This thought has always amazed me. After the big bang, there was energy. As the universe expanded, the energy became less dense as there became more space to occupy. Eventually, forces became more significant as energy became less dense. This gave rise to the possibility of matter particles, which creates protons and neutrons, which thus created atoms. With the universe still expanding, more forces became able to overcome the decreasing energy density. The weakest, gravity, caused atoms to "clump," and over time, stars, star clusters, galaxies, and galaxy clusters formed. In the stars, the most basic atoms (hydrogen) fused, releasing energy and creating heavier elements. Supernovas spread this new matter across the universe. These new elements, all with vastly different properties combined, giving us molecules. Some special molecules, over billions of years, formed - amino acids, nucleotides, and carbohydrates. These molecule are capable of forming larger molecules - molecules able to multiply. And somehow - through the mystery of abiogenesis - life formed. Life evolved over billions of years to produce sentient beings.From pure energy, randomness, and (for us) luck, came collections of matter capable of observing and unerstanding the universe from which it sprung. We truly are the universe experiencing itself. And as our knowledge and understanding of the universe grows, so does our ability to manipulate it. Some day (if we don't wipe ourselves out, of course) we will be the universe manipulating itself, and destroying the randomness created over billions of years.
We are the same as any other "thing" in that we are part of the universe and a product of the laws governing the universe. I think the only thing making us any 'different' is our complexity - the highly specialized arrangement of specific types of matter. But this complexity has given us a way of processing and storing information - it results in our sentience. But other than that, we are no different.
Thank you for bringing this up. The universe and life as a result are truly marvelous and mysterious. It mesmerizes me to think of how we became us.
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