INTEGRAL WORLD MAILING LIST 
http://www.integralworld.net

Newsletter Nr. 730
Amsterdam, September 3rd, 2018



ON OUR ALLEGED INSIGNIFICANCE - KEITH PRICE

How do we know that we are an unimportant recent mammalian species on an obscure planet? We see claims like this made all the time, usually as some kind of introductory admission or background comment, as in 'Of course, we know that, despite our self-conceit as a species that wants to think of itself as at the centre of things, we are actually very small and insignificant in the universe…'. A prime example would be the following widely quoted (and sung!) comment from Carl Sagan:

Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. (“Carl Sagan Quotes”).

What does it mean to say that we don't matter? If you look at it very carefully, it is actually hard to make out. To start with, you might ask who, or what, actually does matter if we don't?


Read more:
http://www.integralworld.net/price1.html