In Star Trek, the basis of Vulcan philosophy is abbreviated as IDIC: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. It’s an acknowledgment of the vast possibilities in the ever-expanding universe, and a celebration of the beauty and wonder to be found in the unknown ways in which other-worldly species and cultures might present themselves. And yet, when it comes to the human race, time and time again the American imagination has proven limited to “girl???? Boobs?????? If boobs then girl yes ????”
The Beacon in the Galaxy project, NASA’s latest attempt to establish contact with aliens, works on that wavelength. As reported in the The Sun, the American space exploration agency is set to launch a bunch of information into space, hoping to get an intergalactic hello. The Sun did not specify when NASA plans its launch. Putting aside the many terrifying science fiction first contact scenarios, the project is an update to a message that was originally transmitted in 1974 to a section of the Milky Way that’s considered the most likely to have developed life. The updated message includes information on the biochemical composition of earthly life, the exact location of the solar system, and last but certainly not least, “digitized images of the human form,” A.K.A. illustrations of people that are very “paint me like one of your French girls.”
To be clear, this rules. We’re all for sex positivity here at them dot us; if NASA is horny for aliens, we support that, and frankly, who among us can say they aren’t? The real issue at hand here is one of equality. If NASA can send nudes of straight people (or possibly bisexual swingers) to space, it is a moral imperative that NASA also let queer and trans people shoot their shot at the aliens.
For a moment, let’s set aside the potential nightmare that is giving extraterrestrial life information on our biological weaknesses and exact location. Let us instead hone in on the fact that NASA is broadcasting nudes — the rendering of which would make a sick tattoo — into the infinite void of space in the hopes of enticing aliens to text back. The “human male” is built like a Ken doll, and the “human female” appears to be, pardon my French, dummy thick. Doesn’t this (literally) binary-coded pair positively scream, “My curvy wife and I saw you across the galaxy and we really dig your vibe”?
NASA chose a presumably cis man and woman to simplify things for the aliens; in the Beacon in the Galaxy brief, researchers wrote that the message itself was coded in binary because “binary is likely universal across all intelligence,” according to NASA scientists. “Binary is the simplest form of mathematics as it involves only two opposing states: zero and one, yes or no, black or white, mass or empty space,” the brief reads.
Not that I have any credentials beyond taking an astronomy class in high school, but that seems like a pretty bold assumption to me. You’re telling me that you think that if an alien lifeform had developed to the point where they were intelligent enough to receive a message from millions of miles away, they’d be limited to understanding us only through binaries? Sounds… heterosexual, but okay.
In fact, it might actually be homophobic that NASA didn’t think of that to begin with. Space, famously, is gay. And gay people? They sure do love space. I mean, Zachary Quinto is Spock. It’s time for NASA to do what’s right and give us this one thing: let the gays send nudes to the aliens. Let us send our holes, poles and whatever else we want into the cosmic void. They’ll probably respond before that person from the Phoebe Bridgers concert does anyway.
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