Proof of intelligent design?

[Moontanman]

After the intelligent dinosaur thread I think I'll go ahead and completely destroy any credibility i have and ask this question.

 

If indeed at some point (preferably in the near future) we discover a way to travel FTL easily on the scale of the Star Trek Universe and we find the galaxy is full of very humanoid intelligent beings what does it say about the idea of intelligent design? I used to argue with a friend who said that TV shows like Star Trek were Satanic because they led people away from the idea of God. My answer was that they show is quite the opposite because if the real universe would turn out to be similar to the Star Trek universe it would pretty much prove the existence of, if not god, an intelligent designer. Not only would the discovery of such easily controlled power sources and FTL indicate the universe is designed to be user friendly the idea of very human aliens on other planets could not be accounted for by random chance (weak and strong anthropomorphic principle) Any thoughts?

[JillSwift]

After the intelligent dinosaur thread I think I'll go ahead and completely destroy any credibility i have and ask this question.

 

If indeed at some point (preferably in the near future) we discover a way to travel FTL easily on the scale of the Star Trek Universe and we find the galaxy is full of very humanoid intelligent beings what does it say about the idea of intelligent design?

That the designer was working on a small budget, too?

 

I used to argue with a friend who said that TV shows like Star Trek were Satanic because they led people away from the idea of God. My answer was that they show is quite the opposite because if the real universe would turn out to be similar to the Star Trek universe it would pretty much prove the existence of, if not god, an intelligent designer. Not only would the discovery of such easily controlled power sources and FTL indicate the universe is designed to be user friendly the idea of very human aliens on other planets could not be accounted for by random chance (weak and strong anthropomorphic principle) Any thoughts?

I can see your logic. However, I'm not sure that such strong similarities would suggest a rather unimaginative designer, or perhaps suggest that environments that allow or "encourage" intelligence tend to be similar enough that the other phenotypes are also similar.

 

I think I'd actually be more likely entertain the idea of a designer if all the intelligent races were dramatically different, but were surprisingly easy to communicate with.

[bascule]

I don't mean to be rude, but is this a joke?

 

If we hypothetically discover the ability to do something presently thought physically impossible it's proof of intelligent design. Zuh?

 

Even if the universe is flush with humanoid life, that doesn't indicate intelligent design any more than it could indicate convergent evolution.

[Moontanman]

I don't mean to be rude, but is this a joke?

 

If we hypothetically discover the ability to do something presently thought physically impossible it's proof of intelligent design. Zuh?

 

Even if the universe is flush with humanoid life, that doesn't indicate intelligent design any more than it could indicate convergent evolution.

 

Not trying to prove anything bascule, I am just speculating on ID. i am not an a supporter of ID (not even close) and i see them trying to use all sorts of things like irreducible complexity to try to prove their point usually what they claim is just plain silly but if indeed the universe turns out to be not only to be user friendly in the extreme ( i mean the Hypothetical Star Trek universe is about as close to user friendly as possible and still resemble the reality we see) but to contain aliens that are basically humans (they can interbreed) wouldn't it give the strong anthropomorphic principle a big boost at the very least? I thought maybe a discussion about this was appropriate in the silly claims forum. Just BS'ing about speculative stuff. Not science.

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That the designer was working on a small budget, too?

 

Good one Jill Lets assume the STNG universe instead of TOS universe;) at least the budget was bigger

 

I can see your logic. However, I'm not sure that such strong similarities would suggest a rather unimaginative designer, or perhaps suggest that environments that allow or "encourage" intelligence tend to be similar enough that the other phenotypes are also similar.

 

To be serious I can't see any possible mechanism that would account for aliens we could interbreed with humans

 

 

I think I'd actually be more likely entertain the idea of a designer if all the intelligent races were dramatically different, but were surprisingly easy to communicate with.

 

To me that is the flaw in most ideas about aliens, even the ugly grays. is they look to much like humans for me to "believe"

[padren]

To be serious I can't see any possible mechanism that would account for aliens we could interbreed with humans

 

If you are going by ST:TNG then it already explains the humanoid factor in an episode.

 

Arriving at the planet, they discover that almost all life is dead, but scans by the Enterprise detect a small fragment of algae located on a fossilized sea-bed, and they beam down to investigate with their tricorder

Tricorder

 

In the fictional Star Trek universe, a tricorder is a handheld device used for sensor an area, interpreting and displaying data from scans to the user, and recording information....

s containing all previously known information. The Cardassians arrive, as well as an undetected Romulan force, creating a standoff. Reasoning that the sea-bed may not be completely fossilized (and thus still containing some DNA), Picard and Dr. Crusher secretly scan the sea-bed with their tricorder. They locate the final DNA fragment, which completes and runs the program. The program reconfigures the tricorder's emitter to project a holographic message. The recorded image of an alien humanoid is projected to the assembled company, and it explains that its race is responsible for the presence of life in the Alpha Quadrant. When its race first explored the Alpha Quadrant there had been no life. The alien ends its message by saying that it hopes that the knowledge of a common origin will help produce peace.

 

Thus, in a true "star trek" style universe we'd discover that a species of sentient life existed, found itself alone, and seeded all the humanoid species of the galaxy.

 

While that is a type of "intelligent designer" I don't think it's the one you were looking for.

[Moontanman]

they have an explanation for everything! I remember that episode now, a day late and a dollar short of course.

 

I am not trying to prove ID here I just wanted to show how ID would make a universe much different than the one we see. One of the claims of ID is that the universe was created for us, for our use, but from our stand point the universes is not very user friendly. If you compare the universe we see to universes really created by intelligent design IE Star Trek, Star Wars, BSG, Star Gate, or any one of dozens of intelligently designed virtual universes ours is obviously either not ID'ed or the ID'er is not particularly fond of us.

Edited October 22, 2009 by Moontanman