If you listen to enough religious programming on your commute (and I do) you’ll come across the Anthropic Principle, a sort of proof of God’s existence based on the idea that the conditions necessary for the emergence of human life in the universe are so unlikely that the universe must have been designed just for us (and the designer’s name is God). For example:
The anthropic principle says that the universe appears “designed” for the sake of human life. More than a century of astronomy and physics research yields this unexpected observation: the emergence of humans and human civilization requires physical constants, laws, and properties that fall within certain narrow ranges—and this truth applies not only to the cosmos as a whole but also to the galaxy, planetary system, and planet humans occupy. To state the principle more dramatically, a preponderance of physical evidence points to humanity as the central theme of the cosmos.
There’s so, so, so very much wrong with this kind of thinking, but rather than get into the details, let me offer this counterpoint from physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson:
If you’re one of the hundred billion bacteria living and working in a single centimeter of the lower intestine, you might instead say that the purpose of human life is to provide you with a dark but idyllic anaerobic habitat of fecal matter.
Sometimes it’s all about perspective.