What if Hostile Aliens Find Voyagers’ Golden Records?

we have ignition and we have lift off in the early days of space exploration when optimism about the future of Humanity’s Cosmic Journey ran high a decision was made that now in hindsight appears to be a potentially grave mistake NASA in collaboration with American astronomer and famed alien Hunter Frank Drake designed and placed Maps aboard Voyager probes these Maps intended to guide extraterrestrial life to Earth may have inadvertently put our planet and our species at risk the golden record a time capsule of Earth’s sounds images and music was meant to serve as a message of peace and a way to communicate with potential extraterrestrial life its aluminum cover is engraved with instructions and a unique Galactic map map which shows the location of the solar system with respect to 14 pulsars each Pulsar is represented by a line emanating from the Sun with the line length indicating the approximate distance between the pulsar and our solar system the Pulsar lines are marked with binary codes that when translated and multiplied by a specific unit of time reveal the pulsar’s rotational frequency Drake chose this method to provide a universal base unit of time that any intelligent civilization could compute regardless of their timekeeping system the contents of the golden record itself are a fascinating glimpse into the diversity of life and culture on Earth it includes 115 images a variety of natural sounds musical selections from different cultures and eras and spoken greetings in 55 languages the intention behind this eclectic mix of content was to showcase the richness and beauty of our planet and its inhabitants at the time sending such information into space was viewed as a noble and exciting Endeavor a way to reach out to the stars and connect with other civilizations this hopeful Outreach stands in stark contrast to a more cautious perspective on Cosmic communication one epitomized by the Dark Forest hypothesis this Theory suggests that the Universe might not as welcoming as envisioned by the creators of the golden record according to the Dark Forest hypothesis the cosmos is teeming with civilizations each silently navigating the void wary of exposing themselves to unknown entities in this metaphorical Dark Forest revealing one’s location is akin to lighting a fire it may warm friends but it also attracts Predators from this vantage point the very Act of sending the golden record a be Beacon announcing our presence and location could be perceived as a risky gamble rather than a hopeful gesture the idea that an alien civilization might pose a threat to Earth is rooted in our own human history of conquest and colonization when two civilizations with vastly different levels of technological advancement have come into contact the results have often been disastrous for the less Advanced Society some argue that the same principles could apply on a cosmic scale with Earth potentially falling victim to a more advanced and aggressive alien species Steven Hawking also feared that advanced aliens if they exist might not view US kindly potentially seeing Earth as a resource to exploit this perspective suggests that sending messages into space such as the golden record could inadvertently invite danger in the hypothetical scenario where the Voyager probes a considerable threat to Earth because of the possibility of attracting hostile extraterrestrial attention is it possible to either deactivate them or modify their programming for self-destruction if efforts to deactivate the probes fail what other strategies could be employed given the considerable distance the Voyager probes have traveled What technological advancements would be necessary to precisely locate and neutralize them now speeding through Interstellar space at around 17 km/s the Voyager probes have already traveled vast distan making any attempt to intercept and alter their course a daunting challenge one hypothetical solution is the use of powerful lasers to destroy the Voyager probes by focusing intense beams of light on the spacecrafts we could potentially vaporize them erasing the golden record and its maps from existence however this approach is not without its own challenges the technical feasibility of such a feat is uncertain and the act of attempting to destroy the probes could itself be detected by alien civilizations potentially drawing even more attention to our presence developing stealthy methods to verify the elimination of the probes without drawing further attention to our presence would be a key consideration in this hypothetical situation another approach could be creating swifter more advanced spacecraft to catch up with and neutralize the Voyager probes the current record holder for Speed the Parker solar probe reaches speed of up to 190 km/s but would still need about 35 years to reach Voyager 1 to achieve a quicker interception