Picture, if you will... — Lee Wimberly, MD

Imagine that tomorrow, you hear a startling broadcast on the news. You go online to see if maybe it’s just a joke, but it isn’t. The internet is abuzz, and everyone is talking about the crazy discovery. A spacelab experiment has captured some fuzzy images that weren’t expected at all.

There appear to be symbols carved on the back of the moon.

Various religious groups are claiming that God must have written them there. Conspiracy theorists insist that the government has been hiding the symbols from us for years. But most people are just curious. What would “symbols” be doing up there? Are they really even symbols at all? What could they possibly mean?

The public outcry grows too large to ignore. Nations begin to accuse one another of keeping secrets about what’s really going on. It seems that there’s only one clear path forward: Someone will need to go up to the moon and take a closer look.

A spaceflight with an international team of scientists is assembled. The lead astronaut broadcasts a simple message to the world shortly after landing, and her words make your hair stand on end:

“They’re symbols alright.”

The initial fuss over the symbols had died down a bit. Most of the recent news had begun to focus on the planned expedition and the qualifications of the crew. The symbols themselves had shifted to the back burner. But not now. Now the uproar is even greater than before. Some people are frightened. Some are deeply curious. Some don’t really see what all the fuss is about. But the voices who do care are talking the loudest. The thoughtful people of the world are crying out for answers. The team takes careful pictures to document the symbols and returns home to Earth to analyze them.

As it turns out, there are only eleven different symbols, but each occurs numerous times in the carvings. There’s no discernible pattern to the order of the symbols, but they’re arranged in scattered groups of lines that form rectangular patterns — almost like paragraphs written in some unknown language. Cryptologists are called in to analyze the patterns. Weeks pass, and at last — a breakthrough.

There is one particular symbol that only occurs once in each grouping, and always somewhere in the middle. It seems to divide each group of symbols into two parts, so the team begins referring to this symbol as the pause. It catches on with the public and the pause T-shirts spring up everywhere. Moon symbols are cool now.

Months pass, and finally there is another momentous broadcast. AI systems have analyzed the patterns and made a remarkable discovery. Each symbol, apart from the pause, can be assigned to a numeral from zero to nine. That turns each rectangular grouping of symbols into a pair of numbers separated by the pause. And the next part is the kicker: in each case, the ratio of the two numbers is equal to the ratio of the sides of the grouping that contains them.

No one really knows what to make of the symbols at this point, but everyone is convinced that they’re actual symbols. After all, they definitely mean something — even if it’s just a weird mathematical meaning. Some people are disappointed that the symbols aren’t really paragraphs written in an unknown language. They continue to analyze the symbols, and ten years after the initial reports came across the wire, an even more stunning discovery is made. When the sum of all the first numbers from the groupings is computed, and divided by the sum of all the second numbers, the ratio is equal to the mass of the moon divided by the mass of the earth.

The air is electric. Moon symbols had almost come to be taken for granted, but now more than ever, they’re the subject of every conversation. It feels like a different kind of news. Everyone had come to accept that there are symbols on the moon, but suddenly it seems like we were meant to find them. At least, that’s what some people are saying. They insist that the symbols are about more than the moon. Somehow, they’re also about us.

In light of the new discovery, another moon trip seems in order. There’s an overwhelming sense that there’s something more up there. A new crew is assembled. The original moon symbol astronauts have been giving lectures and interviews for years, and some have even retired, but a few are willing to participate and lend their seasoned perspective. The whole world watches as the new team launches into space.

The first reports come through in the early morning for half the world, but no one is worried about sleeping right now. Eyes are glued to screens everywhere, awaiting further news. And there is some. The symbols are still there.

In fact, there are more of them. Mathematicians quickly compute the new values, and they still add up. The carvings are still grouped in rectangles, and each includes the pause. The ratios are all the same too. Experts admit they are baffled.

Days pass with little news. The moon team is giving frequent status reports, but there isn’t really much to say. And then, everything changes.

There’s a door.

The moon team is almost sure of it, and it’s right there in the center of the carvings. In all the stir over the symbols, no one ever noticed. But when the old pictures of the symbols are reviewed, you can even see a bit of the door in some of the images. It’s been there the whole time.

Back on earth, tensions are rising again. Some are demanding that the door be opened. Some say the world will end if we don’t; but others say the world will end if we do. Opinions are divided on the moon as well. Some team members have returned to the ship, and refuse to take part in whatever is to come. World leaders communicate with their own representatives on the moon team constantly. And finally, a consensus is reached. The door will have to be opened, come what may. It’s there, and no one will rest easy until the matter has been settled.

No one is getting any work done now. Schools are closed, and even the highways are empty. Many storefronts are boarded up. Some people are hoarding water and food, and hunkering down in fallout shelters. But one way or another, everyone is watching. Everyone knows this door is a big deal, but no one is even attempting to predict what might lie beyond it. The experts have fallen silent. They’re watching too.

The door is surprisingly easy to open. There’s a thin layer of moon rock holding it in place, but that breaks away easily enough.

And below it, there’s a room.

The room is rectangular in shape. The walls are perfectly flat, and form perfect right angles. They’re covered with symbols much like the ones on the surface, and all the ratios still add up. The ratio of the room’s width to its length, mathematicians would later determine, is equal to Pi to at least 1,000 digits. But no one is thinking about square footage right now. Because in the center of the room, there’s a small pedestal. A simple cylinder rests on it.

The cylinder is about a foot long, and a few inches in diameter. No one is sure of the exact dimensions, because for a good while, no one will even touch the thing. The team just stands there staring — their eyes darting from the cylinder to each other and back. It’s all a little overwhelming. Because they’re on the moon, they’re nearly weightless. But still, the moment feels heavy. Finally, the leader speaks up. “Here goes nothing, guys. Be sure to get some video.” She takes the cylinder in her hand.

At first, there is nothing. But then, a light. It’s so bright that everyone reflexively shields their eyes. But it isn’t actually shining in anyone’s face. It’s shining directly on one of the groups of symbols on the wall. Now the symbols are glowing too — a brilliant red against the white beam erupting from the cylinder. Brighter, brighter, impossibly bright, and finally an orb of brilliant red light flies right off the wall and exits the door above. The symbols are just as they were before, and the beam from the cylinder has gone out too. The wall isn’t just cool, it’s frigid. The whole thing only took a couple of minutes. Radios in the room crackle to life. “Someone should come take a look up here.”

Up on the surface, there’s a brand new carving. It doesn’t look brand new. It looks just like all the others, but it wasn’t there before. As it turns out, it’s an exact copy of the symbols that glowed red a few minutes ago. A quick check confirms that each carving on the surface is a copy of a carving inside the room. The team reassembles below to take another look at the cylinder, now lying on the floor.

Upon closer inspection, there’s a tiny red dot in the center of the cylinder’s end, and a tiny green dot in the center of the other end. The next step seems obvious enough. A team member points the green end at some symbols on the wall. White light erupts again, but this time the symbols glow green. Brighter and brighter, like before, but no green orb emerges. The symbols are impossibly bright — now almost white themselves instead of green. From behind the team, a voice breaks the silence. It’s just one word. “Guys…”

Everyone turns to look, and jaws drop open. There are points of light glowing green all over the back wall. But some of them are floating right off the wall. It’s like they’re bringing a bit of the wall along with them, but the wall is just as smooth as before. Thousands of points of brilliant light hang there now, like a starry sky, only green. The white light from the cylinder has gone out, but the whole room is almost too bright to bear. The points of light float silently and slowly toward the team, and everyone takes an uncertain step backward. But the points aren’t really moving toward the team; they’re moving toward the pedestal, growing smaller, denser, nearer one another with each passing moment. Little flashes of white flicker through the green now, tracing out pathways like veins of a leaf, or tiny lightning bolts. And they are tiny now. The brilliant green light is barely wider than the pedestal. And just like that, it is gone. The team’s eyes strain to adjust to the sudden, relative darkness. But eventually they see it.

On the pedestal sits a simple cylinder.

Upon closer inspection, there’s a tiny red dot in the center of the cylinder’s end, and a tiny green dot in the center of the other end. The team stares in silence again, but no one is scared anymore. Stunned is the better word. The new cylinder is indistinguishable from the first. Another team member takes it from the pedestal. “Looks like everyone gets a turn today,” he laughs. The leader nods and glances to the side. “Point it at the other wall this time. The green way.”

White light. Green light. A thousand points again, or maybe a million this time. No one has ever seen light this bright. But still, it isn’t scary anymore. It’s just so bright. Finally the countless points of green begin to drift toward the team. No one takes a step back this time, but now the light isn’t drifting toward the pedestal. It’s drifting toward the floor. Bright, and brighter still, and this time, there’s a rumbling. The ground even gives a little shake. Again, white lightning flickers within an impossibly bright field of green. And again, all is gone.

And there in the floor is a door.

It’s easy enough to open. And beyond it, a room.

On the pedestal sits a simple cylinder.

Now ask yourself

What would you think of a machine that read symbols and perfectly copied them? A machine that read symbols to make a copy of the place where you found it? A machine that read symbols to make a copy of itself?

Would you ever imagine that such symbols could just come to be? Would you wonder where they came from, or would you shrug and say, “They must’ve made themselves. I’ve just watched it happen.”

I dare say you would wonder.

As far as I know, there are no symbols carved on the moon. There is no door there, and no hidden room. But there is a real group of symbols just as mysterious, and just as compelling. In fact, these symbols are even more amazing than writing on the moon. You see, these symbols are inside of you. They’re called genes.

Within your body, even as you read this, machines made of molecules are reading your genes and copying them. They are following instructions written in your genes to make copies of themselves. And yes, they once followed those instructions to make you.

A final questIon

If we discovered mathematical symbols like these on the moon, many would study them with great zeal. Who could blame them? But the wise would also ask what agency made the markings. To the extent that this could be discovered, seekers would labor to know and understand it, and to the extent it could not be discovered, they would be left to wonder, and perhaps even to worship. For one who wields such agency, by a method we cannot personally fathom or duplicate, seems, at the very least, godlike.

There are no symbols on the moon. No one will be starting the First Church of Moon Markings any time soon. But we have been presented with some symbols that demand explanation. They are symbols that set the world in motion, and enable it to become itself.

The thoughtful people of the world are crying out for answers.

Who made these symbols?