Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God

Scientific American ^ | 1/7/02 | Michael Shermer

[eleni121]

As scientist extraordinaire and author of an empire of science-fiction books, Arthur C. Clarke is one of the farthest-seeing visionaries of our time

And a criminal psychotic who couldn't stop sodomizing little boys until he was called to his Maker.

[Don Myers]

"why do you think he is an idiot?"

Foams at the mouth? Spouts words that make no sense? Thinks that anything that might be more intelligent than he is god?

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

I think I'm paraphrasing, but who was it that said that God invented the cardinal numbers and everything else is a figment of man's imagination? Pascal maybe?

[Don Myers]

"So I guess a sufficiently advanced ETI would be indistinguishable from God, because He is God."

Your concept of God is extremely limited.

[Semper]

And if God is all and all is God, then God is part of the problem; I cannot accept that, either.

What do you accept in that regard?

[Abn1508]

I don't htink he has a flawed picture of God.

Imagine a being that could replicate every miracle in the Book. That spoke to you in your head and showed you that it knew everything you had ever done, every thought, good and bad. Spin that out as far as you wish.

If such a being said that it was God, you would be almost forced to Believe. For a True Christian, it would be the Second Coming, pure and simple.

A sufficiently advanced technology would have no problem replicating the entire series of "The Left Behind" or whatever it's called.

Trust me, you'd _know_ it was God.

Even if it was from Tau Ceti.

[Cold Heat]

The believe that this is the reason for the appearance of government secrecy. Interesting topic for late night conversation.

[JenB]

Huh? I never heard that. Also I never heard that Clarke had died. Are you sure you aren't confusing him with someone else? Clarke is/was a British science fiction writer, famous for '2001: A Space Odyssey' among other works, and last I heard he was living in Sri Lanka.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

You misread me. I'm saying that God is the only sufficiently advanced ETI to be indistinguishable from God. He is, of course, more than an ETI.

[Incorrigible]

OH MY GOD!

[firebrand]

Interesting, but wrong IMHO. We don't yet know whether a technology far superior to ours can be achieved only with cooperation or with an evil, tyrannical regime. My guess is that the second scenario is possible, as well as the first. Technological superiority is a different measure from godliness.

[Don Myers]

"If such a being said that it was God, you would be almost forced to Believe. For a True Christian, it would be the Second Coming, pure and simple."

Thank you for your words. It does give me hope that the end is coming upon us. The Bible tells us about a man of sin who will duplicate the works of God, and that the people would be deceived into thinking that he is God. I can see that many people will be foolish enough to follow the Anti-Christ.

[tortoise]

Mathematics as modelling language tends to be a flawed and inadequate representation of many (if not most) natural principles.

That doesn't make any sense. Give me an example of the inadequacy of mathematics. People using math badly is par for the course but doesn't reflect any flaws in the mathematics itself.

[eleni121]

Yes, he has passed on and yes, he got into trouble for his "little problem".

[MissAmericanPie]

I'm pretty sure we will blow ourselves off the map long before we ever reach a transition to a higher state of consciousness. Because no matter what our technology is or becomes, internally man still has one foot outside that cave with a bone shoved through his nose and a club in his hand.

[chuckles]

Somebody do the math. Isaiah, says years before the Jews were even in slavery, that they would be in bondage, how many years they would be in bondage, and the name Cyrus was declared as the Persian king that would let them go. Isaiah even went so far as to challenge the readers if their gods could do that. He was mocking them. Shows God has a sense of humor. How many carved sticks can do that. One might predict a government will fall(as some have about America), but how many can name the name of the person to revive it, before that person is even born?

[JenB]

All right; I only know him from his (not very good, IMO) books. He was always a member of the 'Big Three' - Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke - but I felt he lagged almost as far behind Asimov as Asimov did behind Heinlein. Don't know why it had to be Clarke who hung on all these years, churning out book after book of meaningless new-agey sci-fi, while Heinlein's been dead for decades....