“The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent...”

Most people think that it was Don Draper, the main character in the TV series, Mad Men, who first introduced and spoke of the idea of an indifferent universe, and he did, in fact, use that phrase. But he wasn’t the first.

Others believe that the first was Carl Sagan, and he did say that “the universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.” But he was only paraphrasing another great thinker.

No, the person who first spoke that line was none other than film maker Stanley Kubrick. He said it shortly after his movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey reached theaters and achieved critical acclaim. But that’s not all he said. There’s more to the quote, but I’ll come back to that.

First I…