Depressing

The golden record is pure ego on our behalf. Even if anyone finds it they may not see like we do in the electric magnetic spectrum. They’ll need a record player too, assuming they even realize that if you spin this disc at a very specific speed, with a very specific type of needle in the grooves that vibrates at a very specific rate connected to a very specific speaker it will play Chuck Berry… That also assumes they can hear in the same way we do and can even hear it. Oh, also they’ll need to speak English or something.

The golden record wasn’t a message to aliens, it was a message to ourselves. A pat on our collective backs.