Imagine you’ve been hired by Elon Musk to create a golden record type project for a space probe leaving Earth today.

Select 3 examples of music, sound or noise that you would include. Include links (if possible) of your choices.

Now I’m not sure if I’m cheating with this pick but to be quite honest I think it deserves a spot either way. Rush’s 2112 is a seven part rock opera set on a planetary scale. Regardless of alien-life’s ability to understand the human speech in this song the sheer variety of sound and texture in each distinct part earns it the spot on this golden record.

 

This pick is less about the specific audio clip itself and more the idea it stands for. This golden record project is going to focus more on planet earth as a whole, not to focus so much on the creations of human beings. For that reason I’m choosing to include the sounds of one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on planet earth, the Amazon Rainforest.

 

Finally I am going to add an audio clip of the first 24 harmonics in the harmonic series. I am curious as to what alien-life would make of these frequency ratios. Since the harmonic series is what much of western music is based off of I don’t think it is far fetched to say aliens might have some experience with it as well.

 

With these 3 audio clips I want to diversify sound as much as possible on this golden record. With Rush’s 2112 I want to show aliens part of human culture, and how we perceive a future galactic government. To add to that, I honestly just want to teach aliens how to use rock to fight against, “the man.” As I explained above, I want the sounds of the Amazon Rainforest to show intergalactic life how creatures on earth live and interact with one another. Finally I want to pose a question to alien life with my last clip. I want to know if they have studied the harmonic series as we have. I want to know if they can recognize it and if their understanding of it is anywhere close to ours.