ARMAGEDDON POP

Entropologia
March 3, 2025

Cosmological Manifesto, or "Saving the Cosmos"

"The cosmos is a labyrinth built from labyrinths. In each one, another opens. Where we cannot enter on our own, we reach through mathematics. We construct carts from it to move through the inhuman regions of the world. Mathematics can also be used to build extra-cosmic worlds, regardless of whether they exist."

— Stanisław Lem, Fiasco

Recently, I read an incredibly fascinating book by Jostein Gaarder titled It Is We Who Are Here Now, which primarily concerns our responsibility for the world that future generations will inhabit. Our civilization faces a choice: to change its current direction or to meet a tragic end. Gaarder's work is, in a sense, a "Cosmological Manifesto," which is why I have chosen this title for my article. The second part of the title, "Saving the Cosmos," refers to a short story by Stanisław Lem, in which he highlights the damage humanity inflicts upon our planet and other celestial bodies as well.

The detrimental impact of human activity is an extensive topic, yet the aim of these authors is to encourage the reader to reflect on the fate of our planet and the future of conscious life upon it. The exploitation of natural resources, wars, and the extinction of animal species form the core concerns of Gaarder's work. What is particularly interesting from a literary perspective is the book’s format—a letter to future generations who will inherit the Earth from us. Gaarder seeks to make us realize that the fate of the planet and its future are in our hands. Instead of succumbing to pessimism—which, for the author of Sophie's World, is synonymous with laziness—we should strive to bring order to our minds and our creations. In other words, we should work to make the world a better place, or at the very least, leave it as good as it was when we inherited it from our ancestors. The prerequisite for achieving this is a universal state of enlightenment for all of humanity.

This might sound utopian, but the fate of the planet is in our hands, and it is up to us to determine what kind of world it will be in the future.

"For is it not also a consequence of the theory of evolution that we participate in something great, that even the smallest form of life has meaning in the grand whole? We are the living planet, Sophie! We are the great vessel sailing through the universe around a burning sun. But each of us is also a small boat, sailing through life with a cargo of genes. If we carry this cargo to the next port, it means that we have not lived in vain."

— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World

"We do not know what we are heading toward. We only know that we have embarked on a long journey. Only when we reach the end of the road will we discover the reason why we set out, though it may take many generations. In this way, we are always in a state of becoming. Much of what we fail to grasp today will reveal its meaning at the next crossroads. Even the smallest, seemingly insignificant event may turn out to be a necessary condition for something that is yet to come."

"In reality, we are facets of one and the same soul. It is an illusion, maya, that makes us perceive other people as something separate from ourselves. We need not fear death, for there is no such thing as something that can truly die. The only thing that disappears when we die is the illusion that we are separate from the rest of the world, just as we believe that what we dream is separate from our own soul."

— Jostein Gaarder, Maya