Brown Dude becomes a Philosopher

Before we get to the post, I just have to say, "I can cover that distance on foot" you'll see as you read. 

I've seen this picture long ago but only recently came across a quote from Carl Sagan's book, Pale Blue Dot, that I though was very well written. First some background:

Pale Blue Dot (picture at bottom) is a photograph of planet Earth taken on February 14, 1990, by the Voyager 1 space probe from a distance of more than 6 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane.

In the image the Earth is a mere point of light, a crescent only 0.12 pixel in size. Our planet was caught in the center of one of the scattered light rays resulting from taking the image so close to the Sun. This image is part of Voyager 1's final photographic assignment which captured family portraits of the Sun and planets.

“Look back again at the pale blue dot. Take a good long look at it. Stare at the dot for any length of time and then try to convince yourself that God created the whole Universe for one of the 10 million or so species of life that inhabit that speck of dust. Now take it a step further: Imagine that everything was made just for a single shade of that species, or gender, or ethnic or religious subdivision. If this doesn’t strike you as unlikely, pick another dot. Imagine it to be inhabited by a different form of intelligent life. They, too, cherish the notion of a God who has created everything for their benefit. How seriously do you take their claim?” 

― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space