anthropocentrism.
Now for those who don't know what that means it's the idea that mankind (human beings) are the focus of the universe.
Why do I bring this up, well watching the History Channel for one, and having lived with quite a few new agey types, I've had to deal with this philosophy for years.
Now why would I have a problem with this? I'm a human, so I should be anthropocentric, otherwise what reason am I here. Ultimately I don't believe in it for one reason... the universe in general seems to NOT care about any individual, and truthfully should not care about a group of 6,000,000,000+ apes with a large brain.
Am I saying that there's no life out there among the stars, no, I just believe they would have no reason to come to us. Where are they now, and why did they suddenly stop influencing us around about 100 BCE, why haven't they come back and shown us fusion technology and either Near-light or faster-than-light travel, and for those who think about it, WHY do they not come down and abduct Stephen Hawking, and our best and brightest, rather than our new age bubble-heads and rednecks? My answer is if it's all true, they're really just a bunch of intergalactic jerks or frat boys who shouldn't be held in awe or reverence.
I also apply this to religion, I'm a firm believer in Post-Copernican theology (e.g. Any deity that concerns itself with Mankind alone cannot be universal.) Why would any great force concern itself with only with a hairless ape on a little blue ball 3 planets away from a star on the outer arm of a galaxy that's pretty far out in the universe... in fact why would anything be so concerned with these hairless apes that according to on of their major religions killed an incarnation of their god, and through their own media admit they'd kill others. I find it deeply insulting that people will go off on wild theories without first remembering Occam's Razor. While they go off on well the Baghdad Batteries and the Antikythera Mechanism must be the product of ancient astronauts because these people had no ideas on their own, I ask, why could they have not (like many later men of science) discovered these things quite by accident. I also ask, why is a god/force/great spirit who is supposedly universal so concerned with said hairless apes, to date I have never really had an answer that went beyond using a because or a but they do.
In my firm belief I doubt that anything would have a reason to even notice us, let alone focus anything on us. It is my firm belief that all we have is ourselves, the rest of nature, and each other that we can rely on.
I'm not saying there's no life out there, or that there isn't something much greater than us, I am only saying that there is no reason for them to notice us enough to concentrate on bringing us up, in my belief I would say, (to quote Shakespeare) the fault dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves, and add on, for we are the controllers and purveyors of our own destiny.
Thank you and goodnight.
Why do I bring this up, well watching the History Channel for one, and having lived with quite a few new agey types, I've had to deal with this philosophy for years.
Now why would I have a problem with this? I'm a human, so I should be anthropocentric, otherwise what reason am I here. Ultimately I don't believe in it for one reason... the universe in general seems to NOT care about any individual, and truthfully should not care about a group of 6,000,000,000+ apes with a large brain.
Am I saying that there's no life out there among the stars, no, I just believe they would have no reason to come to us. Where are they now, and why did they suddenly stop influencing us around about 100 BCE, why haven't they come back and shown us fusion technology and either Near-light or faster-than-light travel, and for those who think about it, WHY do they not come down and abduct Stephen Hawking, and our best and brightest, rather than our new age bubble-heads and rednecks? My answer is if it's all true, they're really just a bunch of intergalactic jerks or frat boys who shouldn't be held in awe or reverence.
I also apply this to religion, I'm a firm believer in Post-Copernican theology (e.g. Any deity that concerns itself with Mankind alone cannot be universal.) Why would any great force concern itself with only with a hairless ape on a little blue ball 3 planets away from a star on the outer arm of a galaxy that's pretty far out in the universe... in fact why would anything be so concerned with these hairless apes that according to on of their major religions killed an incarnation of their god, and through their own media admit they'd kill others. I find it deeply insulting that people will go off on wild theories without first remembering Occam's Razor. While they go off on well the Baghdad Batteries and the Antikythera Mechanism must be the product of ancient astronauts because these people had no ideas on their own, I ask, why could they have not (like many later men of science) discovered these things quite by accident. I also ask, why is a god/force/great spirit who is supposedly universal so concerned with said hairless apes, to date I have never really had an answer that went beyond using a because or a but they do.
In my firm belief I doubt that anything would have a reason to even notice us, let alone focus anything on us. It is my firm belief that all we have is ourselves, the rest of nature, and each other that we can rely on.
I'm not saying there's no life out there, or that there isn't something much greater than us, I am only saying that there is no reason for them to notice us enough to concentrate on bringing us up, in my belief I would say, (to quote Shakespeare) the fault dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves, and add on, for we are the controllers and purveyors of our own destiny.
Thank you and goodnight.