Respect for Structure

Abstract

Imagine the following. There is a planet out there in the universe that, you know with absolute certainty, no humans or other intelligent forms of life will ever come into any significant contact with. By that, I mean at least that no such forms of life will ever land on the planet, use any of it, or even know enough about it to be able to appreciate its existence or qualities aesthetically. Besides, the planet contains no life of its own: no animals, no bacteria, no plants. It does, on the other hand, have a perfectly definite (inanimate) structure: there are mountains and rivers there, oceans and lakes and deserts. And there is a button on your desk here, and if you press that button the planet will instantaneously disintegrate.