The Copernicus Copernicus copernicus complex is one of the aspects of what i think is one of the biggest questions we as a species can ask him something we ask nonscientific rape. The book is really about the scientific question of whether or not we are alone in the universe and the copernicus complex refers to complex in a way we feel about ourselves and a complex that we carry around with us that on the one hand from copernicus we learned that we are not central and we are not special in any way and that idea has propagated through the centuries and has driven the core of the idea that has become known as mediocrity. Theres nothing special or interesting about it in any way. This is a complex we carry around with us. The complex is that our instinct tends to make us feel special and all of us as humans unless we are extremely downbeat and tend to wake up in the morning and think of the world revolves around us great rationally of course we know it doesnt. So we really have this battle going on in our heads i think and scientists abedin science has said as well that on the one hand rationally we see that we may not be central to the universe in a way. We as humans, not individuals. Individuals in the species and even extending into the rest of life think about it and might say well look perhaps this happen somewhere else but at the same time we like to think we are special. The complex is dealing with all of this. And thats part of the theme of the book except exploring it in a more sophisticated analytical way. What does it really mean to have this copernicus complex and how might it help us do science