Ann Druyan Embedded 1 Minute of Brainwaves on Voyager Record as 2 Probes Crossed Into Interstellar Space
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · May 28
Ann Druyan Embedded 1 Minute of Brainwaves on Voyager Record as 2 Probes Crossed Into Interstellar Space
1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · May 28
Summary
An hour of Ann Druyan’s heartbeat and brainwaves, recorded at Bellevue Hospital on June 3, 1977, was compressed into a 1-minute segment hidden within the Voyager Golden Record’s “Sounds of Earth.”
Druyan proposed the EEG experiment after asking whether future aliens might decode human thought; during the session, she focused on Earth’s history, civilization’s problems and, near the end, her newly declared love for Carl Sagan.
The analog-encoded signal now sounds like rapid bursts rather than recognizable thought, and current neuroscience offers no way to read it without the original brain, moment and a decoding framework that does not exist.
That private neurological snapshot is still bolted to both Voyager probes’ 90-minute records: Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012 and is now about 15.8 billion miles from Earth, while Voyager 2 followed in 2018.
Could today's AI finally decode the 50-year-old love letter embedded in the Voyager Golden Record?
Beyond technology, could an alien species ever grasp the human concept of love from a silent brainwave recording?
If we sent a new message to the stars today, what personal human experience would we choose to send?
Sending Love and Knowledge: The Billion-Year Legacy of the Voyager Golden Records
Overview
The Voyager Golden Records are humanity’s enduring message to the cosmos, traveling aboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft far beyond our solar system. Designed to last for billions of years, these records serve as a time capsule for any future intelligent life. The probes are powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which convert heat from decaying plutonium into electricity, but they lose about 4 watts of power each year. Careful power management is needed to extend the operational lives of the probes, which in turn prolongs the journey of the Golden Records through interstellar space.