In a universe of void and rock, discussing morality is a pointless exercise. Let’s take the simple case: that all of space consisted entirely of a floating rock in a void of nothingness.
It seems impossible to attribute some moral worth to it. If it were to crack and break apart, it will not experience pain. There is also no reason it is better for it to be one rock or two broken smaller ones. Any position in space, any rotation of it, any state this rock can ever occupy is equivalently meaningless. There is nobody to care how this rock may be.
Now imagine instead this rock to be not just any rock, but in fact marble. Beautiful, white, rich, textured marble. Marble, as it were, shaped into Michelangelo’s David.
This is no longer a chaotic asteroid alone in the void, but an object of immense order, structure, and beauty. If we were given the choice between a universe of asteroids and this universe of floating statues, could we say one was better than the other?
We humans value order. We value beauty. We value the things that David represents. But in this universe, we do not exist. This universe has only David. And David, like most marble, feels nothing at all. Furthermore, despite it being beautiful, there is no thing and no one to witness this beauty. There is no experience by anyone or anything that is made better or worse by having David’s universe versus that of the simple asteroid.
For the sake of this example, please pretend that any conception of God, universal consciousness, etc. also is not present.