An out of world record

For those of you who don’t regularly keep up to date with your astronomy, it might be news to you that the spacecraft Voyager 1, the farthest travelled man-made object, will soon be leaving our solar system, making its gradual way deeper into space and further away from our blue little planet.

When the Voyager 1 was first conceived, its creators, including the revered Carl Sagan, had the difficult task of creating a time capsule that, if found by an alien species, would successfully portray the large variety of life and culture that the Earth is home to. They came up with the ‘Golden Record’, a mixture of (amongst other things) noises from Earth, greetings in 55 different languages and an assortment of musical pieces, hoping that through at least one of these items they could portray to some superior species that there is other life in the universe.

Sure, it sounds like science fiction, but the interesting part of the story of the Voyager 1 is not whether aliens ever find it (which unfortunately, no one in our lifetime will find out), but instead what Sagan and his colleagues must have thought when confronted with the task of how to describe an entire planet with so limited resources. What should they put in it? Which people should get the most representation? Will it be understandable? Weird questions, yes, but questions that I feel we can so easily related to as the world descends on London for the Olympics.

It’s hard not to notice the similarities between Sagan’s task and that of Danny Boyle’s, the director of the Olympic Opening Ceremony in London. Of course, Sagan’s problem was significantly harder as at least Boyle only has to represent a few million, not a few billion and hopefully, the viewers of the ceremony will all at least be from the same planet. Yet, I can’t help but feel that the two undertakings had the same underlying issues, culminating in the difficult question: what is the best way to represent such a mixed and varied culture?

In response, Boyle has been far from coy. With £27 million in hand, his ‘Isles of Wonder’ is hinted to be a smorgasbord of Punjabi music, a history of worker’s and women’s rights and a rousing recital of ‘Hey Jude’, with a few countryside animals thrown in for good measure. With Boyle promising an angelic British countryside theme, the opening ceremony looks set to be one of the most interesting and perhaps unusual displays of Britishness ever.

Unfortunately, though, I think we should be wary. As the Olympics approach, it appears that its organisers have at certain points, dismissed the traditional for the more avant-garde. With the choice of Muse’s ‘Survival’ for the official anthem (which sounds more like an ode to a post-apocalyptic Darwinian future) and the well-thought through idea of having two bizarrely named mascots that look like a cross between a Cyclops and an overweight R2D2, it seems we are missing the point. Instead of trying to represent us, the Olympics so far have put art before heritage, failing to properly show the traditions and cultures that make up Britain. If any more evidence is needed, I only need to point to the Olympic logo, which everyone has seemed to have forgotten is just a group of some indeterminate, badly drawn shapes.

Danny Boyle’s job is not one that I envy, and with the opening ceremony fast approaching, it will be one that will come under increasing scrutiny. With the world watching, perhaps it’s best for Boyle to take the perspective of Sagan all those years ago and to try and think of what the ceremony would show about London if presented to someone not from this world. If he does so, maybe he will be successful in truly creating a British ‘Golden Record’; not some arty, designer’s creation that has no link to the rest of the UK, but something that presents a little bit of each of us to the world. It’s a daunting responsibility that will not be without mistakes, as I’m sure Sagan realised himself (especially when he attached a letter from Jimmy Carter, something that will dismiss to any extra-terrestrial the possibility of intelligent life on Earth), but it is a responsibility that can bring some much needed patriotism to these islands. We must just hope that he gets it right.