At ¿ rst sight, these huge scales may seem to deprive human history of any
signi¿ cance. But we will see in the next lecture that this is not quite the
end of the story. By some criteria, such as that of “complexity,” we humans
and our history are signi¿ cant even on cosmological scales. The French
philosopher Pascal wrote: “For what is Man in nature? A nothingness in
respect to in¿ nity, a whole in respect to nothingness, a median between
nothing and everything” (Delsemme, Our Cosmic Origins, p. 1). Ŷ
Christian, Maps of Time, chap. 2, 53–55; app. 1.
———, “World History in Context.”
Calder, Timescale.
Delsemme, Our Cosmic Origins, Introduction.
Gould, Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle.
Kelley, The Home Planet.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/
http://www.wordwizz.com/pwrsof10.htm
- Do the huge spatial and temporal scales of modern cosmology diminish
the signi¿ cance of human beings? - Is it possible that, by placing humans in a larger context, they can help
to illuminate the nature and meaning of human history?
Essential Reading
Supplementary Reading
Power of 10 Websites
Questions to Consider