So, as last request, Milo asked them to save something from Earth, and chose music.
I thought he was gonna ask to save love. Cliche, I know, and maybe impossible, but still.
So, if you were in his place, what would you save?
Oh, the humanity...
Nada. I'm a minimalist.
Though I would request going out with a few bong's to the tune of "Great Gig in the Sky"
Literature. Specifically Shakespeare. Would tell any future alien civilization a lot about humans.
"Can you keep a secret? Can you know something and never speak of it again?"
A long time before I would have asked about the zoo, and then been baffled they had no museum of human culture (and likewise for other planets), and really lobbied and helped them make one. Not as a last minute request for one thing, but a concerted effort to preserve whatever is left before it all gets blown up.
Seems to fit in well with the we're-all-scientists thing, the preserving of the natural order AND the thing where the Overlords cannot upgrade; they can use this to expand their understanding of other cultures and improve their lot within the strictures of their conscience.
I think I assumed that happened in the book because they were bringing stuffed animals instead, so I thought museum, not zoo, and assumed (or it stated... I forget) much more than those.
The visual arts, especially paintings. And information about the nature of our vision so they could understand what we saw in case they saw it differently. I love great fiction but what if the aliens who read it has such a different society that it would be meaningless? Say they read Hamlet, but on their world, killing one's brother was an honorable tradition.
shareI'd go along with the music.
The Lark Ascending is an exquisite piece. But I would wish all of humanity's collective music could be saved because it carries the entire story of what it means to be human. How it feels to be human.