What is it with those who claim to defend NASA or science that they feel compelled to trash a writer who uses ideas from art/theory/philosophy to analyze a famous image? And then give me some sophomoric lecture about “up and down” in space. Of course, there is no absolute up or down in space and the stars are not visible because of keeping the Earth in bright focus. All that’s irrelevant to the issue. FACT: NASA flipped and cropped the image to make Earth look more central. FACT: Humanity went to the moon, turned the camera back on itself and its planet, then cropped the image to make its planet more central. CONCLUSION: That’s a selfie, that’s humanity’s cosmic narcissism and both are running amok our planet. As for when selfie culture started, it goes back to at least Rembrandt in painting (also Frida Kahlo) and early photography. The first known photo-selfie was in 1839.

As for me, I am a cosmic speck and utterly insignificant in the universe, but I have written on these issues extensively. Here’s one sample: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979840473/ref=la_B00AXOWRLS_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1499548043&sr=1-7