Baron von Dogpants Explains the Universe to You

“Now, it would be wholly foolish to deny the existence of laws of nature. And if that is what we are talking about when we say God, then no one can possibly be an atheist, or at least anyone who would profess atheism would have to give a coherent argument about why the laws of nature are inapplicable. I think he or she would be hard-pressed. So with this latter definition of God, we all believe in God.” 

“That we live in a universe that permits life is remarkable. That we live in one which destroys galaxies and stars and worlds is also remarkable. The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent to the concerns of such puny creatures as we.”

If we live in an oscillating universe, then the Big Bang is not the creation of the Cosmos but merely the end of the previous cycle, the destruction of the last incarnation of the Cosmos.

Full-scale nuclear war has never happened. Somehow this is taken to imply that it never will. But we can experience it only once. By then it will be too late to reformulate the statistics.

If we do not speak for Earth who will? If we are not committed to our own survival who will be?

Voyager cost each American less than a penny a year from launch to Neptune encounter.

Apart from a thin film of life at the very surface of the Earth, an occasional intrepid spacecraft, and some radio static, our impact on the Universe is nil. It knows nothing of us.

Perhaps the brightest natural material is freshly fallen snow. But it reflects only about 75 percent of the sunlight falling on it.

No matter how fine your intentions, how benign and contemplative your inclinations, if you’re potential prey, you’re forced by natural selection into adopting countermeasures.

“Science is far from a perfect instrument of knowledge. It's just the best we have.”

Like it or not, we humans are bound up with our fellows, and with the other plants and animals all over the world. Our lives are intertwined.

“There is much that science doesn’t understand, many mysteries to be resolved. In a Universe tens of billions of light-years across and some ten or fifteen billion years old, this may be the case forever.”

Arguments from authority simply do not count; too many authorities have been mistaken too often.

Our intelligence has recently provided us with awesome powers. It is not yet clear that we have the wisdom to avoid our own self-destruction. But many of us are trying very hard.