The Golden Record Remastered: A Cosmic Mixtape
Studio 360's Kurt Andersen
What message would you send into the depths of space to represent humanity?
That was the challenge faced by Carl Sagan and a select group of scientists, technologists, and artists in the late ‘70s in advance of the 1977 launch of the Voyager spacecraft. Voyager left Earth carrying messages for our cosmic neighbors: the Golden Record. The record described Earth and its human inhabitants to potential extraterrestrial civilizations in an attempt to — as advisor B. M. Oliver expressed it — “appeal to and expand the human spirit.”
Science Friday and Studio 360 re-imagined the Golden Record in anticipation of its 40th anniversary with an evening of art, science, and exploration. The evening was presented in collaboration with The Greene Space, Groupmuse and WQXR and featured performances by the Ulysses Quartet and Tenth Intervention as well as a discussion with Studio 360’s Kurt Andersen, writer and blogger Maria Popova, Science Friday’s Ira Flatow and WQXR’s Terrance McKnight.
Watch the entire show:
Presented with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.