In the past humanity has regarded itself as the single most significant thing in the universe. All stars circulated us and so did all other celestial bodies. Then came alone one Nicolaus Copernicus who defined the heliocentric system and suddenly we weren't quite the most important thing in the universe as far as planetary motion went, but we were still the most important in all other aspects.
Right now humanity seems to be at a stage where humans are the most developed life form in the whole known universe. To me this seems rather silly because it's based on absolutely nothing other than vanity and the feeling that we are the masters of our planet, even though we haven't explored even that fully.
The thing is in mainstream science it was for a long time believed that Earth is the only place suitable for life and when all the incidents with UFOs and such came out they were pushed into hearsay and science fiction. I'm almost certain most sightings aren't aliens because when you think about it, why would aliens want to explore and befriend us? There is no reason behind it as for them to even be able to get here they would have to be far more technologically advanced and I believe humans dont' try befriending ants.
Problem is that even with this idea in our heads we still only look for bacteria and even only fossil to prove there is perhaps, or once was, life outside our planet. Isn't that just a little bit pretentious? To basically be looking for proof that we're still the most significant force in the universe, yet we can't even get to another planet let alone solar system.
This video, for example, shows just how insignificant we actually are.
Continue reading about Significance
Semantically similar articles hand-picked by GPT-4
- Nepomembnost
- Heaven is full fool
- Does a new age of kings approach?
- God and science don't matter
- Everyone should work out! (here's why)
Learned something new?
Read more Software Engineering Lessons from Production
I write articles with real insight into the career and skills of a modern software engineer. "Raw and honest from the heart!" as one reader described them. Fueled by lessons learned over 20 years of building production code for side-projects, small businesses, and hyper growth startups. Both successful and not.
Subscribe below 👇
Software Engineering Lessons from Production
Join Swizec's Newsletter and get insightful emails 💌 on mindsets, tactics, and technical skills for your career. Real lessons from building production software. No bullshit.
"Man, love your simple writing! Yours is the only newsletter I open and only blog that I give a fuck to read & scroll till the end. And wow always take away lessons with me. Inspiring! And very relatable. 👌"
Have a burning question that you think I can answer? Hit me up on twitter and I'll do my best.
Who am I and who do I help? I'm Swizec Teller and I turn coders into engineers with "Raw and honest from the heart!" writing. No bullshit. Real insights into the career and skills of a modern software engineer.
Want to become a true senior engineer? Take ownership, have autonomy, and be a force multiplier on your team. The Senior Engineer Mindset ebook can help 👉 swizec.com/senior-mindset. These are the shifts in mindset that unlocked my career.
Curious about Serverless and the modern backend? Check out Serverless Handbook, for frontend engineers 👉 ServerlessHandbook.dev
Want to Stop copy pasting D3 examples and create data visualizations of your own? Learn how to build scalable dataviz React components your whole team can understand with React for Data Visualization
Want to get my best emails on JavaScript, React, Serverless, Fullstack Web, or Indie Hacking? Check out swizec.com/collections
Did someone amazing share this letter with you? Wonderful! You can sign up for my weekly letters for software engineers on their path to greatness, here: swizec.com/blog
Want to brush up on your modern JavaScript syntax? Check out my interactive cheatsheet: es6cheatsheet.com
By the way, just in case no one has told you it yet today: I love and appreciate you for who you are ❤️