this a lot in her latest book ( which she has been writing in installments) and Tim Hollo himself centres this idea “between the no longer and the not yet”. I find hope in my friends’ children who are turning their back on notions of competition and attainment and exploring simpler, more collaborative and cooperative ways of living. Despite Trump and Trumpism, Afghanistan, the rise of unfettered AI, mass extinction and our warming planet there are signs of hope: community solar farms and the overall increase in renewables, early detection of some cancers, mass community connection movements and the reemergence of the western quoll in NSW, after being thought extinct.
So I think my message to deep space/to myself would be
How to explain earth and humans to you? Being human is hard. And wonderful. This earth is full of magnificence and joy and sometimes we forget that. We can behave badly, thinking we as a species, or even a part of that species are better than other parts or other species….but we will do better.
The sheer improbability and serendipity that I am here on this planet right now in this form, able to leave a message for parts and beings unknown is not lost on me. How remarkable that is.
I feel better already.
If you do want to send a message you can do that via The Powerhouse website. But hurry.