>run Events.exe

eu sem você

.something happened

space probes and football

I read 17776 about a week ago and besides being totally blown away and in love with the concept, it also got me thinking. Now I, being a fanfic lover (as many on this hellsite are), ran to ao3 for fan content as soon as I could. And, of course, I ran to Tumblr as well. And then I maybe fell down a wormhole.

Those who are familiar with the story will know that JUICE mentions this plaque on Pioneer Ten with naked people on it. We don't get a ton of context for that, so I obviously Wikipedia'ed it because what else was I supposed to do? Just accept the fact that a space probe had naked people on it and move on? I think not.

Here's a photo of the plaque, for reference:

So, to quickly break down everything on there, it's clearly a man and a woman in the nude, and then we have the hyperfine transition of hydrogen in the top left (don't ask me what that is; I have NO CLUE), a radial pattern to show the distance of pulsars to the sun and center of the galaxy?, and then, of course, the solar system at the bottom and a silhouette of the spacecraft at scale behind the people.

All this detail was reserved for two plaques: one on the Pioneer Ten and one on Pioneer Eleven, from 1972 and 1973 subsequently. At this point we've lost contact with both probes, whose purposes were pretty much to observe space and the solar system. The inclusion of the plaques was purely to provide some sort of information on the Earth if the probes were at any point encountered by intelligent alien life.

Next I want to turn my attention to the Voyager Golden Record, two identical records made for about the same purpose as the plaques that were launched on their crafts in 1977. What's interesting is that we still have contact with the Voyager probes, whose original missions were to explore far reaches of the solar system but have since moved far beyond the Sun and into interstellar space and are reporting on that.

Now, the records carried on Voyagers 1 and 2 contain sounds and images of the Earth, including over a hundred photos and sounds of human life, greetings, and music. The records also have many engravings similar to that of the plaques on them.

17776 posits that we live in a universe with no other intelligent life, and that people are perfectly okay with that. But all evidence of these "time capsules" says otherwise. All evidence says that people are always looking to space for more -- for answers that space may not be able to give.

I think that if we really were alone on this planet, it would be terrifying. Again, 17776 poses the idea that humans inherently seek out play above all other change. But isn't exploration play in itself? Isn't play just another form of discovery? And if it is, isn't space exploration and discovery inherently human?

I think people have by far accepted that there is a nonzero chance of aliens existing. And in a universe that is, for all intents and purposes, infinitely expanding, a nonzero chance is practically a confirmation, isn't it? Even in a universe as insanely empty as 17776's, I can't imagine humanity giving up on that small chance that we're not alone out here.

The idea that we're not unique in our existence is strongly non-creationist, which I will admit freely. It belies the fact that we are not a chosen people after all. But I think that we have a built-in desire to not want to be alone in the big, dark universe. Not a pale blue dot within infinite vastness, but rather part of a larger group.

Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object in space ever. I think that's incredible. Maybe one day, extraterrestrial life will stumble upon our probes and play our records and hear the whale sounds recorded on them. Maybe they won't. But all signs show that we want them to.

Here is your mission.

What Strength Really Means 💪

✅️ Vetted by @gazavetters {537}✅️

Hey everyone, my name is Abdelmajed. I don’t usually talk much about myself, but today, I want to share a little piece of my story.

I was born and raised in Gaza, a place that has always been my home 🏡. I grew up surrounded by my family, my friends, and the streets that I knew like the back of my hand. Life wasn’t always easy, but we had love, laughter, and dreams. I used to think that no matter what happened, home would always be here. But life has a way of changing things in ways we never expect.

Over the past months, everything I once knew has disappeared. The streets that were once filled with children playing are now silent. The houses that held so many memories are now just rubble. And the people I loved—some of them are gone forever. 💔

✅️ Vetted by @gazavetters {537}✅️

Chuffed

Help Abdelmajed Escape Gaza and Rebuild His Life

My name is Abdelmajed, and I am a survivor of the war in Gaza. Everything I once knew has been taken away—my home, my safety, and the people

First comm done for @polybiusplayer !! Thank you for donating again <3

Want something like this ? Want to help a Palestinian directly ? Check out my post on it !!