Let’s imagine that in our galaxy of 400 billion suns, there’s just us that thinks. I mean, microbes all over the place, but in terms of things that think and can feel and, in a very real sense, bring meaning to the universe, it’s just us.

All these things we’ve talked about, the beauty of these galaxies, they’re not beautiful if there’s nothing there to perceive them, right? They’re just galaxies.

So if that’s it in this galaxy, then the decisions that we make now as a civilization have galactic implications. If we destroy ourselves, for example, deliberately or through inaction, then it’s possible that we eliminate meaning, perhaps forever, in a galaxy of 400 billion stars.

We have a tremendous responsibility, in a sense, not to do that.