In the final years of Planet Earth, the scientists who remained rather than choosing to Opt Out began an aggressive program building a hundreds of probes, each assigned a number under the umbrella of the Voyager program.

Everything in those days was tinged with bittersweet nostalgia, a harkening back to a time when the future held hope and a promise for many more tomorrows.

The Gold Disc was modified to include digitized information in addition to the analog. It was a layered approach allowing sufficiently advanced cultures to access more as they progressed. This record included a warning to other civilizations on how to avoid the Great Cosmic Filter by slowing the rate of consumption of raw materials until space travel had been achieved. The scientists thoughtfully included technological advances made on Earth that might assist other future civilizations to break free, like information about gamma rays, alternative energy sources or solar radiation.

In a sad footnote to the historical record, it was discovered that other civilizations had undertaken similar projects in their own effort to warn unknown planets with intelligent life. Many of these probes were unmanned, but some had advanced robotic life forms. These were the UFOs that had long been misunderstood as “space ships” and even reconnaissance craft.

It wasn’t until midway in the 21st Century did academics begin deciphering the symbols inside one of the downed vehicles. While military leaders had looked at ways to gain a technological advantage, they missed the purpose and mission of these craft.

They were, in fact, the space faring tombstones of other dead civilizations— those that had met the same fate as Earth. They carried similar warnings and depressing tales of their own demise.

And now the planet’s remaining scientists added their own probes to the dirge of ships cruising the galaxy in the hopes at least one primitive civilization might decipher their warning in time to prevail.

The Voyager Missions would become Earth’s final legacy to the planet that almost made it to the stars.

-- original by u/flavius_lacivious on r/collapse

Remember this, foolish mortals, when ye stare headlong into the mind-paralyzing void, the inky black nothingness of existence, the hellish yawning maw of the abyss -- it's pretty damn dark, so give it a few minutes for your eyes to adjust.