What about higher life forms?

Discussion in 'Religion Archives' started by Starman Avatar, Apr 22, 2002.

  1. Starman Avatar Registered Member

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    I am curious to see what the members positions on higher lifeforms might be-I'm talking about purely theoretical entities that are nearly omniscient or omnipotent, perhaps non-corporeal, and very similar in certain ways to our primitive conceptions of "God"?
    The reason why I ask is that the truly adventurous mind, whether athiest of religious, cannot deny such possibilities, though we have no true evidence of such prescences, and if they did indeed exist I would imagine they would remain aloof to simple humanity.
    Evolution dictates that a species must continue to advance or perish to mightier beings. In millions or billions of years will humanity find itself slowly metamorphosising into this higher form of life, be it Neitzche's(spelling?) overman or a being lacking need of a physical body altogether.
    The problem inherent for an agnostic in admitting such a possibility is that, in an indirect manner, the existance of diety is being acknowledged. For someone who holds deep theological beliefs, especially Protestantism, in which most sects believe that human efforts cannot be used to attain heaven and therefore Godliness, this concept also presents a problem. Answering yes limits the uniqueness of God.
    Both sides, to maintain the pureness of their beliefs, must deny the possibility that somehow evolution might lead to god-like lifeforms.
     
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  3. supernova_smash Registered Senior Member

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    hmm...

    Good question. I've wondered about the whole concept of "man evolving into gods" idea. This topic reminds me of a short story written by some guy, Isaac Asimov or something like that, called "Reason". In it, a positronic robot doesn't accept the idea that lower life-forms (humans) created him. You should check it out. The robot seems to be a satirical take on humans inability to accept the chance that we weren't created by some higher power but rather "lower powers" (ie single celled bacterium).

     
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  5. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    We wern't created by bactiria

    we may have evolved from them though a radom act, gods hand ot alian intevention (those are the only options i can think of) but bactiria didn't create us

    to be created implies concesness and purpose
    a bactiria didn't think one day that it would make humans
     
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  7. Xelios We're setting you adrift idiot Registered Senior Member

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    This reminds me of Stargate SG-1 (cruddy series, but the basic idea they have is interesting and it actually makes sense).

    Back to Max Payne, damn that game is good =D
     
  8. Starman Avatar Registered Member

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    To be a God does not nessasarily mean total power or knowledge, think of the numerous Gods of various mythologies or even passages like this from the Rig Veda:

    "Who knows in truth? Who knows whence and how arose this universe? The gods are later than its beginning: who knows therefore whence comes creation?
    Only that god who sees in the highest heaven: he only knows whence comes this universe, and whether it was made or uncreated. He only knows, or perhaps he knows not."

    To be a god, unless under Judeo-Christian or Islamic philosophy, does not require infinite power or knowledge.
    My question of higher lifeforms does not nessasarily require disembodied exitence, think of the possibiliities of quantum lifeforms, minds on the subatomic level, or even of entities made of great clouds of stellar gas, or a particular organization of galaxies. One is left to wonder what evolution has in store for us.
    BTW, from everything that I have read Sol's nova is not estimated to occur for several billion years. Just a thought.

    By"higher being" I mean an intelligent power that has the ability to manipulate the physical world solely on the power of his mind or is in some other manner vastly superior to mankind and so much so that we mere mammals could not begin to understand it. For that matter, a very evolved race technologically might be able to exhibit enough physics-shattering abilities to be essentially gods in the human perspective.
    Your comment about the EM spectrum is fascinating.
    I think that I have read the mentioned Asimov story, I have a collection of his older short stories around here somewhere. Its an idea that has been unfourtunately copied many times over.
     
  9. supernova_smash Registered Senior Member

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    nothing goes here

    Asgaurd; you're right, I think i worded myself wrong (which is something I seem to have a knack for). I didn't mean that bacteria was what actively decided to "create" humans, but rather as you said, provide the basis of evolution from which we may have been created. I should have used "evolution of bacteria" rather than bacteria itself. Anyway, I hope you still see what I meant

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    I do think your ideas are quite possible Starman. To me, "life" is nothing more than energy really, just a matter of energy/matter systems. It could very well be that a cluster of stellar gas has higher [although maybe not omnipotent ;] power.

    Thanks for the clarification about the death of the sun too. It's been a while since I read that and I'm sorry, but last night I was too damn lazy to look it up. I don't try to spread false info, it just happens

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    This is really messing with my mind. Lately, I don't see everything as individual things, everything is all one thing together. I don't know if that makes sense but it's almost as if our universe collectively IS some sort of higher power. Kinda like transcendalism [sp?]. Well I have to cut this short, sorry, something came up!
     
  10. Adam §Þ@ç€ MØnk€¥ Registered Senior Member

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    Well, speaking as a highger lifeform myself, I feel I should clear up a few misunderstandings.

    We don't discard our material bodies as we evolve. Think about it! Bodies rock! We can have sex with them!

    Hmm, anyway...

    Um, there is no afterlife, the fridge light DOES turn off when you close the door (provided something is not broken), and we were not responsible for George Bush.

    PS: Elvis is not with us.
     
  11. Raithere plagued by infinities Valued Senior Member

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  12. Aragorn Registered Member

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    Even if there was some form of higher life form, why would it want anything to do with us? I do believe that ( and don't laugh) there are higher life forms among us all the time. They aren't gods or angels or anything we think of as being higher life. But, I do know that they are way beyond concepts such as right and wrong.
     
  13. Teg Unknown Citizen Registered Senior Member

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    I think application of the term "higher life form" is self negating. It suggests a hierarchy of life, which there isn't. This may sound like some sort of philosophical rhetoric, and on the surface it shares characteristics with extensions of the universal brotherhood. It is more pragmatic than that, though. Everything exists because of the neccessary biological infrastructure. Remove an organism without a replacement effect and watch the ensuing disruption or even total annhilation.

    No one creature has any greater importance than the next.
     

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