Originally Posted by
marius
before i'm an avid fan of astronomy. on my elementary years, my face is always in the library, reading books about astronomy, i'm always fascinated by comets and stars and nebulae but as i got older and as i delved deeper, i realized how small and insignificant i truly am to the grand scheme of things. that's why i stopped with astronomy, coz i consider it a waste of time, talking about light years isn't very realistic.
and just like this thread, 15 or 20 or 25 planets in the solar system, DOES IT REALLY MATTER ?? We have one earth, let's try to save this ONLY PLANET that we have.
better to discuss some feasible new technology that could actually solve this global warming BS than this out of this world issue of planets.
i think it is always just a matter of perspective. i have always believed that our efforts at understanding our universe via the avenues that science provides us are rooted in a deeper need to understand our real place in the universe.
being limited to our immediate surroundings, history taught us that humanity aided by limited technology saw itself at the center of the universe, placing prime importance on itself above everything else. this pride in its presumed place and status in the scheme of existence was where humanity derived its sense of purpose and importance.
however, the sheer size and
scale of the universe as is shown by present day technology humbles humanity's pride by showing itself as an insignificant nothing at the face of the universe's vastness - an uneasy and bitter truth that we have to accept. when we expand and widen our perspective of things, we realize our existence is an unimportant, trivial, and non-vital result of the evolution of the universe according to the laws of physics.
sadly, some of us cannot accept this fact and would rather dwell in some comfortable delusion of humanity being the "center of creation" since our pride and sense of self-importance are salved by these, as opposed to the painfully blunt fact of our insignificance.
but does this mean we should live purpose-less lives? absolutely not.
our discovery of our insignificance at the face of the size of the universe compels us to
change how we define our significance, meaning, and purpose. instead of purpose and meaning being imposed from the outside as it is traditionally (e.g. our place in the universe relative to location and size), purpose and meaning should now be derived from each one of us: it must be created as it is now not served in a silver platter, or a holy book.
when one stops as one sees any horizon saying to himself it is "unrealistic" to explore further, progress stops and growth of knowledge is stunted. one's version of the world becomes static and it does not change despite obvious truths that are just out there waiting to be found.
imagine if we stopped when we discovered Pluto in 1930 and did not explore further, what a sad reality to be teaching kids that the known universe stops after Pluto and there is nothing else beyond!
i believe that realizing the vastness of the universe does not weaken my own sense of meaning, significance and purpose for humanity. i believe that we humans, individuals, or groups, or societies, through individual and collective choices chart our own destinies, and create our own meanings. this however has not really been a conscious choice, clouded by myths that we create to prop up our ancient modes of survival.
the vastness of the universe is a reminder for us that
significance is not dictated by size, but the ability to owe up and be fully aware of our choices and its consequences, and not blame deterministic Fate about it.
Re: the 13 (for now) Planets of the Solar System
“What we call chaos is just patterns we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patterns we cant decipher. What we can't understand we call nonsense. What we can't read we call gibberish.” - Chuck Palahniuk
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