unparalleled solipsism

"To argue that, in a universe which seems to have no purpose, our existence itself is without meaning or value is unparalleled solipsism, as it suggests that without us, the universe is worthless.  The greatest gift that science can give us is to allow us to overcome our need to be the center of existence, even as we learn to appreciate the wonder of the accident that we are privileged to witness."

A paragraph towards the end of Lawrence Krauss' latest work, where I wonder if this is something that he worries about.  There's almost this assumption that this is something we should worry about.  He seems a bit defensive, but his solution has a nice poetry to it.  The book is full of stories.  I was hoping for a little more science, little less history of science, but it was still interesting.  Not as good as the first half of his previous book, which I never finished a few years ago, for no good reason.

"The story I have told is not the whole story.  There is likely to be far more that we don't understand than what we now do.  In the search for meaning, our understanding of reality will surely change as the story continues to unfold."

"The greatest solace that science provides, comes from perhaps its greatest lesson: that the best parts of the story can yet be written."

It helps to look forward to things.  In getting through our days, our years, and even in trying not to forsake the entire human race.  In our willingness to put up with the very universe itself.  I don't think it has anything to do with meaning.  I don't think it means anything.  It's just the way we're coded.  A cognitive fabrication that keeps us moving forward, which helps propagate our genes, or at least not starve to death.

It might be important for a well functioning human psyche, if you're into that sort of thing.  I guess I'm giving it a try.  My days have more shape lately, I look forward to some more than others.  I'm a little vague on where it's going, but have a sense that I might figure something out.  I'm happy to be doing martial arts again, in the meantime.  Even if it does turn out that I am in fact a bit fragile.

The important thing is to find a reason to place the next step, a sense of direction, going somewhere for some reason.  If we're pretending that anything is really important, per se.  If we want to get from one day to the next, we probably should be.

Almost looking forward to reading this one next.