Monday
Aug162010
Out of 100 Billion Galaxies
In response to the above info-graphic we have the below info- graphic.
It's all a matter of perspective and how you view life, either the glass is half full or half empty.
Update on Aug 24, 2010 at 6:50PM by
Dept M2
Dept M2
I didn't realize that this post would get some much traffic. If anyone knows who originally created these info-graphics please leave their name and link to their website in the comment section. I'd like to give them credit.
tagged Graphic Design, Info-Graphic in topics Misc
Graphic Design, Info-Graphic in topics Misc 
Reader Comments (42)
So HA!
gay
i like it!
I thought this was awesome.
Then I scrolled down to the comments and all I got was revenge, adolescency and understatement.
Ed: what did you expect it is the internet after all.
the above info-graphic is correct, as well as the bottom. the problem is that most people believe in only one. typically, people who believe in only the top are closer to the truth than those who believe in the bottom
Umm who said that's the person I am at all. Annnnt wrong!
Wow. That's great! Thanks for sharing.
The difference is that the reply is only true for some people, not all people. Idential twins aren't unique; not everyone has the mental capacity for music or art; and like it or not, not everyone has people who love them. Where's the benefit in responding to a thought-provoking, perspective-changing statement with fuzzy bunny self agrandizement?
Both are very nice.
The only criticism I have is that our fingerprints are not unique. There are hundreds of cases every year involving an innocent being arrested because they share fingerprints with a criminal. They are convicted because the jury believes that each fingerprint is unique.
The second image is just a retreat into the small perspective we have here on Earth. Having people who depend on you and owning a unique thumbprint and genes still doesn't bring significance when you could say the same thing about the other seven billion people. The first image is much more honest.
Very nice! As the eternal optimist, I applaud you. As an astronomer, however, I must object to "out of 100 billion galaxies existing in 100 billion star systems". Galaxies do not exist in star systems. Star systems exist in (and outside of) galaxies.
How'd you know that out of all those galaxies , that some alien doesn't have the same genetic makeup?
Remember kids your unique...just like everybody else.
Healthy self-esteem is a good thing. Too many people apologize for their very existence; I find that attitude sickening, and rather go with the whole "I'm the king of the world"-thing - it is less annoying.
I find the first one to be the more optimistic and enlightening, simply because it counteracts the idea, usually religiously motivated, that the earth and human beings are somehow special in the universe, that the planet, and by extension the cosmos, was created just for us. That idea is preposterous, and while we are all significant to each other, we are not a significant part of this universe which some argue is so fine-tuned for us. Our lives have no greater cosmic meaning, but that does not mean that they are meaningless. A lack of cosmic significance simply means that we have to create meaning for ourselves, and that is, in my opinion, the more optimistic of the two scenarios.
Well said Emily. I find your take on these two images to be by far the most refreshing and appealing. Thank you for this.
Yeah, you have your own fingerprint, just like 7 billion other insignificant shits on the earth, sure, you could write music or do art, but it would likely be bad, just like 7 billion others', and sure, you might be depended upon, but who cares if a rock depends on you to not throw it in the water?
You are insignificant shit. get used to it.
Everybody lives on a street in a city
Or a village or a town for what it's worth.
And they're all inside a country which is part of a continent
That sits upon a planet known as Earth.
And the Earth is a ball full of oceans and some mountains
Which is out there spinning silently in space.
And living on that Earth are the plants and the animals
And also the entire human race.
It's a great big universe
And we're all really puny
We're just tiny little specks
About the size of Mickey Rooney.
It's big and black and inky
And we are small and dinky
It's a big universe and we're not.
The 2nd one fails a bit, it doesn't matter whether 20 million people depend on you, or even the entire Earth, you are still insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
.... or the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
It's fucking depressing how pessimisstic you all are, why don't you go outside and be fucking happy for a change?
Hey, I created the first one.
http://h0lm.deviantart.com/#/d2qz2jm
However to those who find it to be depressing; I merely created it to illustrate the humbleness I believe all people should have.
As Carl Sagan once said it:
"Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?"
h0lm thanks for checking in here and letting us know that you crated the first info-graphic. I hope you're enjoying the discussion that it has created.
Now, we just need to find out who made the second info-graphic.
utter fail.
-animal as well as computers, without any human interaction, can also create art and music. art and music can be created by random acts of nature as well. "art" and "music" are undefinable terms and totally subjective/
-just like snowflakes, fingerprints are NOT entirely unique.
-being depended upon is not a quality of significance. I depend on oxygen. Is it significant in the humanistic sense? not at all.