why do some scientists want to diminish our uniqueness as humans by saying that?

Question

we are insignificant in the universe, that there is superior life out there somewhere? i think humans are pretty neat-o, dont you?

i would like to add that i am not against the sciences that believe we are not alone, for i too think that, given the odds....its just that sometimes they just want us to think that life on earth is just a mundane occurrence....i was just reading an article. thats all, and it made me wonder about things.

thanks for your thoughtful and logical answeres. when it comes to science i am woefully inept.

Answer 1

Man’s uniqueness cannot be explained by evolution, for that process should certainly have resulted in at least a few other living things having qualities somewhat like humans. But that is not the case. Of all creatures on earth, only humans are capable of abstract reasoning, using complex languages, accumulating and building on knowledge and transmitting the improvement to their children. Only humans invent and improve on tools. Only they appreciate beauty, compose music and paint pictures.

In addition, in contrast with animals, only humans have an inborn moral sense. True, they can distort it or even work against it, but they still have the faculty of conscience. That is why in all human societies, even godless ones, there are laws protecting morals, human life, property and other rights. But nowhere do we see such conscience at work among the animals.

So yes, I think we're pretty neat-o too!

Answer 2

They are not necessarily trying to diminish our uniqueness. They are being realistic. The "insignificance" that scientists refer to is mathematical, taking into consideration the fact that we are one of billions and billions of planets in a virtually infinite universe. It's the truth. There is no reason to hide from it, or be ashamed of it. When you factor in the fact that some people simply aren't so "neat-o," then you have to think that scientists are actually pretty smart. You can believe in the potential greatness of mankind without denying the really horrible stuff that some people do to one another. Murder, poverty, opression, rape, war... these are a part of humans, too. Still, I don't want to go too far. There are a lot of really "neat-o" people out there, too. Science and mankind are two-way streets.

Answer 3

It’s just a matter of scale. A queen ant is very significant to the other ants in the colony, but if the entire ant colony located in Peru was wiped out would it make the slightest difference to you? Would you even know? If an advanced civilization living on a planet three billion light years away was destroyed when there star went nova, would you notice?

The universe is a big place, if our sun went nova it would make quite a difference to us, but someone in another galaxy would not even notice. That is what they mean by our insignificance.

Answer 4

If scientists feel we are insignificant, then wouldn't that mean any opinion or theory they have is insignificant as well. They are the most narrow minded of all professions, I can't believe I wanted to be one of them when I was in high school. We as humans can be incredibly neat-o, and on the other hand we can be incredibly evil. I like to find a happy medium.

Answer 5

It takes light about one second to reach the moon from the earth. From that distance, no human works are visible. Except at night, when the light from our cities may be seen on earth's night side.

From the distance of the sun (eight light minutes), earth is just a bright speck in the sky, about as bright as Venus is in our sky. Actually, a bit dimmer.

From the orbit of Neptune (the most distant planet), earth is such a faint dot you would need a telescope to pick it out.

From the distance of Proxima Centauri, nearest star to our sun (4 light years), earth is indetectable with our current technology, and the sun itself is a star of rather average brightness.

From the distance of the north star (400 light years), the sun is lost against a backdrop of stars. I'm not certain it would be visible to the naked eye.

From the distance to the galactic core, 30,000 light years away, much of our entire arm of the galaxy would be lost in the blaze of light emitted by the core suns. Every planet of the core would enjoy a daylight sky, with stars packed thick.

Our galaxy is large, but not as large as Andromeda. Andromeda is a bit bigger and has more stars. From Andromeda (two million light years away) our galaxy would appear as a faint, barely visible patch of light. (That is what Andromeda looks like to us from our night sky).

Our local group consists of some 20 galaxies and galactic clusters. It isn't all that interesting. We are moving towards a wall of galaxies some half a billion light years from here known as "The Great Attractor." This contains galaxies with a trillion stars--ours has only some 200 billion stars. There are galaxies far, far bigger, more beautiful, more exotic, more violent and powerful than our own humble Milky Way.

Our universe contains roughly 100 billion galaxies, scattered across some 50 billion light years of space. (More than 13.7 billion light years, the age of our universe, because the universe is expanding).

So what is so significant about humans?

If you spent your entire life gazing at one single microbe in a microscope, you might think that little single celled creature was the most important thing in your universe. It would be significant to you, but every day I wash a few million microbes down the drain with soapy water, without mourning their loss.

Five billion years from now our sun will collapse from a red giant to a white dwarf, and over the course of another few billion years gradually fade to black. If earth survives that event intact, life most likely won't.

Multicellular organisms have wandered the face of our planet for over 600 million years. Millions of species have come and gone, eons before our distant ancestors climbed down out of the trees. A similar fate likely awaits us. What is significant about humans? Just because you happen to be one? Your ego is getting in your way--blocking your view.

Answer 6

We are not alone in the universe so we are not unique.
We are special in that we are among the intelligent class of creatures in the universe.
All intelligent aliens are pretty close to each other in intelligence and technology.
They are probably short lived,on the order of 300 to 400 hundred years.
This makes it unlikely that we will ever have proof of their existence and we will surly never meet one.
Millions or billions have probably preceded us and gone out of existence and the cycle will repeat until the universe goes out of existence.

Answer 7

It is hard not to say that we are insignificant when you consider that there are about 10 trillion billion other stars besides our sun. I sure wouldn't say that there was necessarily superior life but it seems likely given the odds.

Answer 8

They don´t diminish our uniqueness. They are just pointing out how meaningless all our wars and squabbles (most of which are the result of religion) are. Earth is one out of dozens of worlds orbiting the sun which is one out of hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy which is one out of hundreds of millions of galaxies. And we are still killing each other over worthless stretches of desertland. Hopefully we are unique in not seeing our own insignificance...

But I do think humans are pretty neat-o. I just wish I didn´t need glasses. And that we didn´t fight so many wars.
And that my body could manufacture vitamin-c like all other animals, except chimpanzees, can. Curious that god did the exact same mistake in us and our nearest cousin...

Answer 9

The only reason they might be considered "superior" is if they have been around longer and have more and better technology then we have come up with. Plus, they could be superior if they can travel through space at great distances. We haven't figured out that one yet...

Answer 10

Your connections are completely absurd. Just because scientists may believe in intelligent lifeforms somewhere else doesn't mean they think LESS of the human species. Scientists who study the human body and especially neurologists can tell you that humans are amazing.