Problem
Douglas Adams (1952-2001), author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, compared humans to a puddle of water as a way of illustrating anthropocentric thinking, or what he called "the vain conceit" of humans.
He wrote: "Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, "This is an interesting world I find myself in, an interesting hole I find myself in. It fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact, it fits me staggeringly well. It must have been made to have me in it." Even as the sun comes out and the puddle gets smaller, it still frantically hangs on to the idea that everything is going to be all right; that the world was made for it since it is so well suited to it."
Are humans, in fact, a lot like the puddle in Adams's analogy? Support your answer, using examples from your own experience. Discuss how this type of anthropocentric thinking shapes or distorts our interpretation of the world.