The Danger of the Pale Blue Dot
- Dr. Snap
- Jun 22
- 3 min read
I recently found this article in my newsfeed and couldn't help but be repulsed by its contents.
Scientists Say If We're Extremely Lucky, This Asteroid May Put Us Out of Our Misery. Honestly, we probably deserve it.
I wanted to believe the author making such braindead statements was only joking for clicks, until they proceeded to include this string of text which linked to an article about climate change.
...a fate we just might deserve, considering our incredibly careless stewardship of the planet.
It was then I realized they were being half-serious. No wonder faith in journalism has gone out the window.
Victor Tangermann is the author; quite a disgruntled fellow. If he were serious about his romanticism towards the compete annihilation of the human race, he'd start with himself. He won’t though, because he won't live to feel his dopamine spikes when the redditors pat him on the back for his unproductive nihilistic dribble.
I mean it has to feel good sitting in your fancy office being paid to talk about how much of a cancer humans are to the planet… but something is off. A cancer needs a host, yes? And the statement “We probably deserve it” raises a very serious question: who would be satisfied?
Who will be the one to say “I am cleansed” when all the cancer is removed? Who is “fixed” when humans are effectively expunged from this giant rocky sphere suspended in the cosmic ocean?
Because the Earth is certainly not a “who”, and I’m not sure why we would care about the feelings of a “what” unless we’re going down the childish route of anthropomorphism.
Something tells me Victor isn't exactly a god-fearing fellow either, so it can't be that.
Will the seals and elephants be thankful? Will the trees? Find me an animal or plant that will express gratitude when the last human falls, if you can.
This fantasy of a better world without humans doesn't exist, and it'd cease to exist the moment it became a “reality”, because who meaningfully will be there to experience it? The dogs and cats and birds and foliage won't thank you in an afterlife, so cease your useless ramblings.
This nihilism is usually selective, though. It conveniently fails to apply when things are deemed socially unacceptable. We are a cancer on the planet and we deserve to be wiped out… but to people like Victor, I do wonder if all that goes out the window when someone is being a racist and saying bad words online.
It’s one or the other. Either everything matters or nothing does. This is the kind of reddit-tier short-term thinking and journalism that coalesces the proposition that we ought to stop taking it seriously, because these people don’t even take themselves seriously. They don’t believe the words that come out of their mouth – they just say it because it feels good.Nihilism has to be selective or it quickly eats itself, but they don’t want to think that far ahead.
We’re a product of the Earth. We came from it, we live and breath it, and we will return to it in death. You want a real “cancer on the planet”? Watch War of the Worlds – specifically the 2005 one, because man… the design on those tripods is cool… but that’s neither here nor there.
The universe is vast… awe-inspiring… sure… but you still don't see anything as convoluted as the human brain, and that makes all the difference. Victor wouldn’t know, because he doesn’t have one.
