Fun fact! The nudes on Voyager actually got censored because people complained about the nudes on Pioneer, but then they snuck them in anyway with the scientific documents.
After NASA had received criticism over the nudity on the Pioneer plaque (line drawings of a naked man and woman), the agency chose not to allow Sagan and his colleagues to include a photograph of a nude man and woman on the record. Instead, only a silhouette of the couple was included. However, the record does contain “Diagram of vertebrate evolution”, by Jon Lomberg, with drawings of an anatomically correct naked male and naked female, showing external organs. The person waving on the diagram was also changed: on the Pioneer plaque, the man is waving, while on the “Vertebrate evolution” image, the woman is waving.
It’s so ridiculously short-sighted! Like who’s it going to offend, the endless screaming void of space? Also, imagine if we found a probe from an intelligent alien civilization full of data about them, except for what they looked like which was mysteriously blacked out lol
Unsolicited nudes too.
Fun fact! The nudes on Voyager actually got censored because people complained about the nudes on Pioneer, but then they snuck them in anyway with the scientific documents.
From Wikipedia:
This is why it’s a bad idea to let Americans represent all of humanity 🤦
It’s so ridiculously short-sighted! Like who’s it going to offend, the endless screaming void of space? Also, imagine if we found a probe from an intelligent alien civilization full of data about them, except for what they looked like which was mysteriously blacked out lol
I assume you are an expert on this matter and contributed to the most recent METI radio attempt.
You don’t have to be an expert to know that censoring anatomical drawings meant to explain human biology is not just moronic, it’s counterproductive.
I’m actually a big fan of American people in general, but the prudish old religious people who have most of the power are frequently ridiculous.
This is a prime example of how science and pandering to the prudes don’t mix.
Would you feel better knowing that the one European (Kurt Waldheim) voice on the golden record was a literal Nazi member and was involved in genocide?
🙄
The mental paralympics.