Does the Universe Have a Purpose?

By Nancy Atkinson - November 28, 2012 12:02 AM UTC | Cosmology

An intersection of two of my favorite entities (

Minute Physics

and

Neil deGrasse Tyson

) now covers a topic that has been on my mind lately: does the Universe -- and therefore humanity -- have a purpose?

deGrasse Tyson was asked by the Templeton Foundation to answer this question and poses here that if there is a purpose, the cosmic environment has a strange way of showing it.

What do you think?

Q&A+ ▶ Our latest video — free on Patreon We Hardly See Other Planets. What's The Point of Searching for Life Out There The extended edition: ad-free, with extra content. Free to watch — no account needed. ▶ Watch it free

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com