(hope this hasn’t been done)
I was watching a well-known talk with Richard Feynman and he briefly touches on something that I have also heard Neil deG. Tyson talk about – a phenomena wherein the size, scope, multiplicity, vastness, power, etc. of the universe when contemplated results in one feeling small, insignificant, or something along those lines. The implication I have always understood to be that this is in a negative or depressing or discouraging way.
I’m just curious:
I enjoy contemplating the vastness of the universe, and it certainly does make me feel small, but I don’t feel negative about it. On the contrary, it makes me feel pretty excited that I’m a part of such a wonderful world. Besides, there’s still so much mystery out there—it’s hard to imagine getting hung up on feeling small and leaving it at that.
Y’know, as soon as I posted this, I wondered if I should’ve made that a third option.
I get sad thinking about it because it seems like an awful waste of space.
Sometimes, but it takes effort to get to a point where I can really appreciate the vastness of the universe.
I think folks like Feynman and Tyson (and probably spiritualists of various stripes) feel that way because they’ve spent so much time in contemplation of that vastness.
Obligatory Monty Python clip on the topic. (Contains a bit of NSFW imagery.)
(To answer the question: no, it doesn’t, at least not to me.)
I love that there is so much universe that is unknown.
In personal terms relative to my own body and how much I can lift or how far I can walk in a day under my own power I have a hard time comprehending the size of the Earth. It staggers the mind. Compound that by how small the Earth is compared to the Sun, which I see nearly every day. Compound that by how small the Sun is compared to other stars and massive black holes we know about through science. Compound that by the number of stars in the galaxy compounded by how galaxies are unnumbered.
However, the universe is as small as it is big. I feel well balanced.
+1
Yes, yes, yes. Which isn’t to say I don’t enjoy stargazing - I love it - but it reminds me that I’m entirely unimportant, existence has no objective purpose, and life is a zero-sum game.
Space isn’t wasted. It’s what keeps things from bumping into each other.
I’m glad there is a bit of space separating us from things like the Sun. I like the Sun well enough but I don’t want to be rubbing elbows with it.
Of course I’m ridiculously insignificant on any cosmic scale. But I’d like to imagine that I’m modestly significant to at least a few folk.
I don’t think Feynman, DeGrasse Tyson, Sagan etc say these types of things in a discouraging way. Instead, I take them to mock certain “human centered” beliefs, as though the universe (or parts of it) were created for our benefit, or that we are some kind of epitome.
And I’ll stop right there - unless folk want to take this in a religious direction. 
Exactly. We get to define “significance” as we like, and one useful definition is in relation to our society, our family, our friends, and our social networks.
Cosmically, no. Humanity will be extinct sometime in the next 100,000 years (likely sooner) and we will have, ultimately, zero significance whatever. Meanwhile, we’ve created an entire civilization, starting with sharp rocks and ending with computers, art museums, Beef Burgundy, and space probes.
(Beef Burgundy alone makes the whole damn effort worth while!)
Insignificant as in “small” “localized” “short-term” yes.
But those don’t necessarily equate to insignificant as in “unimportant” or “meaningless.”
I love the feeling that the things I’m going through, bad or good, are just one tiny bit of a huge and amazing universe. That sense of perspective is really freeing.
All that stuff that is so incomprehensibly huge is simultaneously made up of incomprehensibly tiny bits. I rather like being in between and consciously able to contemplate both.
I think of the Milky Way like a freckle on a really freckly person.
Hard to not feel insignificant.
Saw a tee shirt the other day: Never trust an atom - they make up everything! 
The vastness of the cosmos is certainly a mind-bending concept to ponder. If thinking about it doesn’t make you dizzy, then you’re probably not doing it right.
Does it make me feel insignificant? I don’t know. I guess I never felt all that significant to begin with, or particularly wanted to be significant. What I want is to be small enough to hide out in my own little corner of the universe, where I’m happy as long as no one is bugging me. I have zero interest in taking over the world or playing some important part in the cosmic drama.
So… I guess the answer is yes, but I’m fine with it.
Although I can see how it might feel like a bummer for, say, a Julius Caesar.
In a very literal sense I am the center of the universe. Rock on.
I’m with those who feel insignificant in a positive way. When I’m feeling bad about some stupid aspect of my life, looking up at the stars, or seeing pictures of Pluto on the web reminds me that my little problems are really unimportant.