Aliens, Apes, and Androids
The Day Religion May Finally Have To Think Outside the Species
Aliens, Apes, and Androids
The Day Religion May Finally Have To Think Outside the Species
Let’s say it happens tomorrow.
NASA confirms intelligent extraterrestrial life on some exoplanet light-years away, and not just bacteria in a Martian mud puddle, but real, communicative, moral, sentient life. Or, say, we genetically uplift dolphins or chimpanzees to human-level cognition, you know, finally give Caesar from Planet of the Apes his due. Or maybe, even more terrifying to the Vatican’s IT department, artificial intelligence suddenly, and irrefutably, gains consciousness.
What would this mean for the religions of Earth?
The truth no one’s supposed to say out loud is that most world religions were written by and for one species, on one planet, in one specific Bronze Age corner of the world, and they’ve been gaslighting the rest of reality ever since.