m**c
发帖数: 7349 | 1 Every single person who died before Darwin published Origin of Species in
1859 was ignorant of humanity's origins, because they knew nothing of
evolution. But everyone alive now, barring isolated groups, can know the
truth about our kinship with other animals.
Similarly, everyone born after Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth in 1961 has
lived in a society that can travel to other worlds. Even if we never go
ourselves, space travel is a reality.
These facts change our worldview in subtle ways. Arguably, they make us
wiser. Evolution teaches us to treasure every other living thing, for they
are our cousins. Space travel allows us to see our world from a distance,
revealing how unique and fragile it is.
Some of the people alive today will become the first in history who can
honestly say they know where they came from. They will know what their
ultimate ancestor was like and where it lived.
This knowledge will change us. On a purely scientific level, it will tell us
about how likely life is to form in the Universe, and where to look for it.
And it will tell us something about life's essential nature. But beyond
that, we cannot yet know the wisdom the origin of life will reveal. |
