Turn It Up

The movie Contact, adapted from the Carl Sagan novel of the same name, opens with a shot of Earth from space, evoking the serene photograph snapped by the Apollo 17 crew. Except this Earth is accompanied by a jarring cacophony of insouciant 1990s pop music, bits of air traffic chatter and yammering talk radio hosts. Suddenly the camera retreats past the Moon, then past Mars, while the music becomes decidedly disco and the dissonance slowly subsides. Past Jupiter you can hear iconic DJ Cousin Brucie spinning Beatles 45s, while approaching Saturn it is early Elvis. The reports of an attack on Pearl Harbor ricochet off the rubble of the Kuiper belt, which marks the outer limits of our solar system. Since the invention of radio, it turns out, we have been unwittingly transmitting our existence and position to ALF and E.T., and our noise pollution facilitates first contact with Mork and his fellow Orkans.

But among all that clamour we are emitting, you will not...