Small or Significant? Two Cosmic Truths for 2025
Dear Magicians,
Step out under the stars and as you do, notice your mind’s peculiar dance: as you comprehend the mathematics of distant galaxies, you declare yourself cosmically insignificant. This cognitive dissonance — the simultaneous acts of your unique ability to comprehend and understand the universe while minimizing even demeaning our place within it — blindingly illuminates a profound puzzle about human consciousness.
January, named for Janus, the two-faced Roman deity of transitions, offers a fascinating metaphor appropriate for this seeming dichotomy. Rome’s Temple of Janus’s bronze doors, opened during war and sealed in peace, acted as a cosmic barometer for Roman society. Yet, like so many human achievements, the builder of this magnificent structure is lost to time. Maybe Janus, with one face looking back and the other forward, simply forgot to leave us a note, a classic consequence of trying to hard to multitask.
Archaeological evidence reveals that the Temple of Janus’s bronze doors served as Rome’s cosmic barometer — open in wartime, sealed in peace. Yet, who built this magnificent structure? The answer, for many myself included, is lost to time, much like countless human achievements. Is this forgotten knowledge a testament to our cosmic insignificance, or evidence of our relentless drive to create and understand, even as older wisdom falls away?
Over winter break, I read two essays — one an opinion piece in the NY Times: Richard Panek’s “Spare Me the Galactic Humility”. The second is an excerpt from Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks called Cosmic Insignificance Therapy. These two essays offer two radically different lenses to refract our place in the cosmos. While they diverge in tone and focus, both confront the profound tension between what it means to be human and the vast, indifferent universe we inhabit.
Panek challenges the reflexive often performative humility that seems to follow every cosmic discovery. Each breakthrough — whether Copernicus displacing Earth or astronomers finding moons around distant exoplanets — is frequently accompanied by proclamations of our insignificance. But Panek sees this narrative as incomplete. Yes, we are small, but humanity’s capacity to understand the cosmos and ask and answer profound questions is unique and remarkable. Far from diminishing us, these discoveries elevate the human intellect, affirming our unique ability to make sense of the incomprehensible.
Our reflexive cosmic humility might be more than just philosophical posturing — it could be a psychological defense mechanism against the vertigo-inducing responsibility of being, as far as we know, the universe’s only witnesses to its magnificence. This is where Burkeman’s perspective offers a different kind of spaceborne solace. He argues that embracing our insignificance is not a burden but a liberation. The recognition that our lives are cosmically trivial frees us from unrealistic expectations. We need not strive for extraordinary accomplishments to find meaning. Instead, we can focus on the richness of ordinary moments — acts of kindness, creative pursuits, or simply living authentically. In this acceptance, Burkeman offers existential therapy: meaning is not something to chase but something to notice.
Panek marvels at humanity’s collective genius, while Burkeman suggests we chill out and stop trying to impress the cosmos. Together, they offer a refreshing perspective: we can celebrate our species’ staggering achievements while embracing the liberating truth that not everything needs to be a legacy project.
So, next time you’re awestruck under a starlit sky, hold two truths close: you’re a speck of dust, but you’re a speck capable of comprehending billions of light-years. That paradox — our cosmic smallness and intellectual vastness — is the essence of being human. And honestly, it’s a pretty good gig.
Ultimately, the universe is indifferent to us. But that doesn’t negate the significance we can create in our brief lives. The only question worth asking is how we will spend the time we’ve been given.
What will you resolve to do or not do in 2025?
Until next time, have a M.A.G.I.C. Week and Happy New Year!
Brian
Appearance
One of my personal highlights of 2024 was this article about our exploits with the Simons Observatory in Chile published in the NY Times.
Genius
At a dinner with his players, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta secretly hired a team of professional pickpockets. The sleight-of-hand artists were tasked with going around the tables, pinching phones and wallets from an unwitting first-team squad.
The lesson? Pay attention at all times!
Now, how can I apply this to my distracted undergrads in class?
Image
Enjoy these amazing sights from my recent snowshoe adventure through Grand Teton National Park!
Conversation
In this interview with Prof. David Kipping, a renowned exoplanet hunter and host the “Cool Worlds Lab” podcast, we talk about his groundbreaking research on exomoons.
We discuss the potential for life on these distant moons, the challenges of detecting them, and the broader implications for our understanding of the universe. Prof. Kipping also shares his insights on the Fermi Paradox and the importance of studying exoplanets, even if we never find evidence of extraterrestrial life.
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My Intro to Cosmology course is now appearing exclusively at Peterson Academy. Join me on the 9-hour captivating journey through the cosmos, exploring its vastness, the tools used to unravel its mysteries, and the groundbreaking discoveries that have shaped our understanding of the universe.
We examine the evidence for an expanding universe, the forces driving its evolution, and the cosmic fossils that shed light on its distant past and future. The course also delves into the enigmatic concepts of dark matter and energy, their roles in the universe’s structure and fate, and their ongoing efforts to unravel these cosmic mysteries.
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I’ve gotten great feedback from dozens of my PA students. Join us on a cosmic adventure!
Upcoming Episode
Christof Koch will be on The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast soon. As a pioneering neuroscientist who collaborated with DNA co-discoverer Francis Crick, Koch has dedicated his life to solving the mystery of consciousness and recently made headlines by gracefully losing a 25-year bet to philosopher David Chalmers about our understanding of it. His groundbreaking work as former president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science combines with his personal philosophy that consciousness extends to all animals, making him one of the most intriguing voices in neuroscience today. What questions would you like me to ask this remarkable scientist who has spent his career trying to understand how our brains create our conscious experience?
