It was a virtual certainty that we'd find what the Kepler telescope has now found. Scientists knew with near certainty that exoplanets existed as a matter of deductive reasoning long before they could prove it conclusively. The first proof came in 1992 with the detection of terrestrial masses orbiting PSR B1257+12 but the same creationist argument persisted - that of Earth being the Goldilocks zone and that it must in some way have been purposely created because of this. In 2007, Gliese 581d was found to be the first extrasolar planet orbiting in the habitable zone of its star but since Kepler went up it looks as though they're just gonna keep on coming. With the new data coming in, it now looks as though somewhere between 10-20% of star systems will harbour Earth like worlds.
A glance at the universe reveals one undeniable truth - that we are a very very very small part of it. Carl Sagan illustrated this best when he asked that the Voyager probe be turned back toward Earth to take a picture - that picture famously became known as the ‘pale blue dot’ and showed as just a blurry pixel against a vast cosmic background. That some people still have the conceit to think that it was all made just for us is quite simply astonishing. I would ask of them, just look at what's out there, it isn't in proportion. Despite our never having detected life beyond our own world, there's no reason for us to assume it isn't out there and the more we learn about science, the more of a certainty it seems to become. My question for creationists would be this, how would the detection of alien life or even sentient alien life affect your outlook? It wouldn't affect mine, it'd be perfectly consistent with it.
Darkmatter2525 who is more widely known on Youtube for comedy presents a thought provoking video below:
"That some people still have the conceit to think that it was all made just for us is quite simply astonishing."
ReplyDeleteDear Sir,
Who are these 'Some people'? As I will explain further into my argument. I know not one person of this belief.
"My question for creationists would be this, how would the detection of alien life or even sentient alien life affect your outlook? It wouldn't affect mine, it'd be perfectly consistent with it."
I find this irrelevant to the argument of Creationism-Evolution (as labelled by yourself). To my mind it would make very little difference as to my beliefs. I would find it utterly fascinating, but it is not incompatible with Christianity as I see it.
Your entire argument here centred roughly around 'The universe is big; therefore creationism is wrong'. Am I wrong in my assessment?
The video you linked to, although it has a valid point in regard to the size of the universe, does not do anything to challenge anything that I believe in or have ever believed in.
In fact, although I am sure there are some creationists out there who do believe we are the only living beings in our universe, I would suggest that they are few and far between.
The Bible, as far as I understand it says nothing about us being alone in the universe. Just because it doesn't mention 'alien species' doesn't mean they don't exist. It doesn't mention football a great deal either, but I'm pretty sure that it exists.
Do I believe that aliens exist? Not really. Do I believe that they don't exist? No.
My belief is that it is possible that alien life forms exist, but until we have proof, I cannot be 100% certain. Nor can you. Nor can anyone else.
Regards,