Neil deGrasse Tyson Wants Everyone To Know That You ARE Significant In The Universe
This video is going viral today. We are small. Earth is small. The solar system is small. The Milkyway Galaxy…small and like a BILLION light years away from everything yada yada yada. Trent did a good job breaking down the natural reactions…a combination of fear/isolation and sweet relief.
Here is one of my favorite space videos on the internet. And it’s from our guy Neil deGrasse Tyson
NdT’s reaction, in summation:
I am an optimist by nature(the Hawks are back in case you didn’t know) so this video speaks to me. We aren’t nothing…we are made up of EVERYTHING from the Universe. Connected to the very beginning of the Universe. That fact is bananas. Every element in our body can be found in the far reaches of space and they came from space and it just assembled in some weird way on some small rock flying through space. That’s incredible…astounding, if you will.
Even more than that…like…we are alive and conscious. You’re reading this right now. You, some collection of atoms that just got jumbled together by chance and your parents having unprotected sex are here and self-aware. And aware of me. And we are talking through the internet. It’s entirely possible that we are the only beings in the Milkway capable of reading shitty blogs on the internet about shitty videos about the Milkway. I don’t know, guys, that feels like a lot of responsibility. The count-argument to Trent’s “nothing matters” is that EVERYTHING matters. We might be the only things alive for a billion light years in any direction that actually has “meaning”. Just put the weight of the universe on your brain and for that I apologize, but like…whoa.