LJWorld.com weblogs Dangerous Ideas
Posted
by Paul Decelles
September 17, 2009 at 10:56 p.m.
The Big PIcture
...to see just how important we are in the over all scheme of things.
heic0406a.jpg
This is an older Hubble image but always worth revisiting. The official Hubble site says of this image:
" The HUDF field contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies. In ground-based images, the patch of sky in which the galaxies reside (just one-tenth the diameter of the full Moon) is largely empty. Located in the constellation Fornax, the region is below the constellation Orion."
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Comments
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tangential_reasoners_anonymous (anonymous) says…
C'mon, Paul, when it comes to importance, size doesn't matter.
Go ask Horton... or Alice.
justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…
Life looms and zooms large
I feel inconsequential
Among galaxies
But give me one star
Or one third rock from the sun
And I hold my own
Stepping off the edge
Aggravates my fears, gives chills
When black holes surround
One ocean, one moon
Not infinite universe
Are what soothe me
Bring back again and
Again to witness the birth
Of a single soul
Think in terms complete
Something understandable
Comprehension works
Please keep it small, Paul
So I might understand 'All'
Not so overwhelmed!
pdecell (Paul Decelles) says…
Thanks Ronda,
But I can't help the fact that the universe is a really really big place and we are just the tiniest part of it. OK maybe not the tiniest but pretty insignificant on the cosmic scale of things.
I am more humbled by our insignificance on the cosmic scale-and to me that is a different feeling than feeling inconsequential. I know that feeling and it is a horrible feeling.
justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…
"humbled by our insignificance on the cosmic scale-and to me that is a different feeling than feeling inconsequential."
Absolutely that is a horrible feeling. My son said it well in a poem he wrote one time:
I am just a card
In a deck of cards...... ;0
I know 'you' can't help how large the universe is, but I try to keep things in perspective by looking out my own window and seeing a smaller piece of the sky - and a smaller piece of life's pie.
tangential_reasoners_anonymous (anonymous) says…
There is no reason to assume that human perceptions/conceptions of "expanse" or "scale" have any relevance for universal *significance*.
beatrice (anonymous) says…
Now I get it! I finally understand why some are against "universal" health coverage!
tangential_reasoners_anonymous (anonymous) says…
Here's yer big picture...
http://www.moillusions.com/wp-content...
liggyon (David Lignell) says…
Paul,
The irony for me is that the greater our understanding of the universe, the more limited our time becomes to study it. Our advances in technology have truly enslaved us to our work-a-day quotas (e.g., cell phones, email, Internet, virtual meetings, etc.) instead of just being one, in present time, with the universe.
jurist (anonymous) says…
We're only as important as the shadows we cast on the face of the world. I'm sure most of us could tailor our shadows a little more carefully!
DougCounty (anonymous) says…
Latest estimates I've read say that there are a hundred billion stars in the Milky Way, and there are approximately four hundred billion galaxies in the universe. Far from feeling insignificant, this makes me feel far from alone! You know that there is other life out there--it seems entirely unbelievable that there are roughly 4 followed by 22 0's solar systems out there that we live in the only one with life???
I'm a firm believer that we will find life elsewhere in the universe sooner than later, probably in my lifetime. I don't think that that realization should be frightening or demean life, any more than the fact that we share our own planet with millions of other species should frighten you or devalue life. It excites me and is exhilarating whenever I think about it.
Relax! The universe is full of life, and that's a good thing.
tumbilweed (anonymous) says…
Perhaps world peace will happen here on Earth when we discover other life in other systems.
Instead of fighting each other here, we could band together to have wars with other planets instead!