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Letter: Cosmic significance: A wise man once said...

Published 31 July 2024

From Gabriel Carlyle, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, UK

Andrew Whiteley notes that the idea of our cosmic insignificance involves “equating physical size with significance”, which he rightly decries as absurd. A similar point was made by the polymath Frank Ramsey: “I don’t feel the least humble before the vastness of the heavens. The stars may be large, but they cannot think or love; and these are qualities which impress me far more than size does (Letters, 13 July).”

Issue no. 3502 published 3 August 2024

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