The record is, as Sagan said, “a message in a bottle, cast into the cosmic ocean.” It was also apparent to me—and has been stated in the past by those involved with the project—that the recordings had been curated with a distinct reverence for the diversity of life on our planet. A collection that includes a thunderstorm, sheep-herding calls, and a chimpanzee vocalization is a purposeful signal of this world’s interdependencies. If we want our fellow interstellar voyagers to know us, they must know Earth. They must know that we are in companionship with other beings, other forces of nature, on
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