“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.” – Carl Sagan
On February 14, 1990, NASA’s Voyager 1 captured a photograph of Earth from a record distance of 3.7 billion miles away after travelling for 13 long years. At the suggestion of Carl Sagan, the spacecraft took one last picture of Earth before leaving the solar system. In the image, Earth appears as a tiny, pale dot suspended in a sunbeam—a dot so small it could be easily overlooked. But it’s this very smallness that makes the photograph so significant
Our Place in the Universe: From Self-Centered to Cosmic Perspective
For much of human history, we viewed ourselves as the center of everything. Early humans believed Earth was the centre of the universe, with the sun and stars revolving around us. We thought our planet, our lives, and our existence were unique and special, distinct from everything else. As science advanced, we began to understand our true place in the cosmos—and it changed everything.
We now know that our sun is just one of about 100 billion stars in a vast structure called the Milky Way galaxy. Our solar system is tucked away in an obscure corner of this galaxy, which stretches over 100,000 light-years across. To put that into perspective, light—which is the fastest thing we know—travels at 3 Lakh kilometres per second. While light can circle Earth seven times in a single second, it takes 8 minutes to reach us from the sun, which is about 149 million kilometers away. And yet, that same light would need 26,000 years to reach the center of our own galaxy.
The Universe Beyond Our Galaxy
As astonishing as our Milky Way is, it’s only one of about 1 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. Each of these galaxies holds billions or even trillions of stars much bigger than sun, and astronomers have already discovered millions of stars like our sun, many with solar systems of their own. Our universe is estimated to be 14 billion years old, while Earth is only 4.5 billion years old. Humans, on the other hand, are incredibly new arrivals on this cosmic stage, having existed for just around 200,000 years.
If we imagined the entire history of the universe as a single day, humans would have evolved only 4 seconds ago. This timeline gives us a humbling perspective on our place in the universe. We are, quite literally, cosmic newcomers.
Our Connection to the Cosmos
Despite our self-centered beliefs in the past, science has shown us that we are deeply connected to the universe. For instance, the elements that make up our bodies were forged in the cores of ancient stars, some of which exploded in brilliant supernovas billions of years ago. The energy we generate while breathing and moving was present at the birth of the universe. The atoms that make up our skin, our brain cells, and even our hair are as old as the cosmos itself- 14 billion years.
Not only are we woven from star-stuff, but we also share 99.9% of our DNA with chimpanzees and traces with a tree lizard or a snake slithering through the bushes—revealing our profound connection to all life on Earth. We are part of a vast evolutionary chain, stretching back billions of years from ancient single-celled organisms to the complex beings we are today. This journey, born from the same cosmic dust that created stars and galaxies, makes us integral to the universe’s unfolding story. And if we look even closer, we find that the atoms forming our bodies are the same as those in a roadside rock or a brick in our homes. This realisation binds us to everything around us, reminding us that we are not merely in the universe; we are an inseparable part of its endless, intricate tapestry.
The Search for Life Beyond Earth
As we continue to learn more about the cosmos, we can’t help but wonder if we’re truly alone. The search for extraterrestrial life is still in its infancy, but it’s ongoing. Many scientists and thinkers believe that the universe may be filled with far more intelligent beings. If there are other forms of life out there, they might be pondering the same questions we are: Why are we here? What is our purpose?
Some researchers adhere to what’s called the Weak Anthropic Principle, which suggests that if the laws of nature were even slightly different, life as we know it wouldn’t exist. The atoms that form stars, planets, and even our own bodies would never have come together in the way they did, and the stars themselves would have evolved too quickly to allow time for life to develop. In other words, our existence is a rare alignment of cosmic events and physical laws.
Some researchers adhere to what’s called the Strong Anthropic Principle go much further; some of their advocates come close to deducing that the laws of Nature and the values of physical constants were established so that humans would eventually come to be.
Why Are We Here? Reflecting on the Universe and Our Place in It
Why are we here? Why is the Earth, or even the universe, here? Voltaire once asked, “Why is there anything at all?” These are questions that have fascinated humanity for centuries, from ancient philosophers to modern scientists. Albert Einstein approached this mystery by asking whether God had any choice in creating the universe. Are we here by some grand design or are we simply the result of a cosmic accident?
Sometimes, it feels like we’ve been dealt a winning hand from the deck of the cosmos. Imagine playing your first hand of bridge and winning—only to discover that there are 54 billion- billion (5.4 X 10^26) other possible hands you could have been dealt. Our universe is similar: it’s one possible combination out of an unfathomable number of other potential universes. Could there be other “winning hands” in this cosmic deck? Are there other universes with different laws of nature, each leading to its own form of life and intelligence, or perhaps none at all?
The Puzzle of the Laws of Nature
The more we learn about our universe, the more we encounter an astonishing set of rules governing everything around us. These laws of nature are the framework of our reality, shaping how things interact—from the way an apple falls from a tree to the movement of galaxies billions of light-years away. But here’s the thing: these laws didn’t have to be the way they are.
For instance, Newton’s law of gravitation says that the force between two objects is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This rule keeps our solar system stable, with planets orbiting the sun. But if that rule were slightly different, like an inverse-cube law, the planets would either spiral into the sun or drift away into space. It is as if someone carefully adjusted these laws to create a stable and habitable universe. But who—or what—set these laws?
Are there just a few fundamental laws, or do billions of possible laws govern different regions of reality? Could there even be “meta-laws” that link these laws together? For all our progress, we still don’t know. And as we continue to explore, we find ourselves wondering if there might be other universes, governed by entirely different sets of rules.
The Cosmic Garden of Possibilities
Scientists have different theories about the origin of our universe. Some say it’s part of an infinite cycle of expansions and contractions, like the dance of Shiva in Hindu mythology. Others propose that our universe is just one in a vast multiverse—a collection of billions or trillions of parallel universes, each with its own unique laws of physics. Still others suggest that black holes within our universe may give birth to new universes, like seeds planted in a cosmic garden.
From our vantage point here on Earth, we can only speculate about these possibilities. But these theories are humbling. They remind us of how small and young we are in the vastness of space. Just a few hundred years ago, we thought the stars were fixed, unchanging points in the sky. Today, we know that stars are born and die, that galaxies collide, and that entire worlds are obliterated in cosmic explosions. We are newcomers in an ancient universe, clinging to a tiny speck of rock on the edge of an average galaxy.
A Garden Made for Us?
The more we study our universe, the more it seems like a delicate, finely-tuned environment—a cosmic garden, in a sense. It’s as if this universe, with all its specific rules and conditions, was tailored just for us. If the fundamental constants of physics were even slightly different, life as we know it would be impossible. So, is this universe uniquely designed for life, or are we just lucky to live in one of the few places where life could exist?
This idea of a cosmic garden calls to mind an ancient story: a garden with all the food and beauty one could ask for, but with one forbidden fruit. The fruit, we’re told, was forbidden because it would grant knowledge. And, as the story goes, we ate it anyway. Since that moment, humanity has been on a quest for understanding, never content with ignorance. We left the garden, but we gained the desire to seek, to learn, and to discover.
The vast cosmos, a grand design, often leads us to wonder if a hidden Designer lies beyond it all. It makes us question the purpose of intelligence in this immense universe—a universe that would function perfectly well without life or consciousness. Why, then, is there intelligent life? Perhaps we are here not just to exist, but to seek, to cherish, and to reflect on this cosmic masterpiece.
As Carl Sagan beautifully put it, “The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”