THE SIGNIFICANCE OF VIDEO IN SPACE COMMUNICATION
The message needs to convey the essential aspects of our human civilization and our planetary environment. For this reason, sending only abstract mathematical patterns is insufficient – such a message might demonstrate our intelligence, but not our identity.
We need to share with them our evolutionary history, our biological diversity, our cultural complexity, and our scientific achievements. We need to show them the beauty and the fragility of our planet Earth, the richness and the challenges of our life forms, the diversity and the unity of our societies. We need to think of what questions we would ask an alien civilization and answer them for ourselves.