In late 2006, Newsweek published an article called “God and Cosmology.” It began with a quote from Nobel Prize winning physicist Steven Weinberg: “The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it seems pointless."
Newsweek went on, “It is said that many of his colleagues were dismayed, not by the assertion that the universe was pointless, but over the implication that it could even have a point.”
That’s the pervasive view in academia today. We live in a big machine, a machine made and designed by no one, so how can any of it have meaning?
The late Cornell University Professor, Carl Sagan, may be most famous for his pronunciation of the words, “billions and billions” in a PBS mini-series entitled, “Cosmos,” back in 1980. History will remember him for his ideas on greenhouse gases, their effect on Venus, and their potential effect on earth. His views are influencing public policy today more than ever.
In the accompanying book also called Cosmos, he asked, “Where are we? Who are we? We find that we live,” he wrote, “on an insignificant planet of a hum drum star lost between two spiral arms in the outskirts of a galaxy which is a member of a sparse cluster of galaxies, tucked away in some forgotten corner of the universe.”
He called earth insignificant as if he were privy to the true and ultimate scale of significance among planets. He called our sun “a humdrum star” and “lost.” These are not scientific words. They are romantic prose designed to make us feel small.
He described our galaxy as “tucked away in some forgotten corner of the universe” . . . as if a great cosmic mind forgot where it put us. Of course, he didn’t believe that. He believed it was all a great accident, without meaning and without purpose.
Then, for a moment, he reversed course and actually made up a way for his readers to retrieve the significance he had thrown away. He wrote, “If we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.”
This statement reminds me of an episode of the old Dick Van Dyke Show where an intellectual party guest was described as having “the gift and ability to say things that seem vague, but are in reality meaningless.”
“We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers,” sounds profound, but makes no sense. If I sit in my house asking courageous questions and thinking up deep answers, how have I increased the significance of my house and to whom? This is theology without God. It is therefore bankrupt, empty, vain. It is an attempt to proclaim something meaningful without a standard for meaning, an attempt at spiritual materialism.
Maybe as a follow-up to Cosmos, Public Broadcasting could produce another TV series. They could call it House and in it tell the story of a house that designed and built itself. Then they can do a sequel called House II: The Second Story.
We experience a sweet melancholy in thinking of the earth as an insignificant speck in a forgotten corner of the universe, but it is a subjective construction of the human mind with not one whit of scientific or philosophic value because it doesn't mean anything. Yes, earth seems small compared to the size of the universe. On the other hand, compared with subatomic particles, the earth seems big. Does the size of earth have anything to do with whether or not there is an ultimate point to our lives? No.
Sagan told us that even though we don’t have significance, we can lift our little world up to the level of true significance by admitting to ourselves that neither we nor our world can have any significance. This kind of tortured thinking comes when one throws away the possibility of meaning, and wants it back.
Most people still believe there’s something inherently important about human lives. But a disproportionately high number of those who think everything is pointless happen to be teaching in our institutions of higher learning — academia. This is important because this is, arguably, the most influential group in the world today, the people in whom we have entrusted the minds of our young, and to whom members of media and government go when they need answers as to what is true and what is not true.
Ironically, the most influential members of academia, no longer believe in truth.
Posted: 9-17-2007
Postscript: On Saturday, May 24, 2008, we posted the video version of "Forgotten Corner of the Universe" to YouTube. One of the commenters calling him or herself "SaganAppreciationSoc" vociferously protested, saying, "Carl never said 'Billions and billions'. I challenge you to cite episode # in Cosmos where that is said." He goes on to explain, "A decade and a half later, as a kind of joke, he titled a book with that phrase."
It would be splitting hairs to say that I didn't say he said it, but that he's "famous for his pronunciation" of it and that a lot of people are famous for saying or doing things they never actually said or did. My wording clearly gives the impression that he said it. Since I have no intention of watching an entire 13 hour television series in order to see if a single phrase is spoken and since someone who refers to him or herself as "SaganAppreciationSoc" probably knows his (or her) stuff regarding such things, I hereby defer to him (or her) with my thanks for the correction.
Note: At original posting, all links were active. Thanks!
