It's interesting to me for a few reasons. First of all, the notion that we can relatively easily map the entire known universe - 13.7 billion light years from earth - is pretty astounding. The idea seems to be putting into perspective the place of humans in the cosmos, yet I wonder if this is the best way to do that. Sitting in my bedroom with my 13-inch laptop screen makes it difficult to wrap my head around the measurements of space and time that are presented in the video. For me, standing on a beach looking out at the ocean makes me feel smaller than this video does. The video is useful for the quantitative-minded, and it does provide an occasion for thought. It seems, however, that putting things in this perspective will serve to fuel further exploration of the "limits of the universe." How far is too far? To what extent should uncovering the secrets of the universe be our priority? I am impressed at the artistic representation of enormous amounts of data, and I fully plan on investigating the Hayden Planetarium's Digital Universe Atlas, but still...
When I was done watching this video, I couldn't help feeling compelled to focus a little closer to home. I don't even feel like I always know myself very well; how can I expect to know about objects that are trillions of light years away? Far from feeling insignificant, I'm reminded that we are important - in this cosmic sphere of scientifically known terrain, our planet is isolated in many ways. Let's take care of it, and get to understand it so that we have the ability to protect it and its inhabitants.
What do you think?
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