by Jasper Gilley
I recently came across two extremely interesting, and entirely contradictory quotes by two very different astronomers:
“Now nature holds no mysteries for us; we have surveyed it in its entirety and are masters of the conquered sky…The breed of man, who rules all things, is alone reared equal to the inquiry into nature, the power of speech, breadth of understanding, the acquisition of various skills: he has tamed the land to yield him its fruits, made the beasts his slaves, and laid a pathway on the sea; nor does he rest content with the outward appearance of the gods, a but probes into heaven’s depths and, in his quest of a being akin to his own, seeks himself among the stars…reason is what triumphs over all. Be not slow to credit man with vision of the divine, for man himself is now creating gods and raising godhead to the stars, and beneath the dominion of Augustus will heaven grow mightier yet.”
– Marcus Manilius, Astronomica, ~25 AD (translated by G.P. Goold)
“The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies. We are so insignificant that I can’t believe the whole universe exists for our benefit. That would be like saying that you would disappear if I closed my eyes.”
– Stephen Hawking, 1995 AD
Firstly, I find an incredible amount of irony in these two quotes. Hawking uttered the above quote at a time when humans had effectively obtained control of the entirety of their planet, set foot on their planet’s moon, and made all of their information universally accessible, for free. Manilius wrote at a time when humans believed that the sun orbited the earth, that projectiles traveled in triangles, and that there were four elements (earth, water, air, and fire.) One would think each would be more qualified to spout the other’s opinion.
Yet there’s something very visceral about these quotes. Who is right?
To decide, we must define a reference point by which humanity is to be judged. Manilius seems to make his evaluation by comparing humanity to other animal species; this is fine, except that Hawking might point out that there very well may be alien species in the universe that perceive us to be as primitive as we perceive chickens. Hawking doesn’t argue this, however. He seems to believe that humans are insignificant simply on the basis of the enormity of the universe.
Hawking would do well to consider, therefore, that there are as many neurons in the average human brain as there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy.¹ If large numbers alone denote significance, then humans are certainly of great significance.
Since Hawking would seem to have no objection to judging humans by comparison with other animal species, one may easily conclude that humans are, at least technologically, more advanced than animals. The important question is, however, how did we get to the Moon? The critical factor enabling inter-planetary travel was industrialization, which in turn was enabled by the Enlightenment, a movement centered around scientific method, which is predicated on the assumption that humans do not know everything and that they can become more advanced.
The answer to the question is humanity significant?, therefore, is paradoxical. Humans are significant, but our significance directly stems from our ability to admit that we are not consummately significant. To resolve the dispute between our warring astronomers: Manilius is correct because the essence of Hawking’s thesis is correct. Enlightenment philosophers, however, would object to the goal of each statement – to evaluate the current status of humans’ significance. In their eyes, the important thing would be to recognize that humans will always be able to be more advanced. As Nikola Tesla once said:
“It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.”
– Nikola Tesla
Featured image from Dr. Greg A. Dunn