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We live in a small place on a vast planet, which lies among other planets in our solar system, a system that belongs to a galaxy with around 200 billion stars just one galaxy among billions that exist in the observable universe alone. We feel a bittersweet sensation as we try to comprehend these vast scales. On one hand, we are filled with awe trying to grasp these numbers, and on the other, a sense of pessimism about how minuscule we are in this immense universe. But it is not only the size that inspires awe it is also time. We live only a few decades, in a universe whose age is estimated at 13.8 billion years. Yet we’ve only had this knowledge in recent years. For the vast majority of our existence, we had no idea how insignificant we truly were, which is why we evolved with a more egocentric perspective. However, our egocentrism is incredibly strong. In fact, according to humanity’s earliest assumptions, we were the center of everything and all things revolved around us.
The planets are constantly concerned with our love life, if a star falls we make a wish, the universe conspires to help us with something we deeply desire, karma will bring balance between our actions and our fate, and almost all religions believe that the creator of this vast universe is exclusively concerned with humanity. Romantic, I won’t deny it. After all, let’s not kid ourselves it would be very boring if the universe didn’t contain some underlying meaning.
Some purpose, some hidden messages from a creator.
And who can tell us otherwise? As long as our thoughts don’t meet the criterion of falsifiability, we can construct any hypothesis we like to feel good, without accepting opposition. To better understand such questions, we must define the concepts that comprise them, and in this case, we need to understand the concept of "purpose." Purpose is a state to be achieved hat is, a desired condition. Therefore, purpose presupposes desire. Desire is the longing of an individual, driven by a need or emotion. Thus, desire presupposes the existence of a living being that experiences emotions. A table, for example, has neither desires nor purposes. Neither an asteroid nor a planet has a purpose. They simply follow physical laws without wishing or aiming for anything. On the other hand, a human can desire a good job, a suitable romantic partner, and the best possible state of health. All of these will bring them positive emotions, which reside in that 1.5 kilogram organ in their body called the brain more specifically, in its limbic system. Our belief in a purpose to the universe, then, is based more on emotion than on logic. Our beliefs and desires are projected onto the universe.
We deeply want to achieve something, and that’s why the universe conspires to help us achieve it. We want there to be some form of divine justice so that bad people are punished and good people rewarded, and that’s why concepts like karma, hell, and heaven exist. We want to meet someone to fall in love with, so we say, “That’s why the world was made, my love, that’s why so I could meet you.” But 13.8 billion years of the universe’s existence didn’t happen so the two of you could meet. Many people believe that if the universe has no purpose, then they themselves have no purpose either. That’s why they create hypotheses that support this idea. For example, the idea of a creator a kind of intelligence behind everything, with its own desires is a very convenient thought, as it soothes the negative emotions that arise from the lack of any cosmic purpose. We constantly try to assign meaning to every outcome around us, and we don’t like coincidence at all. If something beautiful happens in our life, we say it was fate or meant to be; if something bad happens, we say “every obstacle is for the best” which isn’t always true or “this happened for a reason.” A win-win situation, in other words. It’s also worth noting that children at a young age tend to have a more teleological view of reality, which tends to decline as they enter adolescence.
But let’s suppose the universe does have intentions and desires. What could those be, exactly? The existence of life?
Life on Earth, over the course of more than 3.5 billion years, has faced relentless attacks from natural disasters. Earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, volcanoes, climate changes, and even asteroids that have struck its surface have wiped out 99.9% of all species that have ever lived here.
Could the purpose be human existence? Examining this anthropocentric assumption, we see that humans, in our current form, have existed for only about 200,000 years. That’s just 0.0015% of the universe’s total existence. This time span is so incredibly short that it would be impossible to conclude that we are the purpose of the universe. Just think: most dinosaur species lived within Earth’s ecosystem for several million years. Also, imagine how strange it would be if those trillions of stars existed for the sole purpose of our existence. So the question of whether the universe has a purpose assumes the existence of an intelligent being. Because if such a being didn’t exist, no one could even ask that question.
So then can we accept that the universe has no purpose?
In other words, can we endure that much pessimism?
We are born, we grow, we age, and we die ending in nonexistence.
And for some people, that thought can be deeply frightening.
The planets are constantly concerned with our love life, if a star falls we make a wish, the universe conspires to help us with something we deeply desire, karma will bring balance between our actions and our fate, and almost all religions believe that the creator of this vast universe is exclusively concerned with humanity. Romantic, I won’t deny it. After all, let’s not kid ourselves it would be very boring if the universe didn’t contain some underlying meaning.
Some purpose, some hidden messages from a creator.
And who can tell us otherwise? As long as our thoughts don’t meet the criterion of falsifiability, we can construct any hypothesis we like to feel good, without accepting opposition. To better understand such questions, we must define the concepts that comprise them, and in this case, we need to understand the concept of "purpose." Purpose is a state to be achieved hat is, a desired condition. Therefore, purpose presupposes desire. Desire is the longing of an individual, driven by a need or emotion. Thus, desire presupposes the existence of a living being that experiences emotions. A table, for example, has neither desires nor purposes. Neither an asteroid nor a planet has a purpose. They simply follow physical laws without wishing or aiming for anything. On the other hand, a human can desire a good job, a suitable romantic partner, and the best possible state of health. All of these will bring them positive emotions, which reside in that 1.5 kilogram organ in their body called the brain more specifically, in its limbic system. Our belief in a purpose to the universe, then, is based more on emotion than on logic. Our beliefs and desires are projected onto the universe.
We deeply want to achieve something, and that’s why the universe conspires to help us achieve it. We want there to be some form of divine justice so that bad people are punished and good people rewarded, and that’s why concepts like karma, hell, and heaven exist. We want to meet someone to fall in love with, so we say, “That’s why the world was made, my love, that’s why so I could meet you.” But 13.8 billion years of the universe’s existence didn’t happen so the two of you could meet. Many people believe that if the universe has no purpose, then they themselves have no purpose either. That’s why they create hypotheses that support this idea. For example, the idea of a creator a kind of intelligence behind everything, with its own desires is a very convenient thought, as it soothes the negative emotions that arise from the lack of any cosmic purpose. We constantly try to assign meaning to every outcome around us, and we don’t like coincidence at all. If something beautiful happens in our life, we say it was fate or meant to be; if something bad happens, we say “every obstacle is for the best” which isn’t always true or “this happened for a reason.” A win-win situation, in other words. It’s also worth noting that children at a young age tend to have a more teleological view of reality, which tends to decline as they enter adolescence.
But let’s suppose the universe does have intentions and desires. What could those be, exactly? The existence of life?
Life on Earth, over the course of more than 3.5 billion years, has faced relentless attacks from natural disasters. Earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, volcanoes, climate changes, and even asteroids that have struck its surface have wiped out 99.9% of all species that have ever lived here.
Could the purpose be human existence? Examining this anthropocentric assumption, we see that humans, in our current form, have existed for only about 200,000 years. That’s just 0.0015% of the universe’s total existence. This time span is so incredibly short that it would be impossible to conclude that we are the purpose of the universe. Just think: most dinosaur species lived within Earth’s ecosystem for several million years. Also, imagine how strange it would be if those trillions of stars existed for the sole purpose of our existence. So the question of whether the universe has a purpose assumes the existence of an intelligent being. Because if such a being didn’t exist, no one could even ask that question.
So then can we accept that the universe has no purpose?
In other words, can we endure that much pessimism?
We are born, we grow, we age, and we die ending in nonexistence.
And for some people, that thought can be deeply frightening.
