gosh but like we spent hundreds of years looking up at the stars and wondering âis there anybody out thereâ and hoping and guessing and imagining
because we as a species were so lonely and we wanted friends so bad, we wanted to meet other species and we wanted to talk to them and we wanted to learn from them and to stop being the only people in the universe
and we started realizing that things were maybe not going so good for usâ we got scared that we were going to blow each other up, we got scared that we were going to break our planet permanently, we got scared that in a hundred years we were all going to be dead and gone and even if there were other people out there, weâd never get to meet them
and then
we built robots?
and we gave them names and we gave them brains made out of silicon and we pretended they were people and we told them hey you wanna go exploring, and of course they did, because we had made them in our own image
and maybe in a hundred years we wonât be around any more, maybe yeah the planet will be a mess and weâll all be dead, and if other people come from the stars we wonât be around to meet them and say hi! how are you! weâre people, too! youâre not alone any more!, maybe weâll be gone
but we built robots, who have beat-up hulls and metal brains, and who have names; and if the other people come and say, who were these people? what were they like?
the robots can say, when they made us, they called us discovery; they called us curiosity; they called us explorer; they called us spirit. they must have thought that was important.
and they told us to tell you hello.
this is far and away the most popular post i ever made on tumblr. people have asked me if they could illustrate it, people have asked me if they could turn it into a novella, people just messaged me to say it made them cry. that means more to me than i can say.
you probably heard that the mars opportunity rover died today.Â
it was hard news to hear. i cried at my desk at work. it doesnât make it easier that it was only supposed to run for 90 days at all; it doesnât make it easier that it lived 14 years longer than it expected to. it lived a full life. it lived a very good life. it was the first set of eyes on miles and miles of mars. it was an explorer, it was tough, it was very, very brave. and none of that makes it easier, none of that makes it okay that it is not going to sing happy birthday to itself again.
about a year ago, my childhood cat died. i loved her more than anything. i donât live near my family any more, and i wasnât there for it, but my parents were, and they held her while her body gave out, and they say she knew she was with them, she knew she was loved.
i know opportunity was a computer inside a movable body, and not a person, or even an animal. still, i wish it had had people to hold it. i wish it had been with the people who cared for it. it seems very hard to me, to die so far from home.
but i think - to the extent to which we can say computers âknowâ things, which i think is a great deal; i think knowing is most of what computers do; i think if they have a consciousness, knowledge must be nearly all of it-
i think opportunity knew it was loved.Â
every couple of months i dream that iâve gone home and my catâs there. even now, even though my grieving is over and done with, i visit her in my dreams, and i hold her, and every time, she purrs. she missed me. sheâs so happy to be with me again.
thatâs a very human thing, dreaming of what weâve loved. what weâve lost. dreaming things that outlast death. like robots, and singing.
âThey called me Voyager. They said to give you this record made of gold. It says, âHello Friend! Hello! We hope you are well. We hope you are happy. Have you eaten? Come visit us when you have the time, we would love to meet you!â.â
Voyager 1 will lose all power to its Low Energy Charged Particle Instrument this November, 2026. After that, all it will have left is its data tape recorder. It is unknown when this instrument will fail. Voyager 1 is the farthest from earth we have ever sent anything. Her sister, Voyager 2, and the younger New Horizons, are the only three things we have sent out of the solar system that are still transmitting back to us.
But only the Voyagers have our voices carried with them. And not only human voices speaking English, but voices speaking over 55 languages, living and ancient; all are words of welcome. Some even include invitations, askings after health, and wishes for joy and peace. My favourite is Punjabi, which says not merely âwelcomeâ but âWelcome homeâ; and Amoy, which includes âHave you eaten? Come visit us when you have the timeâ. Not just human voices, but also humpback whales, and the sea, and the birds, and the animals, and the rain and the thunder. We get told the golden record is about âusâ but I donât think it gets emphasised itâs about ALL of us, not just humans. We didnât want to show the universe just humanity, we wanted to share EARTH.
And I cry about that a lot. Iâm not ashamed to say that. I am crying right now as I type this. Because I think thatâs just an incredible testament to send out into the universe. Iâm so grateful that our legacy will be one of the BEST of humanity, the best of us. Iâve said before, for all the petty problems (and they are PETTY, no matter what governments say) of money and war and power and violence and labour that occupy too much of everyoneâs lives, none of that is on our first messageâperhaps our only messageâout into the universe. There is no sound on that golden record of screaming, of crying, of coughing, of guns or pain or work, of shareholder numbers or stock prices or kings. There is only singing and joy and invitations from friends. There is only the distilled essence of what humans are:
Hello, friend!
Have you eaten?
I hope youâre well!
Come see us!
We love you!
We love you!
We love you!
