The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself

by Sean Carroll

The universe is resolutely focused on the current moment; it marches forward, instant to instant, under the grip of unbreakable physical laws, with no heed paid to its glorious accomplishments or to its hopeful prospects.

The reason why physics classes seem so hard is not because physics is so hard—it’s because we understand so much of it that there’s a lot to learn, and that’s because it’s fundamentally pretty simple.

What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one is food for worms. This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, and excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression—and with all this yet to die.

in the words of neuroscientist David Eagleman, “Your consciousness is like a tiny stowaway on a transatlantic steamship, taking credit for the journey without acknowledging the massive engineering underfoot.”

People are not inanimate rocks, accepting what goes on around them with serene indifference. Different people might exhibit different levels of care, and they might care in different ways, but caring itself is ubiquitous.