Humans are significant

[dwarven]

I always hear people say "oh well we're self-destructing species living on a tiny rock in the middle of nowhere, therefore we're insignificant."

Sorry, but you're wrong. It seems like the only argument here, is that we're small in size. Yea, that's true, but it has nothing to do with us being significant or not. You seem to take for granted all of the stuff the human race has accomplished in spite of our violent nature. The fact that we were able to defy earth's gravity and send humans to the moon is a tremendous achievement. Imagination and abstract thinking exists nowhere (as far as we know) except on earth. The universe is self-aware because of us. We can look at galaxies which are billions of light-years away. The mere fact that you can sit at your computer in a vegetative state drinking soda all day is fairly significant. Where else in the universe do you think that is happening?

[smashzu]

What is this?

I want some cake.

[Belize]

Theres other planets out there where this is happening for sure. Some are more advanced than we are. In the immensity of space (E.I. Bazillion of galaxies and planets and stuff) yes.... we are very insignificant.

[dwarven]

Theres other planets out there where this is happening for sure. Some are more advanced than we are.

*citation needed

[-Scarecrow-]

You would both be right.

[DionLight7]

*citation needed

.......

Really?

[Dacien]

.......

Really?

Well sure, that's a pretty wild claim to make without something to back it up.

OT: We are significant, more significant than we give ourselves credit for. Every one of us is unique and, to use a trite word, "special". So is every animal. Any cat owner or dog owner can tell you that each cat or dog they've ever had had it's own personality, something that separated it from every other cat or dog.

[TheShinyOne]

Significant, and mostly stupid. Now that's significant!

Also, why do aliens have to be more advanced than us? Why is that what everyone assumes?

I want some cake.

[dwarven]

.......

Really?

Really. There's no evidence that suggests life exists on other planets other than "the universe is really big".

[Providence]

Really. There's no evidence that suggests life exists on other planets other than "the universe is really big".

There's enough speculation that makes it almost beyond any reasonable doubt that there's at least 1 OTHER planet with life on it.

[dwarven]

There's enough speculation that makes it almost beyond any reasonable doubt that there's at least 1 OTHER planet with life on it.

It's irrelevant until we can confirm it. Even if there was one other planet with life on it (or ten or a thousand), we'd be highly significant.

[Providence]

It's irrelevant until we can confirm it. Even if there was one other planet with life on it (or ten or a thousand), we'd be highly significant.

not really. Humans are around 2.4 million years old. The earth is 4.54 billion years old. That means our entirety on this planet is less than 0.0006%. There are more ants living now than there have been humans in total. We are 1 planet in a potential 400,000,000,000 and 4,000,000,000,000 just in our galaxy alone which is 1 in 125,000,000,000. We are not significant in any stretch except to ourselves, which makes us significant in our own eyes.

[Arkenaw]

Someone is having delusions of grandeur. All of human history is as insignificant as a speck of dust in the wind and there's no rational way to deny it.

[StationaryHawk]

Really. There's no evidence that suggests life exists on other planets other than "the universe is really big".

There's no evidence that says that life doesn't exist anywhere else. The only reasonable theory, judging by the existence of life on one planet and the number of other planets in the Universe, is that life exists elsewhere. The odds are in favor of it. Of course, there's no evidence that this is true, but to rule out the possible simply because we have no method of proving it would be ignorant.

[dwarven]

not really. Humans are around 2.4 million years old. The earth is 4.54 billion years old. That means our entirety on this planet is less than 0.0006%. There are more ants living now than there have been humans in total. We are 1 planet in a potential 400,000,000,000 and 4,000,000,000,000 just in our galaxy alone which is 1 in 125,000,000,000. We are not significant in any stretch except to ourselves, which makes us significant in our own eyes.

What are you trying to say? Small numbers = more rare.

[Mindful]

Someone is having delusions of grandeur. All of human history is as insignificant as a speck of dust in the wind and there's no rational way to deny it.

Pretty much this. Mathematically, the amount of space/time we have effected/occupied is inconceivably miniscule.

[Providence]

What are you trying to say? Small numbers = more rare.

um no. I'm saying that on a time frame, our existence is tiny, on a number frame, our existence is tiny, on the universal scale, our existence is tiny, and if you wanna get existential on it, our existence is completely and unequivocally unimportant as our life, death, existence and destruction will have absolutely no baring on the entirety of the universe. It's scary for some people to understand that but we are nothing in a sea of nothing on a planet of nothing in a solar system of nothing in a galaxy of nothing in a universe of nothing. So grab a chair, get drunk and enjoy yourself

[dwarven]

Someone is having delusions of grandeur. All of human history is as insignificant as a speck of dust in the wind and there's no rational way to deny it.

Again, your only argument is that we've only existed for a limited amount of time. That is irrelevant. The Planck epoch of the big bang lasted 10^(-43) seconds. It was only an instance in time which led to all of what we see now.

[Arkenaw]

Again, your only argument is that we've only existed for a limited amount of time. That is irrelevant. The Planck epoch of the big bang lasted 10^(-43) seconds. It was only an instance in time which led to all of what we see now.

Right, of course, I forgot that the human species has created an entire universe.

[Providence]

Again, your only argument is that we've only existed for a limited amount of time. That is irrelevant. The Planck epoch of the big bang lasted 10^(-43) seconds. It was only an instance in time which led to all of what we see now.

Whether this planet is the only planet in the entire universe is also irrelevant. The universe will live with and without humans completely unaffected. Thats the true sign of insignificance.