"....One of these is the Copernican principle, named in honour of the Polish astronomer. Also known as the principle of mediocrity, it holds that the Earth is not in a central, specially favoured position in the universe and that by extension humans, while clearly a remarkable species, are not the pinnacle of creation. We inhabit a comparatively ordinary planet orbiting a comparatively ordinary star that is one among several hundred billion in a galaxy that is itself one among several hundred billion in the observable universe...."