Just a pale blue dot

An image, called ‘Pale Blue Dot,’ taken by NASA’s space probe, appears as a significant perception of our, humans’, insignificance in the vastness of never-ending space. As our mother Earth is seen as nothing more than a small dot, slightly brightened by sunrays, on the right side of the image, a feeling of fear arises among the viewers as they compare the dot with the empty and silent rest of the photograph.

This feeling—humans’ triviality, or earth’s insignificance, in space—is not something that has emerged only after the capture of the image, Pale Blue Dot. As we return to the pages of history, we see that prominent scientific and mathematical figure Blaise Pascal—as well as other important personalities preceding and following his contemporary time—mentioned somewhere in their writings or thoughts that they felt the same—their negligible existence in the universe—as anyone would after looking at the very Pale Blue Dot.

We might take pride in our inventions and creations that we have gifted our civilization until now. We might wonder at gazing down to the ground from the topmost floor of Burj Khalifa, praising the exceptional talent and unwavering effort of the civil engineers who built it. But no matter how many hundreds of Burj Khalifas we build, they won’t stand a chance compared to the beauty of the Horsehead Nebula, whose image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Yes, we are insignificant, no doubt. Whether we exist or not, whether our solar system exists or not, whether our Milky Way Galaxy exists or not—these questions won’t make any difference to the natural way and pace at which the universe is moving.

But, every image conceals as much as it reveals—this quote is as powerful regarding the discussion of our significance as it is in words. We see the earth as nothing more than a small and negligible dot in the image. But when it comes to the matter of life and the existence of an environment supporting organisms capable of reproducing themselves, we obviously stand a chance. In fact, with no certain proof of life forming—except the presence of water or other elements required for life—on any other planet, our Earth, in this whole universe, is the only such place where this miracle has taken place. But again, as scientists have found, billions of other planets have the same environment for life support as ours does. Count this evidence in, and our insignificance will only become greater. Look at the universe and space around us: we are no more than nothing.

This summary is based on Tim Bayne’s essay “Just a Pale Blue Dot" (Aeon), which explores humanity’s existential insignificance in the vast cosmos and our unique place within it. Main essay link: https://aeon.co/essays/why-pale-blue-dot-generates-feelings-of-cosmic-insignificance