Shakespeare has been sent into space.
Well, his picture and a speech from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" were sent into low Earth orbit with a weather balloon. This is to mark the 400th anniversary of his first volume of works. (Google Shakespeare sent into space.)
I suppose the hope is that some future generation from Earth, or some aliens from elsewhere, will find it and interpret it.
My hope is that all of his works will be launched into deep space to hopefully, be found and interpreted by some future, intelligent life form.
Shakespeare's works don't tell the full story of humanity's history and existence on this planet. But they can tell virtually everything about human nature: the good; the bad; the weirdness; and the incredible potential that our species had within our grasp.
I could choose no better messenger to tell those in the far future, who and what we were. I wish they had left his picture out and included a compact volume of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare." I don't know if anyone has ever explained human nature better than Will has. Perhaps, those in the far future can learn (if they need to) from his plays and poetry. Perhaps what they discover can improve their existence, if just a bit.
Rarely does a Shakespeare or an Einstein come along. Physicists have learned from Einstein and have run through the door of scientific knowledge he unlocked. I'm not sure we've fully embraced and learned from the gift of the knowledge of human nature that Shakespeare has given us.
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