These mfers are like glitches in reality. Even trying to wrap my head around wtf they are freaks me out. How the hell can there be a thing in this universe that has infinite density? That doesn't even make sense.

Ugh

  • neo [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    In the movie Sorry to Bother You, one of the early scenes is the main character Cassius ruefully wondering about his tiny existence in the cosmos. I related to that scene, because we humans do feel unfathomably small and powerless to the potential of the universe. These kinds of things used to cause me a little bit of existential dread.

    But this fixation on these forces that are so beyond our human capability occupy his thoughts because he is personally directionless. He hasn't yet found something to live for, or something which is significant enough to him to give his life meaning. So he considers himself a meaningless piece of space dust.

    By the end of the movie, Cassius does find something more tangible, more immediately relevant, and very meaningful to him. It's his solidarity with the workers against the hyper-exploitative Amazon-esque company. It's his fight to have a decent life here on Earth. I read this as a commitment to solving solvable human problems rather than dashing yourself against the immutable wider universe.

    The problems of the stars stop crushing his inner thoughts, because finds that he has real work to do that matters to him. And that's how I feel about it, now, too. I think the space stuff can be scary. It's mostly fascinating. And either way, it affects me little and is truly out of my control, so I shouldn't have to fear it.

    • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      In the movie Sorry to Bother You, one of the early scenes is the main character Cassius ruefully wondering about his tiny existence in the cosmos. I related to that scene, because we humans do feel unfathomably small and powerless to the potential of the universe

      I don't get that why does the universe being big make you less significant. If you were twice as big would you be twice as significant

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        I don't think people are inherently bad if they feel that way, though I certainly don't.

        I mean, it could be worse. It could be like Justin Roiland's "haha just joking... unless" blank check conclusion regarding multiverse theory: if multiverse, somehow individuals no longer matter therefore any amount of cruelty inflicted on other individuals has a philosophical blank check of justification. debatebro-l hypersus debatebro-r

        • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
          ·
          1 year ago

          I don't get either school of thought because my life would be the same if every stat went dead tomorrow or an alternate universe version of me started killing people. I care about the things in my life specifically, not relative to some abstract "true meaning."

          • UlyssesT [he/him]
            ·
            1 year ago

            my life would be the same

            That may be true for you and me, but some people really, really want to feel morally or philosophically justified to be assholes.