Does the universe care?

[Logisch]

Perhaps it is our notion of "care" which IS the universe expressing itself as such (care), through the medium of humanity

Right, kind of what I'm hinting at. We're the only known part of the universe that is capable of doing such. But since we're all part of the universe, and the only part of it capable of doing so, aren't we technically in charge of whether or not we value or care about the existence of ourselves at all?

I dunno, perhaps this is winding back to the existential narcissism. Though I think all parts of the universe are as equally awesome, so I don't consider myself necessarily "special" in my place in the universe since it seems like it's all one big thing.

But I suppose I'm trying to say, "Why do people care about whether or not there is an intrinsic value, if we get to decide our own value and place in the universe?" Well... you know, minus all the stuff we can't control like asteroids hitting us, or supernovae within range causing detrimental harm to anything close to it, or the sun eventually swelling up as it burns up the excessive amounts of energy it uses and makes the earth uninhabitable. But HEY, for now anyway...