If you mean that our lives are pointless and meaningless, then yes, but earth itself is not insignificant. Its the only currently known planet that can harbor life. If, sometime in the future, billions of other planets are discovered to have life, then yes, it would be insignificant.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Though, not so much to us because it is our home planet.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If earth was the only planet with life, wouldn't that still make it even insignificant because there is no way for the life forms to have much of an impact on the rest of the universe. At least if other planets had life, then their collective existence could have an impact therefore increasing all of those planets' significance (including earth).

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Insignificant in terms of impact, but not in terms of what it is (by definition, in a way-I'm having a hard time trying to find the right words lol). The fact that it is the ONLY planet known to have life forms makes it one of a kind. And, theoretically, if our species was to develop some sort of extremely advanced technology, then we could begin inhabiting other planets that are even far away from the sun. Or if we somehow figure out how to create life on another planet, as in how we were created, then we would have made an enormous impact. But the point is that earth may be insignificant in terms of impact now, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it will remain that way in the future.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If you think about how large the observable universe is and then consider how small of a fraction of that the earth actually occupies Earth is pretty inconsequential. Regardless of how advanced we become, we might affect the nearest few solar systems or galaxies, but not the universe as a whole. The effect of earth on the universe is similar to the effect that a single atom in a grain of sand would have on our entire solar system. And if you consider that the entire human race makes up less than a tenth of a trillionth of the planet, our effect on the entire universe is pretty insignificant.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

There is obviously other life forms out there there are billions are stars in the galaxy and billions of galaxies (with billions of stars0 in the universe. Each star can have planets, which could have life. The american government knows there is life, but are THEY gonna tell you HELL NO, cus they are bastards. The canadian government has acknowledged the presence of aliens.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Lol okay. There certainly is life out theres somewhere in the universe, but the chances of other life forms having developed interstellar/galactic space ships and already landed on earth is unlikely.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

it's the most significant thing in the world. i mean, humans wouldn't be if there was no earth, they'd die in space in two seconds or not even survive long enough to evolve

by Anonymous 13 years ago

>the world >most significant thing in the world herpa I think you mean the most significant thing to humans. Who's going to argue that we're significant?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's significant to us, but in the big picture, when you consider the potential vastness and variety of the entire universe, it's actually really insignificant.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

it might as well be one of the only 5 planets with life on it, how's that insignificant? giant empty planets swimming around endlessly doesnt seem that much more significant

by Anonymous 13 years ago

every star in the universe can have planets around it which could have life. There are beings out there and its ignorant to deny that.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

i didn't deny it at all, in fact I agreed that there are other planets with life on it

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If they were larger, then they would exert more force on the surrounding areas thus making their impact on the universe as a whole greater. But even that impact would be so small that it would be insignificant in it's own right.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

who are you to say what's impacting the universe and what is not? significance depends on which person is talking. to someone, the sun is the most significant thing ever, to others, Mars, to others, the biggest planet in the universe, you can't really discuss these things before first stating what you consider significant. Maybe, there are only two earth-like planets that ever exist. that still makes ours significant in account of there possibly being only one planet with life in each solar system. small =/= insignificant. your eyes are small compared to your body, but you would suffer very much without them

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I thought that I'd already implied what I considered significance to be, but I'll clarify. I consider significance to be the total impact or influence on the world/universe. I agree that small and insignificant are not the same thing, but in this particular case they seem to be positively correlated. The reason your eyes are so important is because they affect so many other aspects of your life. If the Earth was destroyed in some cataclysmic event tomorrow, in the big picture, hardly anything would change. However, if the sun imploded tomorrow the impact would be more widespread because more of the universe, albeit a very small section, is influenced by the sun, making it more significant.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

but if you keep thinking like that, you can eventually call everything insignificant. if the sun imploded, most universes wouldn't even notice. if a universe disappeared, most would not notice still. if 100 disappeared still no one would notice.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Well, it's not actually possible to consider everything insignificant. Without considering some things significant the description would lose meaning, but I digress. I'm thinking more in terms of comparable impact. The fact that the earth is less consequential than so many other things is what makes it so insignificant. If we were to take the most impactful possible event (whatever that may be) and used it as a benchmark, then the fact that the earth has so much less of an impact would make it insignificant.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

but if we were to compare it to the least significant event, it would be very significant indeed. it's all relative, you can't really argue this topic.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If that was the contuum being used, I always considered earth's impact as being closer to the least significant event than the most significant event.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

it's not significant as opposed to what greater significance? it all depends on what you're relating it to. significant as a home to the human race? yes. significant in our galaxy or universe? No (nothing would change if we weren't here on a universal level, since we haven't discovered other life.... but if we did, our significance to the universe could possibly alter)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

We essentially mean nothing. Human existence is a flash of light in the dark. Someone will say "Hey, did you see that?" But many will reply "No."

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Humans are no more parasites compared to the universe, and right now we are a cancer to our planet.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I read this post as the fact that we are insignificant size-wise. I saw a video comparing the planets in our solar system to the largest known star.. we're pretty damn tiny. However, Earth is very significant to humans, because without Earth we wouldn't exist. I'm positive that there is life elsewhere (I mean really, billions of possible galaxies.), so we are insignificant there.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Radda radda radda smart talk radda radda radda .

by Anonymous 13 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34

by Anonymous 13 years ago

How do you determine significance? There's no objective way to look at it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

guys by insignificant i meant compared to the vastness of space

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Compared to the universe? Yeah. Compared to our lives? No. It's our only home, so of course it's significant to us.

by Anonymous 11 years ago