I was reading about the Voyager Golden Record recently and was struck by Jimmy Carter's official statement
We cast this message into the cosmos ... Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some – perhaps many – may have inhabited planets and space faring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message: This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope some day, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe.
It seems like the 1970s are the only time in American history (except for maybe the very beginning of Obama's presidency) that our president would have expressed this sentiment in such a way.
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