A Whisper in the Dark: How the Universe Might Remember Humanity

In the vastness and the silence of space, Earth has always quietly been leaking its presence through the radio waves, spacecraft, and the encoded messages such as the Voyager Golden Record. This paper will explore the scientific area of course, but also the philosophical question: Could the traces of human civilization be detected even long after we have been gone? So, by analyzing the physics of signal propagation, entropy, space debris trajectories and other interstellar noise, this work will reflect on whether our voice will echo across the deep time or fade into oblivion. Through this inquiry, the paper will also raise some questions on the meaning of legacy in a universe which may never be answered back.

Through the earth, which has never broadcast an intentional introduction to the universe, our existence here has quietly been extended beyond our planet's atmosphere. One of the earliest and most iconic examples would be the Pioneer plaques, which were launched aboard Pioneer 10 and 11 in the 1970s. Moreover, the gold anodized aluminum plates were all etched with images of human figures and a map locating our solar system. Then, shortly after, the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft carried the now-famous Golden Record. This was a 12-inch gold-plated copper disc that contained images, music, greetings in multiple languages, and the sounds of the Earth. These messages, though sent without a known recipient, have been designed to withstand for billions of years in the cold and quiet void.

However, beyond these intentional artifacts, Earth has also been sending some unintended signals into space since the invention of the radio. The broadcasts of early television, radar, and military communications have formed a bubble of electromagnetic leakage which is expanding at the speed of light. These signals, as faint as they become, will now span over 100 light-years across the universe.

While the idea of humanity leaving behind a trail of messages in space can be poetic, the science behind all of it is far less romantic. The signals, especially those which are not intentionally amplified, can weaken significantly over the distances. The Earth’s oldest radio and television transmissions have now travelled more than 100 light-years from the planet, but by that point, they are more diffused and buried in the cosmic noise that helps detect them, which would require a level of technology that is far beyond our own.

Furthermore, according to the physicists, even a high-powered transmission from Earth becomes barely noticeable from the background radiation after a few light-years. And as the signals pass even further through the interstellar dust, plasma and gravitational fields, they will degrade even further. But in contrast, the physical and material properties like the Voyager probes may last longer, but this is only a chance if they aren't exposed to micrometeoroids, radiation or time itself. The odds of a distant civilization finding and interpreting these remnants of humanity are astronomically low, but it's not zero.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics, or entropy, also plays a huge role. Over time, all the systems tend towards disorder, even our carefully made messages. Whether it is through particle decay, stellar explosions, or sheer vastness, the universe will gradually erode information. In this sense, even if our whispers do survive the void, they may become unreadable long before they are even discovered.

However, even if humanity signals and spacecraft manage to survive the endless silence of space, the chances of them actually being discovered are unimaginably small. The space is not just large; it is almost immaculately vast. Our radio bubble has reached only a fraction of a single percent of the Milky Way galaxy. A distant civilization would not only need to be listening at the right time, but in the right direction, and with the right kind of technology, while also filtering out through the cosmic static of billions and more stars.

This same applies to the physical artifacts like the Voyager and Pioneer. These spacecrafts are not heading toward any particular star, and the odds of them being intercepted are no better than finding a message in a bottle floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean blindfolded. And yet we still cannot fully dismiss the possibility. After all, the Earth is capable of detecting signals from across the galaxy with tools like the Very Large Array and the James Webb Space Telescope. It may be that some of the advanced intelligence, millions of years later, more developed than us, could notice a strange signal from an obscure planet and choose to listen to it.

Even if no one ever finds the Voyager Golden Record, if no signal is ever intercepted, if our presence fades into background radiation, does that make it meaningless? Maybe not. Humanity has always created things knowing that they may never be seen. We write poems, paint murals, and launch spacecraft into the dark not because we expect a response, but because we feel compelled to leave something behind.

In a universe that may never ever be spoken back, our messages are less about communication and more about identity. They say we were here. They will not only capture just our knowledge, but our hope that someone, somewhere, might know we once existed. Whether or not our signals are ever received, they are already part of the cosmic record. They are our whisper in the dark.

At the end of the day, it may not matter whether our voice is heard. What matters is that we sent it.

Sources:

1. NASA. (2023). Voyager Mission. Retrieved from https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov

2. National Geographic. (2021). Earth Is Leaking Radio Signals into Space. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/earth-radio-leak-space-aliens

3. Scientific American. (2020). Are Our Broadcasts Detectable? Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/seti-how-far-away-could-earths-radio-leakage-be-detected

4. The Atlantic. (2017). Why We Send Messages to Space. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/11/why-we-send-messages-to-space/546236

5. Sagan, C. (1994). Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. Random House.