202408221254 Ten thousand times the spider would rebuild

Ten thousand times the web could be destroyed, and ten thousand times the spider would rebuild it. There was neither annoyance nor despair, nor any delight, just as it had been for a billion years.¹

The spider knows nothing of humans; it knows nothing of why the things happen to it that do; it only has a need and drive to exist. Humans, in turn, may not be able to comprehend the ways of other advanced civilizations in the universe. We're different than bugs though because of our desire to understand, model, and perhaps change the universe around us.

This quote is interesting because it can be interpreted as a value judgement — even contradicting positive and negative judgements — of the spider. It can also be interpreted in a more Zen way where the presumption of judgement or need to understand should be negated.