1. Guided Evolution = religion
2. Intelligent Design of Intelligent Designers (IDOID) = religion
3. Evolution of Intelligent Designers = incoherent babbling and backwards thinking with no evidence.
4. Cycles of Creation = religion
5. Panspermia = no evidence
The best of Mr. Brin's "competitors" is The “Flying Spaghetti Monster.”
He wants to slam religion but all he talks about are lunatic ideas and religion.
Nice try, Mr. Brin. I'll give you a "C" for effort.
I would argue that earth is a sample of 1, and there are two interpretations of this:
a) N=1 is not an experiment; reject the sample.
b) Use the data you have, however rotten. Then 100% of earth-like planets are... like the earth. Hence, most or all earth-like planets shall be like us too.
Is there a name given to alien intervention -- the idea that humans were introduced here for observation or long-term harvesting?