Before the golden vinyl record, humanity packed another cryptic message into the cosmos, aboard the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 in 1972-73. This time it was the Pioneer Plaque, a picture message depicting two naked people and a map pointing the aliens right to Earth. Looking at this image, it's little wonder the aliens didn't get back to us. Just look at it - to send an interstellar invitation with a naked man waving welcomingly is making a massive assumption about the aliens' sexuality. The other possibility is that these nude pics might give the impression that Earth is some kind of sexually liberated paradise fully of young and beautiful nudists. If the aliens do get the message (in an estimated 25,000 years), then they'll be pretty pissed to find that most of us are fully-clothed, and not as in-shape as the image suggests. Since this plaque was sent, SECI researchers have agreed that picture messages may prove too difficult to decipher for ETs. That's probably just as well, given that we sent out a map without knowing whether the ETs are hostile, like most Hollywood films would have you believe, or friendly - like the Coneheads.
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
