tantrikwizard wrote:Of all the known trillions of observable planets (stuff) of the vast empty space there exists a speck of a planet capable of preserving life...earth.
...that we know of. Which serves to show one of the uglier character traits of humans: They think they are somehow the center of the universe.
Humans have special characteristics distinguishing them from other life forms including a self awareness and understanding of the cosmos to manipulate it to our needs.
Ugly character trait #2: Loss of scale. We cannot "manipulate the cosmos", we can exploit a couple of things on our tiny, meaningless planet.
What we have
not developed is:
a) a sense as to when it's better
not to exploit certain things because this planet and its resources is all we have, and
b) some form of certainty that our children will have something remotely similar to our lifestyle to look forward to.
I also don't really buy into this "self-awareness" definition, and that it should apply to humans only. All in all, I think there's many a dolphin who's living a happier life than most humans on this planet.
We've made vast (though not complete) strides in understanding the nature of this reality in which we live...
...yet still we wage war on each other, live in fear of losing everything, and let people (who are conveniently on the other end of the globe) poison our world so we can have cheap DVD recorders...
If you do not appreciate humans as being the most biologically complex known beings in the cosmos...
"Most biologically complex"?
Humans are, from a biological standpoint, just another mammal, with an otherwise unremarkable DNA / organism.
...and likewise do not appreciate the level of human understanding of the cosmos...
I know that I know nothing.
-- Socrates
...then logically you will not appreciate anything else in the cosmos.
I do. I can appreciate the complex physics involved in a supernova, or marvel at the simplicist beauty of a retrovirus. I appreciate fine arts, music, nature, a day with my kids, my wonderful wife. I like a piece of well-crafted source code, or an intelligent discussion.
I just don't appreciate how full of oneself some humans are, or how stupid on average.