3, 2, 1...
Interstellar space, beyond our solar system, where the Voyagers will drift, endlessly.
In 5 billion years, all humans will have become extinct, or evolved into other beings.
None of our artifacts will have survived on Earth,
and the evolution of the sun will have burned the Earth to a crisp.
And far from home, untouched by these remote events,
the Voyagers, bearing the memories of a world that is no more, will fly on.
We can't know how much of the records they would understand,
but being much more advanced scientists and engineers than we -- otherwise,
they'd never be able to find and retrieve the small, silent spacecraft in interstellar space --
perhaps the aliens would have no difficulty understanding
what is encoded on these 'golden records.' Perhaps, they would recognize the tentativeness
of our society, the mismatch between our technology and our wisdom.
Had we destroyed ourselves since launching Voyager, they might wonder,
or had we gone on to greater things.