Dowloading Musical Signs

In 1977, the Voyager interplanetary probes 1 and 2 were launched into space. Their mission was to send back to the Earth information about the outer planetary system and the limits of the solar system. Although their transmissions were not meant to last more than a few decades, the Voyagers also carry a more long lasting idea: to project our communication with the future. Both spacecrafts include a phonograph golden record containing natural sounds from the Earth and pieces of music produced by different cultures and eras. In the recorded information, one can find the first movement of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F, Azerbaijani bagpipes, Senegalese percussion, and the Latin phrase Ad astra per aspera (To the stars through difficulties) in Morse code. The hope that, in a distant future, this little piece of human culture may be discovered by an alien civilization reminds us of lost seamen sending messages in bottles thrown into the sea.