... growing on a tiny pebble in the vastness of space.
It's like Carl Sagan kicking you in the balls.
Although, I guess our sentience, the very ability to realize our place in space, is pretty special. Still, I felt absolutely tiny after seeing this.
Kudos to IMAX for immersing you into a 3D experience that delivers a message you may have already heard in an entirely new way.
It's like Carl Sagan kicking you in the balls.share
You can say that again
shareI felt even more significant, and even more that Earth must have a purpose in the universe. The vastness of space certainly does make all the "important" things we do seem very trite, but it makes the spiritual significance that much stronger.
shareEarth doesn't have a "purpose", we"re just lucky to have survived as a species long enough to consciously evolve and understand the vastness. It's not as if the Earth exist solely for the phenomenon of life to occur. I mean all you need is water for life to spawn. Even geothermal vents are enough to sustain life if the distance from a planet(or moon) is too great from a star.
shareI think this is one of the most depressing replies I have ever read. But, not dismissing it either. Haha. Yikes.
shareI didn't care much for how they went up into space, tbh, but the images they captured...
I feel exactly the same way. I'm really disappointed the imax near me isn't playing it anymore because I would watch a thousand times over.
I enjoy feeling small, and that sense. You can't even begin to comprehend how vast the universe is, space and time-
and then I laugh at the idiots who think humans are the only ones "out there."
Buffy vs Edward: Twilight Remixed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZwM3GvaTRM
I definitely thought of how insignificant we seem against the enormity of the universe, but on an emotional level, I feel something more exciting: How lucky we are to exist and how amazing it is that we have the intelligence to even recognize the enormity of the universe, let alone be able to build huge telescopes and put them into orbit to get a better look.
As an atheist who doesn't believe in an afterlife or souls or anything like that, I get a thrill from the concept that life just happened somehow and yet it became something so very special. And the idea that it has likely happened before, could be happening now and will most certainly happen again and again in the future, on other planets somewhere out there is even more thrilling.
Of course, I do need to mention that even though I'm an atheist with regards to the idea that a god specifically created human life and watches over us and all that BS, I do believe that there is probably higher forms of life beyond the universe. Like the universe is just an atom in a bigger universe or something like that. And watching this film, looking at those images of nebulas and stars and everything... The predominant thought in my mind was, "What IS all this stuff?" I don't want to use the word "Why", as in "Why is it here?", because I don't think why factors into it. Cause and effect certainly, but not a purpose. I think existence just... exists.
So for me, the feeling of insignificane doesn't cause depression. It causes more wonder. It causes excitement about how lucky we are to exist and be as sentient as we are. That actually, in my opinion, makes life feel more valuable. Because if there's an afterlife, then what's so special about this life? It's just a test to see if we're fit for heaven or hell? After this, we either gotta spend eternity with God (who sounds like a judgmental, jealous and petty being) or burn in hell? THAT'S what would be depressing to me.
And I used to be such a nice guy.
Yep. I felt so totally insignificant.
But it was also very cool too. It felt like I was part of something that was bigger than I will ever be able to wrap my head around.
The only reason I went to see this was to see the Hubble images of far distant galaxies and nebulae. The astronaut footage was cool but isn't what I was interested in.
The deep space shots blew me away. That star nursery cloud with all the 'tadpole' solar systems... That's when I kind of felt very very small.
Omnia illa et ante fiebant
omnia illa et rursus fient