Screens

Abstract

dramatize the myriad possibilities of scalar thinking. Scale sheds light on the stakes of contemporary life by calling attention to the standards by which we judge an entity to be significant or meaningful. Are we to view human beings as mere specks of dust in the vast universe? Or, are human beings themselves wondrous galaxies of atoms? Are we to think of the Earth as an insignificant rock in the Milky Way? Or, is the Earth a treasured needle in the galactic haystack? Are we to believe that atoms are the fundamental building blocks of reality? Or, is the universe the ultimate manifestation of existence? Are we to cherish or disregard ‘small’ entities? Are ‘big’ entities to be venerated or feared? Such lines of inquiry show scale to be more a field of contention between worldviews than a keyword with fixed definitions.