RE: Would be likely for Extra terrestrial to have a religion?
September 6, 2013 at 9:11 am
(This post was last modified: September 6, 2013 at 9:17 am by Anomalocaris.)
(September 6, 2013 at 2:28 am)Lemonvariable72 Wrote: Or atleast have had a religion at some point in their history, I'm curious about this as a writer. (I know my english on these forums sucks)
Religion is very much the artifact of our particular psychology, which in turn is an artifact of our brain physiology. For example, I think it is fair to say a critical psycho/physiological trait of ours that gave us religion is the fact that our brains slip easily into using social behavioral circuitry evolved to deal with other members of our species to model non-social problems. This gave us all powerful god that is suspiciously full of the foibles we've come to expect from our fellow men, not to mention ourselves.
There are many other similar examples where it appears the particular way different thinking circuitry of brain is configured gives us our inclination and vulnerability towards religion.
since much of our physiology, including brain physiology that underpin our psychology, are as much the contingent product of the exact evolutionary path our species took to get to where we are as it is the product of necessecity imposed by where we are. It appears to me that even if an alien intelligence evolved in an environment broadly similar to our own, tge chances are still small that its physiology would have arrived at its current state along any path sufficiently close to our own that it too would share these particular quirks of our brain that gave us inclination and vulnerability towards religion.
So I would say the chances are any alien ever having what we might call religion in the sense attrubting things to an undemonstrated outside supernatural agent that they can interact with isn't high.
(September 6, 2013 at 7:18 am)The Germans are coming Wrote: I am a hundred percent certain that a species that has advanced so far that it unlockes the secrets of intergalagtic space travel, will have left behind the dogmas of relegion before it ventured into a different solar system.
Why would you think all members of the species would have benefitted equally from such enlightenment as would be required attain intergalactic travel?
