They represent all the best of what it means to be human- a distillation of the most noble aspects of humanity. A massive investment of resources, of many lifetimes of human effort- all to improve our understanding of the universe- to satisfy our curiosity. They are an ultimate pure example of the humanity at its best- there is no profit motive- they are simply there to satisfy our monkey curiosity.

My second job out of grad school was working at the largest telescope in the world- it was immensely rewarding, but it did very nearly kill me. I worked on getting the first laser guide star operating at the Keck observatory on top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

One night, when we were using the laser to do an observation of the black hole at the center of our galaxy, the laser was stable enough that I felt safe stepping outside to have a cigarette (Back then I was a smoker- even at an altitude of 14,000 feet) and watch the laser beaming up into the sky. I stepped out into the darkness, lit up a cigarette and looked at my yellow/orange laser beam lancing up into the sky, pointing at the galactic center.

Perhaps it was lack of sleep, or oxygen deprivation, or the head rush from the smoke- but in a sudden dizzying moment I FELT the magnitude of what we were doing.

The light from the central black hole was emitted ~27,700 years ago- when my ancestors were using the technology of their time to make paintings on cave walls. It traveled all those millennia to end its journey at a telescope fabricated with a precision of a fraction of the wavelength of the light it was observing, using lasers, micro-machines, and sophisticated computers to remove the blurring distortions of the Earth's atmosphere. As those photons traveled to Earth ~1200 generations of humans progressed us from the caves to this moment. Countless civilizations rose and fell.
Our ancestors survived through unimaginable hardship and cruelty- each generation advancing us just a little closer to this moment in time.

In another 27,700 years the laser beam I was looking at would reach the center of the galaxy- some of the light might go down the throat of the supermassive black hole we were observing- humanity, if it still exists, will be very different.

In a rush the distance and time involved in all this became very real, and overwhelming... I nearly lost my balance as I looked up along the beam. It was a very spiritual experience.

That was ~15 years ago- the light I was looking at that night has traveled ~15 light years- in that time my life has changed greatly, the plight of humanity has changed greatly as well...

Those photons have only just begun their journey, they have ~27,685 light years to go- where will humanity be when they get there?