On Our Cosmic Insignificance

Does learning about the inconceivably large universe mean that we must doubt the significance of human life on this planet? Is there a way to account for the intuition that we are just a microscopic blip in the universe and avoid nihilism?

Many people learn about the inconceivably large universe and start to doubt the significance of human life. Some philosophers have argued that this sentiment is actually just confused. An amazing Aeon article by Nick Hughes charts an alternative course for what motivates this thought. After assessing competing views, he ends up coming up with an explanation that seems to neatly account for our intuitions. And then, towards the end of the article, Hughes proposes how we could overcome this strain of nihilistic thinking.

Here’s the full article: https://aeon.co/essays/just-a-recent-blip-in-the-cosmos-are-humans-insignificant