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friedeggsandtoast t1_it56eep wrote

That is so interesting but also mildly terrifying. Any time I learn something new about space I feel like the most insignificant piece of dust lol.

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M1ster_Rogers t1_it6f04a wrote

It's important to remember that you are also part of the universe. All the natural processes of the universe and 14 billion years of cosmic evolution led to us. We are the waking universe looking back upon itself and nothing less than a thermodynamic miracle.

You may be a tiny speck floating on an insignificant rock through an unremarkable part of an incomprehensible supercluster of galaxies, but you also happen to be one of the most interesting and (by what the evidence so far has indicated) rare phenomena present in the universe. Rejoice in existence.

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Uncle__doctor_soup t1_it78lph wrote

I really prefer this take then the “humans are so shitty and unremarkable” one that is so popular on Reddit

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Halvus_I t1_it7ym8u wrote

"If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”"

  • Carl Sagan
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Phenotyx t1_it7pbt8 wrote

They’re really not mutually exclusive…

We are rare af and idc if there’s other life out there any life is special but

We also piss away our existence and shit on the environment that allowed us to evolve to this point

Objectively, humans have definitely been a net negative on the earth so far. I hope that changes and we earn our place in the universe

If not, we deserve whatever fate we get.

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Uncle__doctor_soup t1_it7sems wrote

You’re not wrong but it seems it’s so much more frequent for people to hate our species and hope we get wiped out rather then hope we turn it around and grow

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Phenotyx t1_it7u083 wrote

Yeah i hear you. I mean hoping is one thing, I hope more than anything we find the a path that allows us to flourish without draining the resources from whatever planet or source we are taking from.

Whether or not that’s likely is another topic haha

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tenticularozric t1_it9l2vl wrote

If we don’t get off this planet, eventually a natural force will destroy the planet and then it won’t have made a different how many animals we drove to extinction or how many greenhouse gases we emitted into the atmosphere.

But if we get off this planet and find a way to make other planets habitable for ourselves and other animals, it will have all been worth it right?

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Phenotyx t1_it9n7a3 wrote

If we extend that logic you’d eventually just say well none of it matters because eventually the universe will get to a point where no life can be sustained so what does any of it matter?

So no I don’t really like that point of view. Society has existed for 10000 years that’s not even 1/1000th of 1% of the time the earth has been around I don’t think its ok to justify mass extinction of animals because we MAY or may not “find a way to make other planets habitable”… let’s worry about saving our own planet first ffs

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Prestigious_Use_208 t1_itaff57 wrote

The sheer existence itself is just mind blowing. What are the chances that we’ve modeled almost every creation from ourselves. The internet seems like neurons connecting together in the brain… it’s insane if you think about. I just wish more people could become aware of this special kind of experience going on around them, maybe we could have a much better understanding between each other.

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aimlesslunchbag t1_it7m3e2 wrote

Is it ok to cry a little now?

Best advice I've gotten all year. And it's been a wild one at times.

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myflippinggoodness t1_it7xc3m wrote

Idk if you're some legit spooky apparition playing off of one of the most wholesome people in recent memory..

..But ya got the tone down :') 👍👍

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Alucard661 t1_it58t03 wrote

Ah don’t worry man, in the scale of the universe you’re an insignificant piece of dust (you) in an insignificant piece of dust (earth), in an insignificant piece of dust(solar system), in an insignificant piece of dust (milky way Galaxy).

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konnektion t1_it5g1eh wrote

Heck, even our own Laniakea Supercluster (of which the Milky Way is only one of 100,000 other galaxies included in it) is probably only one of 10 millions in the universe.

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winterblink t1_it5gak0 wrote

And that’s not even getting into all the other universes.

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Solid_Veterinarian81 t1_it5gp1e wrote

Well we don't know shit about other universes they might not even have galaxies if they exist. But there are around 10 million superclusters in our observable universe... the actual extent of the universe is most likely infinite

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quadriplegic_cheetah t1_it63yuo wrote

It’s all relative. To the bacteria that call your digestive system home. To the viruses that come in contact with you. To the molecules that make these creatures up. And the atoms and subatomic particles that are the building blocks of matter.

You are their universe.

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millennial_burnout t1_it6y9jt wrote

This is why I sometimes wonder if the universe that we know is just a small piece of something bigger

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wanderingconspirator t1_it76ue0 wrote

We are their universe, but we have a known (to us) boundary or size. What if the universe really is infinite? What if it doesn’t just go on forever, but actually has no boundary? Just actually infinite

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quadriplegic_cheetah t1_it7axmp wrote

I mean the same can be said in reverse. It’s entirely possible that you can infinitely zoom in on the world just like how one could infinitely zoom out.

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S_and_M_of_STEM t1_it5nhwr wrote

So, the thing about this is we are insignificant to the universe. Earth, humans, our solar system are all of no importance. We probably aren't even that special, and certainly not likely unique. What that means, though, is we decide what matters to us. We make our own significance. We choose to be kind and caring or selfish and vindictive or ambivalent and apathetic. Because we don't matter to the rest of the Universe, how we are to each other is of tremendous importance. It's a morality of insignificance, if you will.

If we are special and we are unique, then it is even more important that we care for each other, because us being unique means we're all there is in the universe that can care.

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NatLawson t1_it96xs9 wrote

Wait?

Are you trying to self depreciate or are you really insignificant? I have a clue.

If you were tragically small and terribly insignificant you wouldn't know it.

You be like a rock falling through the air destined to crash. You'd have no idea of your fate.

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Jemtex t1_it7akxz wrote

no really when your casual imagination can imagine things that cannot exist in this universe thats significant.

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BellyFlopMan06 t1_it51o7a wrote

I can't find this image anywhere else other than that article. Can't find it on NASA's official website. Not on JWST Instagram. I am sceptical about that photo.

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u-eeeee t1_it6gj8u wrote

theres no away we are alone in this universe.

the chance of us suddenly pops up exist is already mind boggling...if we can exist, theres also other entity in this world, right ?

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MadTabz t1_it7m4ui wrote

You would have thought so, but the fermi paradox argues where is all this life?

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u-eeeee t1_it7mxrp wrote

maybe they're also trying to reach out calling to someone, like us ?

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MadTabz t1_it7nzfh wrote

Potentially! There are countless stars which are much older than our sun and so have already had time for intelligent life to thrive. But so far we have not found any evidence of an itellugent civilisation existing

The rare earth hypothesis does have a huge amount of requirements though and so perhaps none of these known solar systems satisfy the conditions required for intelligent life.

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u-eeeee t1_it7ox75 wrote

coool...I guess in my lifetime, I will probably never know xD

but damn, the universe are so fascinating !

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BridgeOnColours t1_it8w6ul wrote

I don't think it's too hard to believe that space is incredibly vast and harsh, and to emit any detectable signals requires incredible amounts of energy directed right at us.

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AkhilVijendra t1_it5p8h9 wrote

What if someone watched us too when the earth was being formed and when life began.

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motoxjake t1_it7ywz8 wrote

Somewhere a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away? Prolly.

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feelsbudman t1_it79obe wrote

When people say we can't be alone in the universe I get aliens. But they wouldn't be anything like us right? Like they could be dinosaurs (not acutal dinosaurs) but like just another living thing. Something microscopic? Something huge. Could literally be anything right? Evolution would still be a thing right? Idk just spitballing

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myflippinggoodness t1_it7yy49 wrote

Energy beings! Sentient goo! Administrative rocks!

Oh they might sound silly now, but speaking evidentially, they're just as likely as xenomorphs, Romulans, Shai Hulud, or idk, giant space Vikings 😗

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GalileosGalaxy t1_itju2gj wrote

They may not be so different since evolution is not specific to earth. I imagine things similar to eyes, ears, mouth, arms/legs/tentacles, etc. would show up. Though I imagine there will be large differences based on the gravity on the planet, atmosphere makeup, etc.

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EconomyCauliflower24 t1_it7nfss wrote

As comforting as it is that there are probably other forms of life out there, doesnt that solar system actually exist way longer than it took for that light to get here? So the planets from way out there might be seeing the milky ways origin too but to top it all off there is no way to know we’re here until you get the data that proves we exist. And what if they don’t want us to be here or vice versa? Like if a bee got into a space shuttle and stung an astronaut there is no way to prevent that from happening. But war of the worlds instead. I don’t know how uplifting this photograph is. Guess it’s pretty cool though.

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HawkinsNationalLAN t1_it8oj07 wrote

The Webb Space Telescope Sees a Star* System's Beginning

Small rant: There is only one solar system, and we all live in it. At the center of our star system is Sol (the Sun), the star around which Earth orbits. That is why our star system is named the solar system.

Other systems of planets/objects orbiting stars which are not Sol are not actually solar systems. They're just star systems, or maybe stellar systems, but certainly not solar systems.

edit: typo, clarification

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dioxol-5-yl t1_it5p0nb wrote

They really know how to sell an image far above and beyond any science that it may or may not contain. It also might not be a solar system at all, but we'll never be able to tell because to us this process will remain stationary in time, never knowing what it may or may not ultimately form. The whole mystical ooohhhhh maybe it's got their own versions of jupiter and saturn and life on the third rock from the moon... Ugh, it's so unscientific to blindly assume that it could or would be anything like our solar system at this point that it's sickening.

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lifeontheQtrain t1_it5ss1q wrote

They aren't saying that it is a solar system. They're saying that it is a protoplanetary disc around a 1 million year old star. You didn't read the article very well.

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