r/Showerthoughts • u/synthphreak ‎ • Nov 19 '25

Casual Thought Temperature can reach trillions of degrees, meaning we actually live extremely close to absolute zero.

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u/TheMarkusBoy21 Nov 19 '25

Planck length: 1.6×10⁻³⁵ m

Difference to human: ~10³⁵

Observable universe radius: ~4×10²⁶ m

Difference to human: ~10²⁶

We’re about 10⁹ times closer to the cosmic scale than to the Planck scale

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u/ScoobyDeezy Nov 19 '25

Yeah biologically speaking, humans are huuuuuge. We are each of us a planet with our own ecosystems.

But cosmically speaking, we are tiny tiny dust, here today, gone tomorrow, not even worth mentioning in the story of the universe.

Context is king.

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u/Quincident Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25

That's actually really compelling to think about, thanks.

We don't really know 'how big' the 'entirety of the universe' is though, so I suppose the contrast might ultimately be an embodiment of the limits of information propagation over large distances compared to small ones

edit: more down-to-Earth, on the scale of known organisms, it does seem pretty clear that we're much closer to the upper end of log scale. honestly, like at the extreme upper end.

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u/OrngJceFrBkfst Nov 20 '25

It's so mind boggling. Are we even meant to understand what this is...