Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Planets, aliens, etc.
Listening to a journalist interviewing some astronomer about this new rocky planet
they've found orbiting somewhere else. I just had to sigh and roll my
eyes when the interviewer said "I remember a time when astronomer
weren't even sure if there were planets outside our solar system."
Yeah, 'cause we'd be that special.
It's a breathtaking bit of arrogance. It's tantamount to creationism,
in my not-so-humble opinion. Why on Earth (no pun intended) should we
be so unique? Why should we consider ourselves the most important
things in the universe, when we live in a backwater solar system,
orbiting a sun which is identical to millions of others? What's so
special about our situation? Nuthin. So what's so special about us?
Which leads to a rather scary set of options. .
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2 comments:
I was astounded by a survey given to celebrities. The main question was: Do you believe there is life on other planets?
Most of them, who I took as bright people, answered a solid "No." We are one planet in one little solar system. Why would people think we are the only planet with life?
Well, exactly. I compared it to creationism because it smells to me like the same sort of emotional crutch. I'm not generally a judgemental person, but this is something which really winds me up.
On the other hand, we each of us get through life by refusing to believe quite how unimportant we are. 'Cept me, of course.
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