this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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Without civilization, there would be nobody to judge civilization, either.
I recently heard a science popularizer like Neil deGrasse Tyson or maybe Brian Cox talking about tangents to the Fermi Paradox. Essentially, even if intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, it's possible that we're the only scientifically advanced intelligent civilization in the Milky Way galaxy. As long as we don't know otherwise, it's not a terrible assumption.
But anyways, if we do happen to be the only intelligent civilization in the Milky Way, it's quite a responsibility. It's a shame that we seem to be racing towards our own doom. We should be doing whatever we can to save our civilization. Of course, it may be that most civilizations that reach this point destroy themselves.
Why is that a responsibility? I didn’t ask to exist. What the hell do I owe the universe?
I guess if you tend to look at things scientifically, you are more likely to see it as a responsibility. Humans are something that came about in the universe, and we are trying to learn about the universe. Another way of saying that is that we are the universe trying to learn about itself.
Of course, otherwise, even if you didn't ask to exist, it's quite presumptuous of you to make that decision for everybody else. If you're going to judge civilization for bringing about your situation, it seems hypocritical for you to think it's okay to make a different decision unilaterally.
Most humans could not give two shits about the universe.
I respectfully disagree. Humans are a part of the universe, and they care about themselves.
And yet points at every chance humans have had to not kill themselves and learn more about the universe and every time they keep fighting over fractions of a dot