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  • The picture that science presents to us is, in some sense, uncomfortable because what

  • we've learned is that we are more insignificant than we ever could have imagined. You could

  • get rid of us and all the galaxies and everything we see in the universe and it will be largely

  • the same. So we're insignificant on a scale that Copernicus never would have imagined.

  • And in addition, it turns out the future is miserable. So the two main lessons that I

  • like to say I like to give is first we're insignificant and second the future is miserable.

  • Now that - you might think that should depress you, but I would argue that, in fact, it should

  • embolden you and provide you a different kind of consolation.

  • Because if the universe doesn't care about us and if we're an accident in a remote corner

  • of the universe, in some sense it makes us more precious. The meaning in our lives is

  • provided by us; we provide our meaning. And we are here by accidents of evolution and

  • the formation of planets and we should enjoy our brief moment in the sun. We should make

  • the most of our brief moment in the sun because this is all we have.

  • And even if we're so rare that we're the only life forms in the universe, which I doubt,

  • that makes us, in some sense, while we're more insignificant, we're more special. We

  • are endowed with a consciousness that can ask questions about the beginning of the universe

  • and learn about the universe on its largest scales and experience everything that it means

  • to be human. Music, art, literature, and science. So for me it should be spiritually uplifting

  • that we're not created with a purpose by someone who takes care of us, like a mannequin or

  • with strings determining everything. We determine our future. And that makes our future more

  • precious.

The picture that science presents to us is, in some sense, uncomfortable because what

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