Indeed! And, with that, you've hit upon the heart of the matter. We are completely existentially intertwined with Earth. Therefore, we're completely existentially intertwined with the Cosmos at large. We are symptomatic of it. To create us, you first need the entire Cosmos in place, just as it is.
With how complex society necessarily needs to be made up of beings that care at least enough to work together to build things that exceed what any one being can do, we almost unquestionably far outnumber any beings intelligent enough to understand empathy but don't exhibit it.
the image is kinda vague
i was assuming that it was like an exact duplicate of the galaxy but earth didnt and never had existed, instead of the earth just exploding or disappearing suddenly
I like to ask what acknowledging this does for us. I accept that I do not matter, but I try to consider efforts that seem to increase likelihood of a better future for the people that I can reliably expect will be here after me because I see no need for so many to experience so much suffering.
I have considered similar. Perhaps every consciousness, even those that walk amongst us right now, are other universes happening and experiencing themselves and we somehow all overlap.
But all evidence tells me that the people I know about will exist even if I do not. Is this not quite so?
well yes, it isn't a conscience being as a whole, but rather we are its conscience, because we are sentient (and any other potential lifeforms). so maybe it really does care, because we are part of it and we care.
So true. It takes the speed of light (186000 miles per second) 93 billion light years to go from one side of the measurable universe to the other. Our planet is but a speck in our solar system, our solar system is but a speck in our galaxy and our galaxy is but a speck in the universe.
Okay, chill it with the existentialism universe, I think we got enough of that. While we're at it, maybe stop expanding? I'm terrified of all the energy in the universe becoming so spread out as to leave us in complete darkness in a trillion years...
i thought it was a joke about like the size, like as in 'banana to scale' and then there was nothing there cuz it's so small but this is a lot less funnier
Universe likes to be self reliantly omnisciently callous. How good for you "UNIVERSE" you cared enough to craft this special message I wonder who and why you are. The fact that you hide tells me enough about what a deserving person you are. Hi.
Look, brah. Earth didn't care for a long time and we fixed that. Maybe don't be so loud about being dismissive so we don't take that personally, a'ight?
The Milky Way wouldn't look like that without Earth. It wouldn't look like anything at all, having lost its only known observers. We are the universe's way of experiencing itself.
Your statement assumes there are no other observers in the Milky Way, but we can't confirm that yet. So perhaps it still could look like that without Earth? We are [one of the] the universe's [many, many] ways of experiencing itself.
Sorry, universe, for what happened this morning. I'm incredibly heartbroken over it. As much as I agree that you don't care, I feel an abundance of grief and need to say sorry to something.
what is worse? to be incapable of empathy, or to be capable and turn from it to embrace a cold apathy because it is what is the 'standard'? We might not be all that is important, but we are here. We are alive. We should matter to each other.
As far as we know, life on earth is the only place where caring even exists. And since life on earth is a part of the universe, we can say unequivocally that the universe does care.
Growing up native in a universe that created trump all I can say that all the caring and five bucks will buy a cup of coffee these days. Caring without the five bucks won’t buy a damn thing. It’s like moaning on social media when the uncaring stole an election but America has been herded too long
Your response doesn't line up with my meaning, it's essentially a change of subject; however it's extremely valid and relevant. The ruthless have plotted and planned for decades, they are extremely well organized, they are extremely well-funded, and they have gathered power. We are in trouble.
"The planet'll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. It will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we're gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, 'cause that's what it does." George Carlin
Right now Humanity is on track for The sixth Great Extinction. If we could stop eating our fellow animals by Going Vegan, it's possible Humans could carry on.. But right now it's not looking good!
Deism: Some Founding Fathers, like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, were influenced by Deism, a belief in a creator who does not intervene in the universe. Deists believed in reason and science rather than religious dogma2.
Every night I take my dog out before bed, and I take a moment to look up into the stars. Every time I am overcome with awe and reverence of how insignificant I am in the grand scheme of the universe, and I am reminded how of all the possibilities in this universe, I’m stuck in the 9-5 grind…
Neither does the Earth. We need to stop talking about "saving the planet" when the Earth will continue with or without us. It was here before humans and will continue long after we destroy the environment that supports us. 1/2
If we want to appeal to climate deniers we need to appeal to their baser instincts - how it personally affects *them* because they don't give a damn about other people or creatures. But if their insurance rates go up because of wildfires or floods they will start to pay attention.
Our stupid insignificant sun could explode right now and it would mean nothing to the rest of the galaxy, hell it probably wouldn't even matter to our closest neighbor, Proxima Centauri.
Actually, maybe someone on another world would see it explode. It would be big news among their astronomers.
I learned a fascinating history of my Laughlin ancestors. Emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania to South Carolina. In 1810, became Abolitionists, emigrated to Ohio to form Underground Railroad passage across Ohio River. Emigrated to Illinois to shuttle escaped enslave people to Chicago until 1865.
The university doesn’t have the capacity to care. It’s like saying my washing machine is indifferent to a cup placed on it. It’s an incoherent statement trying to sound profound.
What happened to the *butterfly effect*?
Without the Earth, all the complex gravitational relationships in the galaxy would be *very slightly* different.
Comments
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
- Stephen Crane (1871-1900)
Considering how incredibly vast the universe is, I have a hard time believing there are not an unfathomably large amount of beings who do care.
What about how enormous we are compared to Planck volume
i was assuming that it was like an exact duplicate of the galaxy but earth didnt and never had existed, instead of the earth just exploding or disappearing suddenly
And Mars froze to keep Elon away
With every child a new sun and a new moon are born.
From one point of view that's just not true. From another it is. The universe appears anew with every new consciousness
But all evidence tells me that the people I know about will exist even if I do not. Is this not quite so?
we at least get a "hey look at that!" from somewhere out there.
The first picture is the picture of the Earth with the Universe.
The second one shows what will happen with the Universe without the Earth 🌍
1+1 (bilateral) ≠ -1 you
Doesn’t
Care!
in some format of understing
i guarantee you
we are a reflection.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not,
the Universe is laughing behind your back.
- Deteriorata
"The Universe is telling me to..."?
And with knowledge comes power.
The universe should be worried that of the billions of planets, on one there is a species that will eventually comprehend and manipulate it.
We, the human species, might not. 🫠
X is proof of that... 😆
Thank you, Universe.
It’s the bigger galaxy so surely it should be Andromoway which is much easier to say & sounds soo much better as it rolls off the tongue 🤷♂️
If I was religious, I would say God!
—Stephen Crane
Sometimes you don’t.
https://silkythick.substack.com
Actually, maybe someone on another world would see it explode. It would be big news among their astronomers.
"Fuck off, Zod, and get your knee out of my ass."
[Editor's note: This is not only the first but also the last comic book joke @hotmint will have ever made. Please clap.]
Yes, you just aren't a part of it.
Get outta here
Because it soo small comparatively
Without the Earth, all the complex gravitational relationships in the galaxy would be *very slightly* different.
Humans just care way too much about the wrong things