Stepping back to futures passed

When the earth's fried to a crisp and we've all been uploaded to a huge datacentre, what will this decade be best remembered for?'Gangnam Style'? Taylor Swift?
By The Newsroom
Published 27th Nov 2016, 16:00 BST
Updated 6th Dec 2016, 12:45 BST

The ‘80s – the 1880s – have been digitised by a Californian archive – perhaps anticipating Apple changing their connectors again, they’re committing the hits of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky to 
silicon at cylinders.
library.ucsb.edu.

Clearly having missed ‘Planet of the Apes’, in 1977 NASA’s Voyager craft set the controls for the edge of the solar system and beyond, carrying a Golden Disc. As well as being loaded with images showing how delicious earth people might be, it also contained popular music from around the world – Chuck Berry representing the US, Bach for Germany, and Andean panpipes for the UK’s shopping centres.

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Hopefully whoever finds it will be impressed that we’re sticking with the 12” album over CD.

But with space exploration back on the agenda, we need to figure out how to entertain the intrepid voyagers on those long Martian nights (particularly the nightclubs as there’s no atmosphere).

Personally, I’m all in favour of sending Oasis on the first shuttle. Admittedly we could just put a ‘Definitely Maybe’ gold disc on an unmanned craft, but I think our space pioneers deserve the personal touch.

Related topics:AppleTaylor SwiftVoyagerNASAGermany