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You're right, I'm sure the billions of deeply religious people would cope with literal proof that we're not a privileged and special "creation". Even worse, the

by M_Grey 10y ago

You're right, I'm sure the billions of deeply religious people would cope with literal proof that we're not a privileged and special "creation". Even worse, they might not accept that. Plus new tech, new perspectives, old power structures being overthrown, etc... etc... Things would change, and change is good for the future, but dangerous to those living through it.

jaboutboul 10y ago
"change is good for the future, but dangerous to those living through it." this.
simonh 10y ago
> I'm sure the billions of deeply religious people would cope with literal proof that we're not a privileged and special "creation". Muslim scholars have considered the possibility of life in the heavens as far back as the Middle Ages. Companions of the Prophet openly considered the possibility of religious beings in the heavens. It was recorded of Ibn-e-Abbas that "He even went so far as to say that they may have a Prophet like Muhammad (pbuh), a Adam like our Adam, a Noah, like our Noah, an Ibrahim like our Ibrahim, and a Jesus like our Jesus." The Roman Catholic Church has also officially accepted that there may be intelligent aliens. So that covers a pretty large chunk of the world's religious believers already explicitly ok with it.
- M_Grey 10y ago
  As you can see from recent world events, the words of scholars carry less weight in turbulent times than the words of populists.
fsloth 10y ago
Generally people ignore changes that don't directly affect their life within a short timespan. Global warming will cause far more disturbance in the near future than anything else will and people seem to be mostly oblivious to it. Extraterrestrials would provide a brief philosophical shift and when people realize they are not coming to visit us and we really can't say anything concrete about them they would continue their life mostly unaffected. Says I.
vivekd 10y ago
What is it with tech/science forums and the belief that religious people are crazy, backwards, zealots who would go crazy causing enormous destruction when faced with compelling new scientific revelation. . . this despite the fact that theologians from nearly every religion, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism have considered extraterrestrial life and claim it does not contradict with their religious beliefs.
- M_Grey 10y ago
  What is it with tech/science forums and the belief that religious people are crazy, backwards, zealots who would go crazy causing enormous destruction when faced with compelling new scientific revelation. . . http://www.philipstallings.com/2015/06/the-biblical-flat-earth-teaching-from.html http://www.philipstallings.com/2015/06/the-biblical-flat-ear... Leaps readily to mind, along with the current state of Israeli politics, and you know... just a lot of politics. You're right that lots of theologians are frankly much more impressive than the average adherent. What a pity that we're not surrounded by billions of theologians.
  - vivekd 10y ago
    When you talk about biblical flat Earthers you are talking about a very small subset of Christians, to claim that all Christians are like them is akin to claiming that all Muslims are like ISIS. Similarly Zionism is not really a religious view as much as it is a political one. This can most clearly be seen in the fact that orthodox Jews oppose the state of Israel. They correctly interpret the Torah as saying that Jews have had the holy land taken away from them by God and it can only be re-established by God, not by the the act of men. Similarly the Koran says outright that Allah had given the holy land to the Jews, and groups like the Muslim brotherhood and Hamas that seek take Israel are motivated by political, not religious goals. If anyone is going to create violence and chaos at first contact, it's not religious people but rather politicians that have a stake in a system that exposure to other, more equal or efficient systems may upend and industrialists that have a stake in the technologies that first contact will replace. There are so many other, historically consistent places to look for potential sources of revolt than mere ordinary people (in fact the majority of the human population) who are merely in search of the divine and greater meaning.

by M_Grey 10y ago

jaboutboul 10y ago

"change is good for the future, but dangerous to those living through it." this.

simonh 10y ago

> I'm sure the billions of deeply religious people would cope with literal proof that we're not a privileged and special "creation". Muslim scholars have considered the possibility of life in the heavens as far back as the Middle Ages. Companions of the Prophet openly considered the possibility of religious beings in the heavens. It was recorded of Ibn-e-Abbas that "He even went so far as to say that they may have a Prophet like Muhammad (pbuh), a Adam like our Adam, a Noah, like our Noah, an Ibrahim like our Ibrahim, and a Jesus like our Jesus." The Roman Catholic Church has also officially accepted that there may be intelligent aliens. So that covers a pretty large chunk of the world's religious believers already explicitly ok with it.

M_Grey 10y ago
As you can see from recent world events, the words of scholars carry less weight in turbulent times than the words of populists.

fsloth 10y ago

Generally people ignore changes that don't directly affect their life within a short timespan. Global warming will cause far more disturbance in the near future than anything else will and people seem to be mostly oblivious to it. Extraterrestrials would provide a brief philosophical shift and when people realize they are not coming to visit us and we really can't say anything concrete about them they would continue their life mostly unaffected. Says I.

vivekd 10y ago

What is it with tech/science forums and the belief that religious people are crazy, backwards, zealots who would go crazy causing enormous destruction when faced with compelling new scientific revelation. . . this despite the fact that theologians from nearly every religion, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism have considered extraterrestrial life and claim it does not contradict with their religious beliefs.

M_Grey 10y ago
What is it with tech/science forums and the belief that religious people are crazy, backwards, zealots who would go crazy causing enormous destruction when faced with compelling new scientific revelation. . . http://www.philipstallings.com/2015/06/the-biblical-flat-earth-teaching-from.html http://www.philipstallings.com/2015/06/the-biblical-flat-ear... Leaps readily to mind, along with the current state of Israeli politics, and you know... just a lot of politics. You're right that lots of theologians are frankly much more impressive than the average adherent. What a pity that we're not surrounded by billions of theologians.
- vivekd 10y ago
  When you talk about biblical flat Earthers you are talking about a very small subset of Christians, to claim that all Christians are like them is akin to claiming that all Muslims are like ISIS. Similarly Zionism is not really a religious view as much as it is a political one. This can most clearly be seen in the fact that orthodox Jews oppose the state of Israel. They correctly interpret the Torah as saying that Jews have had the holy land taken away from them by God and it can only be re-established by God, not by the the act of men. Similarly the Koran says outright that Allah had given the holy land to the Jews, and groups like the Muslim brotherhood and Hamas that seek take Israel are motivated by political, not religious goals. If anyone is going to create violence and chaos at first contact, it's not religious people but rather politicians that have a stake in a system that exposure to other, more equal or efficient systems may upend and industrialists that have a stake in the technologies that first contact will replace. There are so many other, historically consistent places to look for potential sources of revolt than mere ordinary people (in fact the majority of the human population) who are merely in search of the divine and greater meaning.