0101

"The Kepler discoveries, plus the Rarity of life in time and space lead to a concept called Cosmic biocentrism. This is the Rarity and preciousness of Life which provides a kinship to all living things in the universe. I can't imagine what kinds of thoughts, what kinds of values and principles, other living beings might have. But we share something in the vast corridors of this Cosmos we find ourselves in. Certainly, the mundane attributes of Life, the ability to separate ourselves from our surroundings, to utilize energy resources, to grow and evolve. I would argue that we conscious beings share something more during our relatively brief moment in this era of Life, the ability to witness and reflect on the spectacle of existence, a spectacle that is at once mysterious, joyous, tragic, trembling, Majestic, comic, and so on." [Probable Impossibilities, p. 162]

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10/2024:

"Luck comes in three main flavours. Philosophers have identified “circumstantial luck”, meaning being in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time – such as Stephen’s family taking that particular flight. Then there’s “resultant or outcome luck”, where in a particular situation some people have good and some have bad outcomes due to factors beyond their control. Stephen had the good resultant luck of surviving." https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/07/the-big-idea-should-we-be-thinking-about-luck-differently