The planetarian perspective
on things has two main components:
1. An emphasis on the unimportance, indeed, the
puniness of the human species in the vast immensity of the Cosmos. Here we are,
on this little dustmite of a planet, orbiting with a bunch of other rocks
around an unimportant star in a galaxy tucked away in an obscure corner of the
Cosmos. Why would anybody care about us? Don’t you think we take ourselves a
little too seriously?
2. On the other hand, we are, as far as we know,
the only ‘intelligent’ life out there. As we take our first baby steps into
this cosmos, we should be careful Not to Blow It Here at Home.
