My Thoughts: Our Existential Reason.

The earth seems to be one of it's kind, and the universe teeming with elusive aliens. Surely we should have found some significant symbols by now. However, we've been told by the people with fancy gadgetry there are none. All tests have shown up negative, which suggests the universe isn't teeming with life. We'd expect to at least find tons of random life forms if the Universe was full of life. This is no major discovery, it's common sense yes, but just ensuring we're all on the same understanding.

These beliefs led me back to the "Gods" & "Religion". At a younger age, it made sense, as my fellow 'drones' would tell me Christ is the way, follow Christ, do as he says. But with such a powerful 'Processing Unit' it's hard to just follow a leader who has not made himself present. Since then I've become an atheist/agnostic man, as so many things make no sense. A few years later, I discovered It's impossible to believe in Aliens but not Gods, as any deity can be defined also as an 'Alien'.

Since writing this post, I then made a link:
"If you're going to create machinery that can do exactly what you say and you need a way to test it before you implement it. However, there's a chance this machinery could advance at a superior rate to yourself. There's also a chance this machine could reject any orders, any rule, any command. There's a chance this machine might go nuclear and wipe your entire race from the universe. How do you test it?"

It's much like our current advancements, we're looking into artificial intelligence as well as biological enhancement as well as machinery(But we're stupid so meh..) As you can see many are with it, and many are against it saying it's dangerous. Which it does seem fairly dangerous, creating something more intelligent than you is giving it power over you making yourself inferior. In a perfect world, the superior never listens to it's inferior.

When you've perfected design, you'll need a safe testing area. How do you create a safe testing area for something that meets the criteria of a human being. How do you allow it to roam, have free space, utilize resources, test for efficiency, communicating abilities, growth. How do you do all this while keeping yourself safe? Place them in a sandbox.

Earth, a one of a kind utopia. Full of life, perfect conditions, very protected, a perfect moon, big brother jupiter, flowing liquid H2O, land mass:water ratio, dat magnetic field. We have been given everything, it's no coincidence.

Water: You'd almost think it's unique to earth, an interesting thing when you acknowledge out of how many ever other planets we've searched, just us. No traces of water anywhere(significant, confirmed evidence of water is what i'm refering to) it's rather disturbing to think, ohh look at all these other planets around me with no water and I have so much. We also have no clue where it came from.

Protected:
In exhibit A, we see big brother jupiter rounding up em astroids and just keeping our little planet safe.

Magnetic Field: We don't know where it's from, just know it's doing it's thing. I think it's unfair that scientists/physicists 'believe' it's from the core, however laugh at the idea of God.(Yea, not all of them plsdon'tbite)

The Moon: It's rather interesting, I was watching ancient aliens the other day and if it isn't bull the moon is quite interesting.
Characteristics of the Moon by AA:

• It's hollow. They crashed a rocket into it and it vibrated for some 3 hours. No natural satellite can be hollow.
  
• It's almost a perfect circle.
  
• It's in an almost perfect orbit around our earth.
  
• We can only see one side of the moon as the time it takes to make a full rotation on it's axis is the same time it takes to circle earth.
  
• It's the perfect distance from the sun, perfect size and perfect shape to allow for total eclipses.
  
• We don't know how this moon came about.
  
• All impact craters tend to have a maximum depth.
  
• The surface is covered in titanium, basalt & zirconium? Perfect for asteroid impacts.
  

That list is according to ancient aliens. Take it with a grain of salt. However, we can effectively say the moon is important, it gives us seasons, and works the tides. It keeps earth alive. There's alot more to our mysterious satellite which we just haven't figured out as yet. It's also believed it may interact with our magnetic field.


Evolution is horsesh.. Not entirely, but the idea of coming from a single cell, don't waste your time. But when are evolutionary creatures, creatures that were built to stand the test of time and any harsh changes in our environment. Not too harsh though or we'll most likely all die. This is just an opinion, don't argue it, overlook it.

The things stated above, have led me to believe we were actually created. We are being tested, it's funny that i've found myself back to religion being our literal story. It's a fairy tale story, so I'd first suggest it can't be. But then you realize, each religion has it's own ways to test obedience of it's 'Human'. Each religion focuses on trying to see if they can ultimately control a machine without ever proving to it, that the figure is the creator. We appeared, we were told to obey and praise this figure. If we do it, we're compliant, we're good machines. We can be implemented. However If we don't obey then there will be a rapture(stillllll waiting) pretty much destruction of these machines(place is hot these days, does feel like hell fire). Each race tend to have slight differences, and it just seems like we're being split tested to find what code, makes a perfect 'human', so it can actually be safely implemented. Could somewhat grab that case of a UFO shutting down a nuclear base as them trying to prevent us from terminating prematurely without them getting their specific answer.

We're in a sandbox;However, the real question is, is it a simulation or do we share a universe with the 'alien overlords'?

So, thinking about where you stand in the universe you came to the conclusion that superior beings must be concerned with what you are doing?

That's the common link which ties religion together. It says absolutely nothing about God's but says a great deal about humanity.

But to quickly go over some things...

Earth, you are right. It is not a coincidence at all, however we are not the reason. We are suited to the Earth not the other way round.

Water, it is everywhere and we know where it came from.

Magnetic Field, not exactly fringe science here. I've never heard it questioned actually.

The Moon, I guess you have to start with dismissing anything Ancient Aliens says. A book "Who Built the Moon" goes into detail about the various "coincidences" regarding the moon/sun ratio. It's probably the most compelling argument however there could be other solutions that don't require alien overlords.

a reply to: SuspiciousTom

I'm not sure where to start.

Pretty much every point you made is false.

Only religious kooks believe the earth is singularly special in the universe.

We haven't even observed one tenth of one percent of the universe let alone conducted an adequate search.

Read a book.

a reply to: watchitburn

Only religious kooks believe the earth is singularly special in the universe.

And certain scientists due to the corrected versions of Drake's equation

a reply to: SuspiciousTom
We may dang well be the aliens we talk about
S&F for the thread.

I got sleepy while writing that; my main points were to be:

The moon terraformed earth, allowing it to be a suitable environment for life, keeps it 'alive.'

Yes, we haven't seen enough of our universe to define, if we're here alone or not. However, it stands to say life is relatively rare. While it hasn't been a thorough check, the search they did should at least show less intelligent 'life forms'.

As for the moon, it's formation is a theory, one that suggests a smaller planet crashed into just-forming-Earth and the debris formed that almost perfect circle, perfect size & distance from the sun, and other various characteristics. This is another 50 Jackpots in one. And they all happened in such a way the Earth becomes entirely terraformed to support life.

Religion, it makes mention of things synonymous with current theories of Aliens. Many have questioned, "Why would these super advanced beings capable of interstellar travel care about us earthlings?" That's the question I'm pretty much sharing my thoughts on, probably didn't get the point across properly. The Gods in my book are defined as Aliens on any scale, the last question as I asked: "Is it a simulation or do we share the universe?" Religion is about control. It tells someone how to appropriate themselves and attempts to get them to give their praise to the 'creator' they cannot see. A test of loyalty.

@Krahzeef_Ukhar
Yes, this is angled from the thought of "Advanced aliens visiting earth" or anything which suggests advanced aliens that interact with us. The day we find alien life inferior or superior to us we'll be pretty concerned with what they do on a daily basis.

@watchitburn
It's not a matter of believing it's singularly distinctive if you can conceptualize the existence of humans then you can believe in 'Aliens/Gods'. It'd be up to you to define special. Jupiter is special in my books and yes we haven't seen a significant percentile of our universe. To say every point is false without explaining yourself then suggesting to read a book. Rude. Almost as if you're suggesting you have all the 'facts' over there. I'd like to hear them

Interesting thread, I believe a lot of the truth is being held back from us to prevent us from enlightenment (I think that's the correct term).

originally posted by: SuspiciousTom
Yes, we haven't seen enough of our universe to define, if we're here alone or not. However, it stands to say life is relatively rare. While it hasn't been a thorough check, the search they did should at least show less intelligent 'life forms'.

The search we have done is essentially nothing.
We've only really partially searched one planet for life and it is everywhere on that one.
I would say we are 1 for 1 so far.

In our solar system Mars and Europa are the top contenders for some form of life so we'll eventually be able to say we did a thorough check of those.

Assuming we check them next we could potentially start out 3 for 3.

@Krahzeef_Ukhar Yes, this is angled from the thought of "Advanced aliens visiting earth" or anything which suggests advanced aliens that interact with us. The day we find alien life inferior or superior to us we'll be pretty concerned with what they do on a daily basis.

Concerned? Definitely.
Individually testing their loyalty on a daily basis seems like a bit of a stretch tho.

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

Testing the loyalty of your artificial machinery not on a one on one basis, as we will reproduce but testing it in groups, applying the religious rule book to see what group of AI would be best and least likely to attempt an overthrow in the event they do mass create their 'biological robots'.

And I agree with the point of we're at 1 for 1; I'm actively hoping they do find significant evidence of past or current life on the Martian planet which would then suggest the universe is teeming with life.

a reply to: SuspiciousTom

I enjoyed reading your thoughts and especially as you've clearly spent time on them. It makes your OP better than the 'splash and dash' ones with two sentences and a link

Have you ever read about the 'anthropic principle?' If you haven't, you should; it's quite a hair raiser in the sense of being a profound concept. Now, I'm not arguing against all your ideas and they could, in theory, coexist with the concept of the anthropic principle.

The short version is this: Yes, it appears like everything is conveniently in place to ensure we humans get to exist. Our Solar System is like a metaphorical guest room with all the right furniture in all the right places. The Moon is just so and the Sun is exactly right for us. The atmosphere suits both us and the all the rest of life on this planet. We have just the right levels of gasses to allow us to control fire and the right amount of elements to allow us to build telescopes to look at the sky.

However, what looks at first glance to be contrived, could not be experienced if any single factor was different. Different atmosphere and there would be no life to evolve. Larger, closer, colder or hotter Sun and we wouldn't be here to notice. Think about how the sentient folk on Mercury ponder the Cosmos or those on Mars? Do you catch my drift there?

We are extraordinary and still a product of our intricately complex environment. Rather than the Universe being fine-tuned for *our* existence, it is we who are fine tuned to exist in the Universe. In that context, the examples you use in the OP should lose their lustre.

Still, nothing in that argument prevents your idea from being true. We could be in a simulation designed by beings who are fine-tuned for the universe they exist in. At that point I start getting visions of 'turtles all the way down' because we could ask what a profoundly more advanced intelligence would be doing trying to 'split test' our non-existent species. We must be non-existent to be in a simulation, yes? No? How are genes transmitted? Or is a our simulation on a life-sized 1:1 scale with the set designers on their larger scale outside?

That would make it a 'turtles all the way up' scenario and create more headaches.

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: SuspiciousTom

I'm not sure where to start.

Pretty much every point you made is false.

Only religious kooks believe the earth is singularly special in the universe.

We haven't even observed one tenth of one percent of the universe let alone conducted an adequate search.

Read a book.

Hey you know, I like SuspiciousTom's effort and posting his observations/point of view/open for discussion.

As for your reply, I mean this as constructive advice. I think you were a little harsh and demeaning.....no hurt feelings I hope.

Here is what I know....and I have been told by educators, scientists, students and loved ones. When it comes to subject matters such as this. My indisputable quote is "Who The Hell Knows?" So, without shifting the topic content, perhaps a little humbleness is necessary.

Our home, the Planet Earth is in the words of many Academics, Scientists an amazing oasis that is like no other.

Yeah, we are out there searching and some of the goldielock finds raise hopes.......but the honest truth is that we have found nothing. NOTHING that is magnificently as beautiful, unique and compares to Mother Earth.

So, I am hoping to find some hard, scientific, repeatable, confirmation that there is another remarkable celestial home that comes even close to this beautiful planet we live on.

My point, we need to explore. We are travelers. And until proven otherwise.........the highways seem pretty wide open, it's just a matter what exit you want to get off at.

Bottom line. Accept that Earth is truly amazing.......and unlike anything that we know about. Unless someone has imperative truth that disproves that......that's my story and I'm sticking to it......but keeping my eyes and readings, research wide open.

Peace

I love these sorts of discussions, and I am really starting to like ATS.

I don't think we will ever grasp the complexity of the universe. Sometimes I think the universe created us so it could be aware of itself. It can also be argued that this awareness in some ways is also creating the universe. I am not so sure that we are very separate from each other or our environment which would include the furthest reaches of space. This is assuming a sort of universal intelligence which would weave through everything.

I guess you could call it God.

The problem that we run into is the language we have to define it. It is inadequate.

a reply to: Lithicalus

Sometimes I think the universe created us so it could be aware of itself. It can also be argued that this awareness in some ways is also creating the universe.

I've wondered about this too. It puts us in a long, long line of people who've been exploring these idea for centuries.

Even though we cannot say the Universe created us for it's own appraisal; we can say with certainty the universe created us and we are an expression of its awareness.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Yay! I am not the only crazy one! Lol, I am just kidding.

We know that in a scenario without some sort of energy input things travel from order towards chaos (or the lowest stable energy state, chaos for us may be perfect order for a spider). Maybe we are the universe's order machines.

Or we are like white blood cells in a much larger organism, so huge we can't even see it. This organism could be our alien overlord, much like we are the overlord for the immune cells in our body. Are they aware? They do seem to make decisions of a sort.

I guess my point is: does awareness scale? Perhaps the op is right in the sense that we are here to serve the purpose of an infinitely larger and more complex organism; the key to this line of thought is that this organism could not survive without us doing this work.

I think that what it is exactly and what we are doing for it is beyond the scope of our understanding. If your cells were aware that they were doing your bidding it would probably cause us immense problems. They just need to be aware enough to do their job, nothing more.

This could scale up (and down) to infinity.

Or we are just upright monkeys on a rock hurtling through space lol and this is all chance. Both scenarios are probably somewhat true.