In the most philosophical passage of his speech, Bradbury told the Caltech scientists that the universe exists, and there is no use in it existing if no one is there to see it. He described the moment at age eleven when he looked at the back of his hand and thought, 'My God, I'm alive! Why didn't someone tell me?' He invoked an Armenian saying about God thumbprinting each person with a genetic identity at birth that vanishes into the flesh — and that each person's job is to look in the mirror every day and find out who they truly are.