Post
by eoinyk1 » Thu Jan 20, 2011 11:51 pm
I'm reading the sequel, Pale Blue Dot. Powerful stuff, especially first few chapters.
"There is in this Universe much of what seems to be design. But instead, we repeatedly discover that natural processes - collisional selection of worlds, say, or natural selection of gene pools, or even the convection pattern in a pot of boiling water - can extract order out of chaos, and deceive us into deducing purpose where there is none.
"The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life's meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable.
"If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal."