Nice video, but i don't see why the scale of things should make one feel insignificant, when we have an amazing organism with a brain that is vastly more complex than anything we see in the universe.

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Originally posted by Znack Nice video, but i don't see why the scale of things should make one feel insignificant, when we have an amazing organism with a brain that is vastly more complex than anything we see in the universe.

You've repeated the same thing 4 times. Do you have anything else buddy? Really, it's not that surprising that we haven't found anything more complex than ourselves so far. Despite the leaps and bounds we've made over the past century, our technology is still far too weak to get an accurate picture of what is out there in other solar systems and especially in other galaxies. Even our best cameras have trouble making out details on planet surfaces within our own solar system. The universe is a very huge and very old place. As far as we can tell, there is nothing particularly special about our tiny chunk of the cosmos. The same chemicals that make up our bodies permeate the universe, and the same physical laws seem to apply everywhere we look. Given the sheer number of stars out there (estimates range from 10^23 - 10^24), it a virtual certainty that life exists elsewhere. And if it does, it would not be too surprising to find some aliens with a level of technological advancement far exceeding anything we can imagine today. Remember, our solar system is a relatively young one. It was formed only after two previous suns lived their lives then exploded in supernovas..giving previous life forms billions of years to evolve and explore the galaxy before our sun was even born.

Last edited by Capitalizt on Dec-19-2010 at 14:09

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Originally posted by Capitalizt It's not that surprising that we haven't found anything more complex than ourselves so far.

Why this desire for insignificance?

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Originally posted by Capitalizt As far as we can tell, there is nothing particularly special about our tiny chunk of the cosmos.

David Deutch answered that point with a very interesting and amusing talk at TED (www.ted.com) a few years ago. There is something special about our tiny chunk of the cosmos - a typical, normal place in the universe is the hardest of vacuums in the space between galaxy clusters. It's so dark that even if the nearest star went supernova you would not see it without a telescope.

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Originally posted by Znack I was actually looking forward to your answer. I was under the impression that perhaps something had eluded me. Could you elaborate a little?

Sorry, I was off to bed when I posted that.

Saying our brain is the most complex thing we know in the universe is like saying your girlfriend is the hottest girl you've ever met if you've never left the small village you live in: it may well be true and your village is blessed with the contemporary human Aphrodite. However, what are the odds? Keep in mind that if there are 690 people in your village, you guys are just 0.00001% of the world population. Should you be right, that'd be a really lucky guess.

Likewise, the emotional appeal of the pale blue dot is that we're insignificant in the greater scheme of things, both literally and epistemologically (it's not like our knowledge of the natural world is anywhere close to perfection). In perspective, even the most grandiose plan devised by us is too insignificant a thing to worry about. Pursuits of fame and glory aren't any more profound than ants trying to be the coolest arthropod of the colony. And, yet, this puny thing we call life is the deepest experience we'll ever have. And it's awesome in its own right.

It's quite uplifting and liberating if you think about it.

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Originally posted by Lira Sorry, I was off to bed when I posted that.

No problem. Glad you cared to elaborate

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Originally posted by Lira Saying our brain is the most complex thing we know in the universe is like saying your girlfriend is the hottest girl you've ever met if you've never left the small village you live in

It doesn't matter about the other villages, as we are supposed to be humbled by what we have discovered in the universe, not what we might discover in the future.

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Originally posted by Lira In perspective, even the most grandiose plan devised by us is too insignificant a thing to worry about.

I disagree. I think what we do could be very significant, even on a cosmic scale. In the distance future we could be colonising galaxies, and in an unimaginably distant future our descendants could be black hole energy miners.

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Originally posted by Lira And, yet, this puny thing we call life is the deepest experience we'll ever have.

Who says life is puny?

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Originally posted by Znack It doesn't matter about the other villages, as we are supposed to be humbled by what we have discovered in the universe, not what we might discover in the future.

And we already are

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Originally posted by Znack I disagree. I think what we do could be very significant, even on a cosmic scale. In the distance future we could be colonising galaxies, and in an unimaginably distant future our descendants could be black hole energy miners.

2, 10, 20 galaxies out of -- maybe what? -- 200 billion galaxies? Not exactly significant, though it's still quite an achievement to be celebrated if it ever happens.

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Originally posted by Znack Who says life is puny?

Well, in a universe that is billions of years old, we won't last much more than a century; in a (not exactly big) planet that has a mass of 5.9736×10²⁴ kilograms, we'd be morbidly obese if we weighed 0.000000...001% of all that; and, being rather fragile, life's quite easy to be taken down.

So, yeah, it's weak, ephemeral, and rather small. I'd say it's puny all right, albeit awesome and deserving of respect.

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