undefined | Better HN

0 pointsjacquesm10y ago0 comments

The base of that goes back to a very simple realization: On a cosmic scale nothing that we do is of great importance. This planet likely is not as special as we would like to think it is and we are not as special as we like to think we are. We are to the universe as a single bacterium is to us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

Is a nice recap of just how vast the universe really is and how utterly insignificant we are within it, in spite of all we're figured out and have achieved collectively. It certainly humbles me.

0 comments

4 comments · 2 top-level

marcosdumay10y ago· 2 in thread

I can just as easily extract the opposite conclusion, and say that we must be incredibly special if it took an universe that big to create us. And it's as good as a conclusion until we discover if intelligent is common or not.

I'd side with it not being a good argument.

sfilipov10y ago

Another humbling aspect is how fragile we are. Even today, there is a number of unpredictable cosmic events outside our control that can destroy humanity and life on Earth very quickly. And every one of us is just a "meat bag" that doesn't know whether it will wake up tomorrow. I find these realizations humbling. Some people get depressed by these thought but they make me appreciate life even more.

jrs23510y ago

"We're significantly insignificant while also being insignificantly significant."

sullyj310y ago

There's no such thing as importance independent of sentient minds. Importance is what we find important; or to put it another way, whatever we find important - is.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse