Critics have argued that the message is too anthropocentric and too hard to understand. Although the message was designed to encode the most information possible in minimal space, rather than to be easily readable, very few of the scientists that were shown the message were able to decode all of it.
Ironically, one of the parts of the diagram that is among the easiest for humans to understand may be among the hardest for the extraterrestrial finders to understand: the arrow showing the trajectory of Pioneer. An article in Scientific American criticized the use of an arrow because arrows are an artifact of hunter-gatherer societies like those on Earth; finders with a different cultural heritage may find the arrow symbol meaningless.
According to astronomer Frank Drake, there were many negative reactions to the plaque because the human beings were displayed naked. The Chicago Sun-Times retouched its image to hide the genitals of the man and woman.
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