Tools for Real Democracy
Tools for Real Democracy
Cosmology deals with, among other things, the "alpha" (or beginning) and the "omega" (the end).
So cosmologists attempt to tell us as much as science can about the origins and destiny of the universe. Philosophical cosmology attempts, among other things, to give us a sense of our place in the universe as described by the science of cosmology, and is one orienting component of rational religion, one objective of which is to provide comprehensive orientation.
The issues with which cosomology is concerned have collided head-on with pre-rational religious concepts, where, in the case of Christianity and Judaism, ideas probably originating with Babylonian creation myths have proved to be astonishingly persistent and difficult to dispel. The need for religion to catch up with what we know empirically (that is, what we know as based upon evidence) is urgent and long overdue. On the other hand, science, as such, has nothing to say about our role in the universe, since science isn't normative.
Early religious speculation concerning the universe supplied an important role for humanity within it. That role has since changed enormously, yet not so much in the direction of insignificance as has typically been thought. While it's true that the universe wasn't brought into existence solely to provide furniture for a sort of morality play in which human beings are the key actors, and while it's also true that we are physically minute and temporally transient, it by no means follows that our lives are of no significance. The very concept of significance presupposes consciousness of the sort that human beings possess, and possess to the greatest extent of which we have any knowledge. And neither physical size nor temporal transience are especially relevant in this regard. The universe itself is transient, and size alone doesn't make for significance. Most of the universe is comprised of hydrogen (the simplest of all atoms), yet hydrogen atoms are, of themselves, of no particular significance.
Somewhat ironically, the very vastness of the universe drastically elevates the significance of human life, because it is unlikely in the extreme that we will ever encounter intelligent life of any other sort — unless it be artificial intelligence of our own making. And, while there are undoubtedly vast numbers of other intelligent species in the universe, probably including many far in advance of our own, for all practical purposes we are utterly alone in the universe, and our lives here acquire even greater significance because of their very transience. Every single moment of life is precious, to an extent beyond our ready comprehension.
Over the course of this, the golden age of astronomy, numerous extra-solar planets have been found. While, owing to technological limitations, the vast majority of these have been unsuitable for life as we know it, it can no longer be doubted that a vast number of Earth-like planets must exist in the universe. However, intelligent life is probably extremely rare. We know that, in the early stages of the development of solar systems, planets are repeatedly bombarded with asteroidal and other debris. (The moon of Earth was probably created in an immense collision.) We have no way of assessing how common the circumstances around the first emergence of life are. And once life does emerge, it may be that the step to multi-cellularity is extremely rare. (On Earth this step took a very long time). Even after this step is achieved, the vast majority of forms of life are not intelligent.
Finally, even when intelligent life does emerge, it may be extremely transient. The only truly intelligent form of life of which we know has exhibited dangerous proclivities toward resource exhaustion, climate destruction, insane greed, and conflicts with weapons that have the potential for planetary destruction.
In those cases in which societies of intelligent individuals do emerge to survive beyond early self-destruction, eventual extinction is inevitable, even in the case of extremely advanced civilizations, as the universe itself will eventually cease to exist as we know it. This is, in one sense, a tragic destiny. Yet, once again, insignificance doesn't follow from transience, but rather the opposite.
The Editor / Everything Progressive
Cosmologists work to provide the biggest picture of all, concerning the origins, nature, and destiny of the universe as a whole. It falls to philosophers to work out our place in the midst of it all.
