So I'm reading a book called What We Believe But Cannot Prove. So far it's mostly a book on how we aren't alone in the universe...there has to be other life forms, livable planets, etc.... So it got me thinking about God and all that other type stuff. Now working in a science field it is normal to just go "God yeah whatever...flying spaghetti monster". However I'm thinking the universe is 13-14 billion years old and earth has been around 4.5 billion years or so, but what if another earth type planet has been around for the full 13-14 billion years. There could be a God type being out there for what we would think as a God with our current knowledge set. If humans are around another couple billion years we will be incredibly advanced and making life would be the same difficulty as making a PB&J sandwich today. In a couple billion years I could see us easily being able to create planets and people and a ton of un-imaginable things. Heck we can basically clone already and we create things on a daily basis that where never even thought of over a couple hundred years ago. I think what we will be able to do in a billion years will appear "God-like" to humans of today. Any thoughts?
Crazy thoughts
- Thread starter five40
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So basically, you are asking if there maybe is a god, and he's actually an advanced space alien?
Which is what many people have said.
And the answer is: maybe, maybe not. Depends on if you believe aliens exist and created everything.
Then there's still the question of where these aliens came from, because they must have a start point, so no matter what, they don't fit the biblical concept of God.
Which is what many people have said.
And the answer is: maybe, maybe not. Depends on if you believe aliens exist and created everything.
Then there's still the question of where these aliens came from, because they must have a start point, so no matter what, they don't fit the biblical concept of God.
I would be saying the alien evolved or however it worked on their planet, which obviously I don't know. However, imagine one of us making a planet with people and telling them how awesome we are, all powerful, how we've been around forever, etc.... So it could fit in with the biblical concept.
MagnusTheBrewer
IN MEMORIAM
- Jun 19, 2004
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Interesting POV.
I would have to say that a person/thing from another planet/galaxy/solar system/universe/dimension/etc. wouldn't necessarily be thought of as a god. Although the intelligence (if they were the ones to have initiated contact with us) would be far ahead of anything that we have at this point....skepticism would reign with the exception of the few lunnies who would follow a toad if they thought he could help them in the afterlife.
My basic objection to your premise is in the very definition of God. What exactly is it? To some it is an omnipotent being with all of the powers imaginable. To others, there are separate gods for different situations. For others, nature is god. Still to more, there is no such thing as god and the definition of god is a long since passed desire to use an imaginary being as an explanation for the unexplainable of the time.
We will be able to do things that are unthinkable to people today, just as computers revolutionized our society today but were something that even the greatest of sci-fi writers would have been able to dream of in the 1800's. Whether those things will appear god-like is up to the individual and what they believe the definition of god is.
I would have to say that a person/thing from another planet/galaxy/solar system/universe/dimension/etc. wouldn't necessarily be thought of as a god. Although the intelligence (if they were the ones to have initiated contact with us) would be far ahead of anything that we have at this point....skepticism would reign with the exception of the few lunnies who would follow a toad if they thought he could help them in the afterlife.
My basic objection to your premise is in the very definition of God. What exactly is it? To some it is an omnipotent being with all of the powers imaginable. To others, there are separate gods for different situations. For others, nature is god. Still to more, there is no such thing as god and the definition of god is a long since passed desire to use an imaginary being as an explanation for the unexplainable of the time.
We will be able to do things that are unthinkable to people today, just as computers revolutionized our society today but were something that even the greatest of sci-fi writers would have been able to dream of in the 1800's. Whether those things will appear god-like is up to the individual and what they believe the definition of god is.
I would say God would be an all-powerful, all-knowing entity. A super advanced human would appear all-powerful and all-knowing to us. I'm sure in a billion years or so we'd have pretty much everything figured out, therefore making us "all-knowing". We could have computers the size of dime that could simulate every possible scenario for every single person on earth. A human in a billion years would also be "all-powerful" to us...imagine going back 500 years with tanks, planes, guns, etc.... You'd be an all-powerful human compared to the others.
Atomic Playboy
Lifer
- Feb 6, 2007
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I feel I can safely say with 99.9999999999% certainty that humans will not exist in a couple billion years. No complex organism on the planet has existed that long without evolving. Some species go back hundreds of millions of years - sharks and crocodiles for example - but even these long lasting species have undergone significant evolution in that time. It's nice to imagine that humans will be around forever, but in a scientific sense, it is ludicrous to assume so. We will evolve or go extinct, and the human species as we know it (homo sapien) will cease to exist.
As far as the alien God theory, what you describe sounds more like a species that has developed highly sophisticated technology, rather than a singular entity that is omnipotent (which is what we typically associate with the concept of God). Having the technology to create new life doesn't make one the creator of life. Having the power to create planets doesn't make one the creator of the Universe. God is the alpha and the omega. God was here before everything; God will be here when the Universe is gone. At least, if you believe in God (which I personally don't).
Yeah, they could say that, but they wouldn't actually fit the biblical concept of having been around forever and created everything from nothing.
It's just the typical alien created earth theory.
GagHalfrunt
Lifer
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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" Arthur C. Clarke
There are almost assuredly aliens out there more advanced than we are. Hell, reading religious mumbo-jumbo that spews from the sheep around here there are single-cell life forms more advanced than we are. But the fact that the aliens might know stuff we don't and will be able to do things we can't doesn't make them God-like, it just makes them more advanced. If you took an iPod and a flashlight back 5,000 years you'd be worshipped as a God. That doesn't make you one.
The one thing you can be sure of is that if there are aliens out there that have evolved to such a state as to approach what we think of as God-like they damn well wouldn't believe in invisible men in the sky.
There are almost assuredly aliens out there more advanced than we are. Hell, reading religious mumbo-jumbo that spews from the sheep around here there are single-cell life forms more advanced than we are. But the fact that the aliens might know stuff we don't and will be able to do things we can't doesn't make them God-like, it just makes them more advanced. If you took an iPod and a flashlight back 5,000 years you'd be worshipped as a God. That doesn't make you one.
The one thing you can be sure of is that if there are aliens out there that have evolved to such a state as to approach what we think of as God-like they damn well wouldn't believe in invisible men in the sky.
People always make statements like that, but I doubt it. Maybe a few people would want to worship you as a god (there are always people looking for a new god or gods to worship) but I think the more likely scenario is you would get jacked of both your flashlight and iPod and you would be thrown in a dungeon, enslaved or killed.
GagHalfrunt
Lifer
- Apr 19, 2001
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If you're going back in time with an iPod and a flashlight I assume you'd have the common sense to pack an Uzi too.
That's an even greater invitation to get attacked. Keep quiet and act like a normal person from that tim... I've said too much...
Atomic Playboy
Lifer
- Feb 6, 2007
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Wouldn't it be funny if we were the most advanced species in the Universe? We wouldn't even know, because we aren't able to see the whole Universe, so we have to assume there might be something smarter out there. But what if there isn't? We're stuck on our pipe dreams of intergalactic travel, but maybe the most advanced piece of technology in the Universe is a device that allows you to view Rick Astley from anywhere in the world.
GagHalfrunt
Lifer
- Apr 19, 2001
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Doesn't the whole Rick Astley fascination only help to reinforce the belief that we're not the most advanced species in the universe? ANY other life form that wasn't amused by something so juvenile would have us beat.
Atomic Playboy
Lifer
- Feb 6, 2007
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That's what makes it so funny. The most advanced species in the Universe and we're entertained by someone from 20 years ago who dressed in the fashion of the day and sang a derivative pop song... the Universe is doomed.
JTsyo
Lifer
- Nov 18, 2007
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I can't imagine a sentient being wanting to evolve into a true god. Once you already know everything and the results of every action, there isn't really a decision process left. There will be the right/best decision and then the rest. It would be like you didn't have free will. It's probably better for sanity to just have the powers and not the knowledge.
GagHalfrunt
Lifer
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dainthomas
Lifer
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everything we know will end when the universe continues to expand and all the stars fizzle out and grow cold. Or in the case that astrophysicists and astronomers actually have no clue what they're talking about, we'll all die in a fiery hell when the universe collapses.
either way, I wonder who the last poster on ATOT will be?
GagHalfrunt
Lifer
- Apr 19, 2001
- 25,284
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