Comments: The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.
Words just don't do it justice.
Here's some visual references from Vox I favorited a while back. Warning, you be need duct tape to repair you skull after viewing -
http://www.vox.com/2015/4/17/8432733/space-maps
Posted by tim at February 22, 2017 12:01 PM
I wish I had a dollar for every time I've seen that explanation. I'd be rich.
Posted by BillH at February 22, 2017 2:40 PM
Not only that, it doesn't care if you're alive or dead.
Posted by Sven at February 22, 2017 3:33 PM
At the linked article there is a comment thread on "Is it possible to square our small existence with the vastness of cosmic space?"
Astrophysicists John Barrow and Frank Tipler have pointed out that the universe had to either expand or collapse. If it collapsed, we would not be here to discuss this question or any other. But it expanded and in so doing stars were formed which created the elements necessary for life.
So whether one planet or 500 billion have life is not relevant to squaring "our small existence with the vastness of cosmic space." If no life had formed anywhere, the universe would still be just as large as it is now.
And boy, would that be a waste of space.
Posted by Donald Sensing at February 22, 2017 8:08 PM