Is Religon mankinds first attempt to communicate with Aliens

[Doctor Why]

I was thinking about this the other day, and it occured to me that Religon stems at least in part from mankind's desire to not be alone in the Universe.

In the early days though, mankind did not know of planets other than Earth, nor did he have the knowledge and technology we have today.

Mankind seeing itself as its only known intelligent life, creates Gods, etc. To fill a void, so that it will not be alone.

What are your opinions on my theory?

[Superman]

I was thinking about this the other day, and it occured to me that Religon stems at least in part from mankind's desire to not be alone in the Universe.

In the early days though, mankind did not know of planets other than Earth, nor did he have the knowledge and technology we have today.

Mankind seeing itself as its only known intelligent life, creates Gods, etc. To fill a void, so that it will not be alone.

What are your opinions on my theory?

What if 'cat' is actually spelled "D-O-G?" Yeah. Think about it...

[Darth Wong]

I was thinking about this the other day, and it occured to me that Religon stems at least in part from mankind's desire to not be alone in the Universe.

Given its historical origins, I would say it stems mostly from mankind's desire to understand why things happen in the natural world. Now that science has demonstrated it can do a much better job of that, religious apologists are looking for other reasons to justify its existence.

[Hugh]

Many people still think that religion is about aliens. Ever heard of Erich von Däniken?

[Doctor Why]

I was thinking about this the other day, and it occured to me that Religon stems at least in part from mankind's desire to not be alone in the Universe.

Given its historical origins, I would say it stems mostly from mankind's desire to understand why things happen in the natural world. Now that science has demonstrated it can do a much better job of that, religious apologists are looking for other reasons to justify its existence.

I agree, I believe that Religon has outlived its usefullness to the Human Race, and we must move forward with new ideas.

[General Zod]

Many people still think that religion is about aliens. Ever heard of Erich von Däniken?

No, but I have heard of L. Ron Hubbard.

[Superman]

It's funny though, since religious types have the exact same types of 'evidence' that the alien conspiracy types have, they usually can't just dismiss it. To the religious nutjob, they usually become part of Satan's plan to conquer mankind.

[General Zod]

It's funny though, since religious types have the exact same types of 'evidence' that the alien conspiracy types have, they usually can't just dismiss it. To the religious nutjob, they usually become part of Satan's plan to conquer mankind.

The probability of intelligent alien life from another planet is still far higher than magic invisible sky pixies however. So alien conspiracy nutters have slightly more credibility than creationists.

[Darth Wong]

Many people still think that religion is about aliens. Ever heard of Erich von Däniken?

No, but I have heard of L. Ron Hubbard.

I think Daniken was the "chariots of the gods" guy, who thought that the Egyptian pyramids were signs of ancient alien visitation. Because as we all know, only a hyper-advanced alien civilization with interstellar travel capability could build a glorified rock pile.

[Superman]

It's funny though, since religious types have the exact same types of 'evidence' that the alien conspiracy types have, they usually can't just dismiss it. To the religious nutjob, they usually become part of Satan's plan to conquer mankind.

The probability of intelligent alien life from another planet is still far higher than magic invisible sky pixies however. So alien conspiracy nutters have slightly more credibility than creationists.

Right, but both camps basically have squat (I'm talking about the alien abduction types).

[Frank Hipper]

Many people still think that religion is about aliens. Ever heard of Erich von Däniken?

No, but I have heard of L. Ron Hubbard.

I think Daniken was the "chariots of the gods" guy, who thought that the Egyptian pyramids were signs of ancient alien visitation. Because as we all know, only a hyper-advanced alien civilization with interstellar travel capability could build a glorified rock pile.

Don't forget the Nazca lines being alien landing strips, because translight capable interplanetary spacecraft require an advanced, prepared spaceport consisting of lines in sand scratched with sticks.

[Hugh]

I think Daniken was the "chariots of the gods" guy, who thought that the Egyptian pyramids were signs of ancient alien visitation. Because as we all know, only a hyper-advanced alien civilization with interstellar travel capability could build a glorified rock pile.

Well, that particular idea did inspire a nice TV series.

[Redleader34]

On the Chariot of the Gods "theory" where is good solid evidence against this. I am needing help proving logically that humans off 4000 BC building the Great Pyramid/the Zigurats of Iran

[General Zod]

On the Chariot of the Gods "theory" where is good solid evidence against this. I am needing help proving logically that humans off 4000 BC building the Great Pyramid/the Zigurats of Iran

You don't need evidence against it. Occams razor should tell most intelligent people that they need to prove aliens were involved since it adds an unnecessary factor to the explanation.

[Darth Wong]

On the Chariot of the Gods "theory" where is good solid evidence against this. I am needing help proving logically that humans off 4000 BC building the Great Pyramid/the Zigurats of Iran

Um, you think you need to prove logically that humans are more likely builders than imaginary aliens who must have violated the laws of physics as we know them in order to even get here, and who left no real traces of their visitation such as graves, refined metals, or technological artifacts?

[Stravo]

Religion is humanity's way of dealing with mortality. We're really the only animals that know we're going to die and have that hanging over our heads all our lives. This chariot of the gods nonsense is laughable. There's also an implied racism too in thinking that these non-whites could build such supremely amazing feats of engineering without outside help.

[TithonusSyndrome]

Hey, did I mention that I actually found out who Killik is and what he looks like, for real?

Abandon all hope ye who click here

[Imperial Overlord]

I feel tainted just being in the same province as him. *grabs scrub brush*

[Starglider]

I was thinking about this the other day, and it occured to me that Religon stems at least in part from mankind's desire to not be alone in the Universe. What are your opinions on my theory?

Bullshit. Certainly Abrahamic religions do exactly the opposite; they try and glorify man above all things and insist that we are the special creation of god, the only creatures made in his image, that everything else exists only for our convenience and that the earth is the centre of the universe. Historically the reaction of clergy to the notion that there might be aliens and the notion that those aliens might be morally equivalent to humans (i.e. have souls, from their perspective) has been almost entirely negative. For them religion is largely about making you feel superior to everyone and everything else.

I think Daniken was the "chariots of the gods" guy, who thought that the Egyptian pyramids were signs of ancient alien visitation. Because as we all know, only a hyper-advanced alien civilization with interstellar travel capability could build a glorified rock pile.

Correct. I picked up his main book at a car boot sale for the comedy value, it was absolutely packed with hilarious crap (lines at Nazca were airfields for tiny spaceships! Mayan carvings show spaceships! Aladdin's lamp was a radio!).

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

On the Chariot of the Gods "theory" where is good solid evidence against this. I am needing help proving logically that humans off 4000 BC building the Great Pyramid/the Zigurats of Iran

Simple. There are several damning pieces of evidence against this particular bit of tinfoil hat nuttery. First is the absence of any tangible evidence that there was ever any alien presence on Earth. Certainly, if there aliens visiting, you'd expect to find alien litter. It's like visiting a construction site and somehow expecting there not to be the odd Coke can and empty bag of Cheetos scattered around the place. Or bits of obviously advanced technology, like someone's titanium-plated drill bit they might've dropped, or some spare nails. That, and the whole theory of relativity experimentally verified to some absurdly small fraction thing tends to indicate that alien astronauts, ancient or not, are restricted to the same absolute speed limit the rest of us are. Combined with even a cursory evaluation of the costs of interstellar travel, and Occam's Razor suggests that aliens would've had much better things to do with their time than teach ancient humans how to build pyramids using techniques the ancient humans would've worked out all by themselves.

Second, we can experimentally demonstrate techniques that ancient builders could've used to construct such massive constructs, using the simplest of tools. Furthermore, as has been mentioned, a pyramid is nothing more than a dressed pile of rocks. They're not really all that hard to build. And for that reason, they tend to turn up everywhere someone needed an extravagant display of wealth, power, and/or devotion, from Egypt to Ethiopia to ancient Sumeria, all the way across the Atlantic to Central and South America. The only things you can really change with a pyramid is the angle of its' slope, and how well you can finish it. In Egypt, there are examples of earlier, cruder pyramids. The so-called 'Step Pyramids.' So we have evidence that suggests that the ancient peoples experimented with pyramids and that something like the Great Pyramid is a pyramid at the pinnacle of ancient pyramid building expertise. Furthermore, we can explain their construction in the context of what we know of the civilizations who built these structures . . . i.e. we can easily assign human motivations for building such structures.

[Sriad]

The ancient pyramids are amazing feats of engineering and effort.

On the other hand, it's amazing what can be accomplished given 30,000 slaves in terror for their lives and a twenty year build time.

[OmegaGuy]

The ancient pyramids are amazing feats of engineering and effort.

On the other hand, it's amazing what can be accomplished given 30,000 slaves in terror for their lives and a twenty year build time.

I thought farmers built them during the inundation of the Nile

[wolveraptor]

Most of the Pyramid laborers were actually freemen, or at least as free as you can be when you're a peasant.

[Zixinus]

Combined with even a cursory evaluation of the costs of interstellar travel, and Occam's Razor suggests that aliens would've had much better things to do with their time than teach ancient humans how to build pyramids using techniques the ancient humans would've worked out all by themselves.

Not to mention the fact that if aliens did come and taught us, they did one shitty job. Where is my anti-gravity unit that aliens supposedly built with? Where are the textbooks, where are the buildings that taught humans? Where are the people that can demonstrate their knowledge of extraterrestrial origin? Einstein, Bor (don't know what they called him in English), Ferrymen, etc certainly weren't trained by extraterrestrials yet were competent scientists. I sadly can't name any good engineers, but the engineers of the Space Shuttle, Staturn 5, Soyuz and pretty much any skyscraper architects were taught with Earthly science. Where are they?

Such knowledge would have surely been very useful, too useful to forget. Where is it?

On the other hand, it's amazing what can be accomplished given 30,000 slaves in terror for their lives and a twenty year build time.

Ermm, I recall that they were paid workers, who did the job for an above-average salary.

[Zwinmar]

You have to keep in mind these are the same people who think that the Israelites helped build the great paramid. Though it is impossible for them to do so considering when their 'ancestor' was leaving Mesopotamia the paramid had already been built.

Of course they also may assume (speculation here) that aliens invented the internet.