The Kiss That Would Last a Billion Years (2003) Online

Before the seeing this documentary I knew that the probes are heading to 'where no man has gone before' with a "greeting card" made of pictures and sounds for the aliens attached. I had a fuzzy idea what the looked or sounded like. Now I know.

Although it is interesting to hear the selected pieces of music, sounds of nature and wildlife and of course man's voice, it's more interesting to know why they were selected and what was omitted - and why. The NASA officials whose approval was needed to everything had silly politically correct attitude and couldn't send pornography to space - referring to the earlier Pioneer probes that had a drawing of a naked pair of a man and a woman. Think about it: if an alien contact would be made, would it be shameful to let them know how our genitalia looks like? Or would the aliens first take people to court for flashing? Ridiculous thinking, but then again, the current administration could even be more strict than back then...

Against this kind of moral up-tightness I find it pleasing that the music recordings is maybe the most universal collection ever put together coming from all continents ranging from tribal to classic to contemporary music.

One of the people on the film states that it is very unlikely the probes will ever be found by anyone. Maybe it was more important for us to have these things sent to the unknown and have a sense of unity around the globe. The film closes on sounds of greetings in dozens of languages including those from the "red" countries. I don't read poetry but that was poetic to me.