@begny

1 month ago

I used to get that sense of "cosmic dread" whenever I'd do deep dives on the vastness of space. I recall watching videos talking about the distant future of the Universe and getting stressed out... by things that wouldn't be happening for trillions of years... As of recent, I've instead become mystified by space and the things in it. If you think about it, space is like a desert. It looks like nothing, endless nothing, but once you get past those seemingly infinite swathes of emptiness you stumble upon an oasis. Gorgeous clouds of dust that look like paintings, glowing rings of fire that surround black holes, spectacular light shows performed by stars, both in life and death. If the Universe is truly infinite, then that means there's just as many beautiful oases as there is desert. And of course, among those oases, us. A teeny tiny, little itsy-bitsy pale blue dot. What you said at 4:55 is something I used to think myself. "We're so insignificant and tiny." And sure, maybe we are. But I don't let that stress me like it used too because I've since realized that fact doesn't take away from how special this planet and the things on it are. UY Scuti is massive, black holes are nearly incomprehensible forces of nature, and sure planets like Saturn have rings and moons to show off. But none of them have us. Nothing has us. Life could exist out there, but until we know for sure, we're all there is. And that doesn't scare me because in a way, it makes us really important. Maybe the Universe knows no cruelty, but it also doesn't even know it own name. The Universe, the things in it, and all the laws that keep those things in check are Human discoveries. Yeah they'd exist without us, but they wouldn't be named, defined, or appreciated by anything. UY Scuti is the biggest star in the known Universe. None of that means anything without us. Sure this is an extremely Human-centric perspective, but what other perspective do we really have? Hell even the observable Universe, when you zoom out as far as we can with out current technologies, what do you find at the center of it? Not the Milkyway, not the Solar System, not even the Earth. You. From your perspective, you're the center of the Universe, the thing your people have done endless work to try and understand. At the center of all of it is you. And you know what, even if you wanna look at things from the figurative perspective of the Universe, things still look great for us! All of everything you know and love, you live and stride for, is confined to this single point in space and time. From the perspective of the Universe, you have everything you could ever need, nothing's ever quite out of reach for you. I find that so comforting. Again I totally understand that this is a Human-centric mindset. But it's one that allows me to appreciate the massive scale of the Universe without forgetting that we're just as special as the rest of it. It's very easy to fall into the pit of "Humanity bad, Humanity insignificant" and it's very nice to claw your way out every now and then. Space is one of my favorite things, I find it so eerily beautiful. From my perspective, it is something to be respected and inspired by, not feared. Great video! 😊 Keep it up

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