In Case You Thoguht You Mattered...

[MetalDog]

There's only one kind of pie that I like, and my pie stuffer is not able to speak.

[Staggerwing]

"Hey baby, wanna assimilate?"

[mirth]

I dated that chick. She was 3 of 10.

[Martok]

The other nine weren't interested? 

[GDS_Starfury]

he was lucky to "self inflate" to 3.

[mirth]

he was lucky to "self inflate" to 3.

you're the resident expert on self-inflation.

[GDS_Starfury]

At least I've never said no to myself. 
Your hand looked at your crocs and sprained itself.

[mirth]

At least I've never said no to myself. 

Your hand and Azz. So that's two in the plus column for you. You are a Warlock.

[GDS_Starfury]

Its not my fault you wear crocs.

[BanzaiCat]

[JasonPratt]

Yep, the universe is large and scary -- which people everywhere have known for all of human history (though in modern Western cultures since the 1800s we tend to be rudely reminded of it instead of remembering it all the time).

But that has not the slightest bearing on whether people 'matter' or not (whether the people are of the human species or otherwise). I don't matter less than any tree which could cripple or kill me by falling on me; I don't matter less than any cow I may be herding -- and my relative size is not why I matter more (if I do) than any cat I may be trying to herd!  :))

Granted, I don't matter to the natural system, but again size has nothing to do with that: I don't matter to viruses either. Human beings are about average-sized compared to the total size of the known universe, but that has nothing to do with whether we matter or not.

It's really the other way around: the only reason the natural universe matters, it because it matters to persons.

Putting it another way, the only reason anything matters at all is because persons matter. Persons (even if they are only rudimentary persons) can value things, and that ability to value things is itself uniquely and specially valuable. It isn't something that automatic reactions and counter-reactions pingponging around would ever be able to do.

That capability to introduce actions into the system, including value judgments, has its own logical implications, about which philosophical categories are true and others false. But acknowledgment and respect for rational action, not only mine but other persons', is the only way I can consistently argue to any conclusion.


I like to put it this way: I'm a trinitarian Christian, and I remain a trinitarian Christian, because I believe atheists (and any other non-Christian or different Christian) really do personally matter, and ought to be respected, even as atheists. :)

(Though I realize there are dozens and dozens of points between accepting-you-and-I-matter-for-purposes-of-any-argument-at-all, or even establishing that's true on analysis, and trinitarian Christianity, and plenty of people opt out at different points. Even so: I still believe Christianity in honor of them as responsible persons.)

[Centurion40]

It has been theorized that, if one could travel far enough into space, one could see different universes- in the same manner that one can observe different galaxies.  So our universe could be one of millions, in the same way that our galaxy is one of millions within our universe, and our solar system is one of millions within our galaxy.

[bayonetbrant]

seen elsewhere

[JasonPratt]

^^ 

It has been theorized that, if one could travel far enough into space, one could see different universes- in the same manner that one can observe different galaxies.  So our universe could be one of millions, in the same way that our galaxy is one of millions within our universe, and our solar system is one of millions within our galaxy.

It would still be the same spatio-temporal universe; we'd need a new term for the galactic groupings represented by our current universal model. Maybe "Galaxy Tree" or something. (Isn't that the new hotness? The universe looks like a tree? Getting an idea of how the universe is currently shaped is tough due to temporal drift.)

[Staggerwing]

Maybe "Galaxy Tree" or something. (Isn't that the new hotness? The universe looks like a tree?

Maybe not so new. Many older belief systems see the greater expanse of existence in the form of a 'world tree'. I'm partial to Yggdrasil myself.