A profile of humanity: the cultural signature of Earth's inhabitants beyond the atmosphere

Abstract

The eclectic range of artefacts and ‘messages’ we dispatch into the vast expanse of space may become one of the most enduring remnants of our present civilization, but how does his protracted legacy adequately document the plurality of societal values and common, cultural heritage on our heterogeneous world? For decades now, this rendition of the egalitarian principle has been explored by the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence community in order to draft theoretical responses to ‘who speaks for Earth?’ for hypothetical extra-terrestrial communication strategies. However, besides the moral, ethical and democratic advancements made by this particular enterprise, there remains little practical exemplars of implementing this garnered knowledge into other experimental elements that could function as mutual emissaries of Earth; physical artefacts that could provide accessible details about our present world for future archaeological observations by our space-faring progeny, potential visiting extrasolar denizens or even for posterity. While some initiatives have been founded to investigate this enduring dilemma of humanity over the last half-century, there are very few comparative studies in regards to how these objects, time capsules and transmission events collectively disseminate content about the aggregate of our species and the Earth system it inhabits. This catalogue, assembled for extended study as part of the Beyond the Earth foundation, is intended as an initial, dialogic step towards evaluating such a ‘profile of humanity’. This investigation will endeavour to collate all cultural resources that can presently be garnered from spacecraft (non-mission orientated, cultural material that conveys an impression of Earth) and non-terrestrial transmissions (electromagnetic signals that are intentionally aimed off-world to embody humanities’ evolving, philosophical identity) in the expanse beyond our planetary borders in order to cross-analyse how we presently illustrate the diversity of our planet before, subsequently, deducing how we could appropriately depict our collective human civilization [and biosphere] within deep space and cosmic time.

Speaking Out to Outer Space – An Analysis of the Humanity's Messages to Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life, 1962–2018

“…All these messages score high on the San Marino Scale (above 5; see above). Selection is based on Zaitsev (2012), Dumas (2015), Quast (2018) as well as earlier reviews by the SETI Institute (e.g., Tarter et al 2015). The messages selected have been transmitted with the explicit purpose to be received by ETI.…”

“…The National Science Development Agency of Japan sent mosaic images to stars located in the Libra and Virgo constellation (ETA > 2147) in 1995. Images show families, 'alien' depictions, humans and a rice dumpling and tea (Quast 2018). Unfortunately, no pictures from the content, particularly those of 'aliens,' are available from NASDA.…”

SETI and Democracy

“…It is the aim of this paper to discuss what such a process might involve and how it might become to be perceived as legitimate. 4 Also increasingly felt in the literature [20,23] 5 See [37] for a comprehensive summary of METI messages 6 https://www.space.com/17151-alien-wow-signal-response. html 7 https://blogs.esa.int/artscience/2017/02/17/paul-quastman-with-a-simple-message/ 8 https://iaaseti.org/en/declaration-principlesconcerning-activities-following-detection/ 9 There a few revisions and drafted new versions of the Protocol; one modified version instead states 'No communication to extraterrestrial intelligence should be sent by any State until appropriate international consultations have taken place.…”

“…METI efforts that were advertisements for products [37]. This allows for nimbleness but not the sort of widespread public perception of legitimacy that is necessary for the sort of broad consensus imagined by the IAA protocol [27].…”

“…The purpose of the protocol and the declaration are to say that a greater degree of legitimacy is required for 20 https://yougov.co.uk/topics/lifestyle/articlesreports/2015/09/24/you-are-not-alone-most-people-believe-aliensexist 21 https://twitter.com/BritishSciFest/status/ 1171422013308559362 22 This possibility had in fact, unknown to the authors, already been implemented in the Teen Age message and the 'New Arecibo Message', which both used submissions from youths [37].…”