Thursday, October 8, 2015

The Universe Is NOT About Us

Columnist George Will writes about the new Webb space telescope.   He writes:
"Other historians — the scientists and engineers of the Space Telescope Science Institute — study the origins of everything in order to understand humanity’s origins. In 2018, Webb will be situated 940,000 miles from Earth, orbiting the sun in tandem with Earth, to continue investigating our place in the universe."
Then he says:
"Webb, which will be the size of a tennis court, will advance knowledge about this stupendous improbability: How did material complexity, then single-cell life, then animals and consciousness emerge from chaos?
"... Webb will not shed light on two interesting questions: How many universes are there? Is everything the result of a meaningless cosmic sneeze, or of an intentional First Cause? Webb will, however, express our species’ dignity as curious creatures...."
But it's not about us. The universe is not about us.
The story of human knowledge, of science, has been a steady retreat from man's self-centeredness and self-importance.
Everywhere the universe and nature shout out man's lack of significance, while we invent mythologies that place us at the center of everything and construct gods that are like us physically and behaviorally even to the extent of being sex-obsessed. Creatures born to die in an eyeblink of time, we invent for ourselves eternal existence of a sort.
The ground-bound ape is always trying to climb trees.
There is no limit to human egotism and solipsism. Knock it down and it grows in another form.
And now Will and others present the Webb telescope as being all about human origins? About the place of man in the universe? More myths, but useful ones, used to gather funds and support for the new space telescope.