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Intelligent Design by Space Aliens? Atheists Have Got to be Kidding...
"If intelligently designed, our universe could be running as a simulation on an alien supercomputer." - Sam Harris
"It could be that at some earlier time somewhere in the universe a civilization evolved by probably some kind of darwinian means to a very very high level of technology, and designed a form of life that they seeded onto perhaps this planet. Now, that is a possibility and an intriguing possibility, and I suppose it's possible that you might find evidence for that if you look at the details of biochemistry and molecular biology; you might find a signature of some sort of designer."1
- Richard Dawkins
"If we do ever meet an intelligent alien, even a tasty one, I hope we have sufficient ethical awareness...What moral status would extra-terrestrials have? Would we have obligations to them? Would they have rights?"2
- Peter Singer
"If intelligently designed, our universe could be running as a simulation on an alien supercomputer."3
- Sam Harris
I have made significant progress writing a new book, exposing the embarrassing errors and logical inconsistencies of the so-called “New Atheists”. The introduction, first chapter, and second chapter were recently published. Another sample chapter is included below. Very soon, we may be starting a crowdfunding project to bring this book to publication. If you would be interested in bringing this new book to completion, please provide your input and encouragement in the comment section below…
Atheists Proposing Intelligent Design (by Space Aliens)
A prominent atheist illusion involves the question of Intelligent Design theory, and the ability to study it scientifically. When scientists use this reasoning to argue for the existence of God, atheists mock Intelligent Design, claiming that it is foolish, unscientific propaganda. Yet when scientists use the same line of reasoning to argue for the existence of space aliens, atheists freely welcome Intelligent Design theory as a rational form of serious scientific inquiry.
What is "Intelligent Design"? According to one of the leading websites in that field, "The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."4 A philosopher supporting the theory has described it like this:
intelligent design covers a broad range of special sciences, including forensic science, archeology, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (or SETI). Intelligent design, by definition, is the study of patterns in nature best explained as
the product of intelligence. It is a basic feature of human rationality to identify the products of intelligence and distinguish them from the products of natural forces. Many special sciences capitalize on this distinction.5
Though scientists in this field are from various religious backgrounds, intelligent design theory does not speculate as to the identity of the designer. They merely investigate the data, pointing out situations in which an intelligent designer is the best explanation for the evidence.
Intelligent Design theory hinges on one simple question: When you are investigating the origin of a particular item, is it possible to detect evidence of intelligence? When archaeologists discover cave paintings, stone tools, or cuneiform writing carved into ancient clay tablets, is it necessary to explain these things according to natural processes alone, or can we determine that an intelligent being is the best explanation for the existence of such objects? Are we required to believe that the mere laws of physics and chemistry brought these items into existence, or is it scientifically justifiable to believe that these things were made by means of an intelligent mind?
If it is scientifically possible to detect the evidence of intelligence in the case of paintings, tools, and clay tablets, then what happens if we perform similar scientific investigations on other items, such as living cells, DNA, or the universe itself? If the first three items were designed by intelligent minds, then what about the other three?
Is there evidence we can look for, to help answer such questions? Is Intelligent Design a viable theory that can be used for scientific investigation?
Respecting Design by Aliens
Strangely enough, atheists seem to think that the answer depends on the identity of the designer. If we assume that the intelligent designer is God, then atheists claim that Intelligent Design theory is "stupid"6, "lazy"7, "masquerading as science"8, "propaganda"9, and "not even a theory".10 On the other hand, if we assume that the intelligent designers are space aliens, then Intelligent Design suddenly becomes an "intriguing possibility"11, and Dawkins says, "you might find evidence for that if you look at the details of biochemistry and molecular biology."12 If you use the powers of scientific investigation, he says, "you might find a signature of some sort of designer."13
In other words, atheists are perfectly happy to contemplate the possibility of intelligent design, as long as the designer is not God. As long as the end result points towards E.T., Yoda, or Klingons, and not towards Jesus Christ, they are content to submit the question to scientific inquiry. They are not biased against Intelligent Design — they are only biased against the existence of God.
Sam Harris chimes in with a thumbs-down vote for religion, and a thumbs-up vote for UFOs:
"We do not know whether there is complex life elsewhere in the cosmos, but there might be... if brilliant extraterrestrials exist, the contents of the Bible and the Koran will be even less impressive to them than they are to human atheists."14
— Sam Harris
A number of prominent scientists have set forth a theory of "Directed Panspermia" — the idea that space aliens are responsible for the origin of life on earth. Francis Crick, the Nobel-prize-winning molecular biologist who co-discovered the structure of DNA, was one of the leading promoters of this idea. As relayed in an issue of Scientific American, Dr. Crick suggested that life on earth may have been "designed by aliens".15
Even alien computer programmers have been proposed as the possible originators of life on earth. Richard Dawkins says, "I cannot think how to disprove ... that we live in a computer simulation, set up by some vastly superior civilization."16 Sam Harris likewise says, "If intelligently designed, our universe could be running as a simulation on an alien supercomputer."17
Indeed, the alien origin of life on earth has been a popular theme in many works of science fiction. In an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, they determine the reason why so many sentient races in the Star Trek universe are similar to humans. They discover that DNA fragments seeded into the priordial genetic material of 19 worlds could be rearranged to assemble a computer algorithm. The Enterprise crew eventually discovers that an alien progenitor race, 4 billion years prior, had seeded genetic material across many star systems, thus directing the evolution of many humanoid species.18
In the film Promethius, in multiple archaeological sites from ancient civilizations, scholars discover a particular pictogram that is common to all the sites. They decipher the pictogram, and find that it is an "invitation" from the "engineers" who designed the human race. The researchers go on a quest to find these engineers, hoping to discover more about the origins of mankind.19
A famous atheist who promoted this idea in the 1950s was Sir Fredrick Hoyle, who was well-known as an astronomer, mathematician, and sci-fi novelist. Hoyle wrote the novel "Black Cloud", in which humans discover a race of superintelligent beings who have existed for all eternity. (In the story, the alien "Cloud" itself is 500 million years old, but it claims to descend from a race of beings that had no beginning at all.) Humans initially believe that the Cloud is just a lifeless astronomical object, like an asteroid or nebula. They proceed to study various "natural phenomena" in the earth's upper atmosphere. But the scientists in the story find it impossible to explain these particular phenomena in naturalistic terms. The scientific data lead them to believe that there is evidence of Intelligent Design. The only reasonable conclusion is that an intelligent being is the origin of the phenomena they are investigating. They try to establish communication with the alien, and they ultimately succeed.20
This fictional story was highly influential in the psychological formation of a young man named Richard Dawkins, who would later become an evangelist for atheism. In a New York Times interview, they asked him,
"What book has had the greatest impact on you?"
Dawkins’ response was,
Fred Hoyle’s “Black Cloud.”... I ... learned more science from it,
at a formative age, than one ever expects from a work of fiction... above all, the novel bequeathed to me the haunting idea of “the Deep Problems” of existence and origins...21
So, of all the books that have ever been written, the one that most deeply influenced Richard Dawkins is a sci-fi novel, in which atheist scientists use a form of intelligent design theory to discover the existence of an ancient alien superintelligence. And over half a century later, Dawkins promotes the same idea as a viable option for scientific inquiry.
Indeed, he even indicates that aliens may have god-like powers. In his book, The God Delusion, he says,
there are very probably alien civilizations that are superhuman, to the point of being god-like in ways that exceed anything a theologian could possibly imagine. Their technical achievements would seem as supernatural to us as ours would seem to a Dark Age peasant transported to the twenty-first century.22
Rejecting Design by God
Yet when discussing Intelligent Design, if you turn the coversation away from space aliens, and towards the existence of God, atheists suddenly flip-flop, heaping scorn and ridicule on anyone who would be so crazy as to think that intelligence could be detected by scientific means. Consider the following comments from Dawkins, Harris, Dennett, and Hitchens:
"To suggest that the original prime mover was complicated enough to indulge in intelligent design... is tantamount to dealing yourself a perfect hand at bridge."23
- Richard Dawkins
"The research strategy of these so-called intelligent design people is lazy and defeatist and not part of the scientific method."24
- Richard Dawkins
The problem with intelligent design is that it is nothing more than a program of political and religious advocacy masquerading as science.25
- Sam Harris
Intelligent Design proponents... have all been carefully and patiently rebutted by conscientious scientists who have taken the trouble to penetrate their smoke screens of propaganda26
- Daniel Dennett
the stupid notion of “intelligent design”... is not even a theory. In all its well-financed propaganda, it has never even attempted to show how one single piece of the natural world is explained better by “design” than by evolutionary competition.
- Christiopher Hitchens
All the shelves of atheistic pontification on this subject can be boiled down to these two contradictory statements:
1. “You don’t believe that life arose on earth by chance? You think there is scientific evidence for intelligent design, and you believe this was all created by God? — Sounds crazy!”
2. “You don’t believe that life arose on earth by chance? You think there is scientific evidence for intelligent design, and you believe this was all put here by space aliens? — Sounds reasonable!”
Their bias is obvious.
Here are more of the atheist illusions we will be exploring in the next several chapters:
Intellectually Dishonest Atheists - Pascal’s Wager
Self Indulgent Atheists - The Problem of Suffering
Immoral Atheists Lecturing Christians on Morality
Atheists Promoting Pseudoscience
Atheists who are Bad at Math
Atheists Tripping on the Origin of Life
Atheists Swooning at Cosmic Fine Tuning
Atheists Ignoring History & Archaeology
And much more! . . .
I have made significant progress writing a new book, exposing the embarrassing errors and logical inconsistencies of the so-called “New Atheists”. The above chapter is a sample. The introduction, first chapter, and second chapter were also published recently. Very soon, we may be starting a crowdfunding project to bring this new book to publication. If you would be interested in bringing this new book to completion, please provide your input and encouragement in the comment section below…
1 Dr. Richard Dawkins on God & Intelligent Design. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pckg3Kud8_A, accessed June 28, 2023
2 Singer, Peter. Do Aliens Have Inalienable Rights? Nautilus.
https://nautil.us/do-aliens-have-inalienable-rights-236557/, accessed July 3, 2023.
3 Harris, Sam. Letter to a Christian Nation (p. 73). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
4 https://intelligentdesign.org/whatisid/, accessed July 3, 2023.
5 Dembski, William. Does a Good God Exist? Debate With Christopher Hitchens. https://billdembski.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Does-a-Good-God-Exist-debate-with-Christopher-Hitchens.pdf, accessed July 5, 2023.
6 Hitchens, Christopher. God Is Not Great (p. 144). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition.
7 Richard Dawkins on Intelligent Design Proponents (Compilation). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0OKgA3ZlUU [2:50], accessed July 3, 2023.
8 Harris, Sam. Letter to a Christian Nation (pp. 71-72). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
9 Dennett, Daniel C.. Breaking the Spell (p. 61). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
10 Hitchens, Christopher. God Is Not Great (pp. 146-147). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition.
11 Dr. Richard Dawkins on God & Intelligent Design. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pckg3Kud8_A, accessed June 28, 2023
12 ibid.
13 ibid.
14 Harris, Sam. 10 Myths and 10 Truths About Atheism. https://samharris.org/blog/10-myths-and-10-truths-about-atheism, accesssed July 30, 2023.
15 Orlic, Christian. The Origins of Directed Panspermia. Scientific American. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-origins-of-directed-panspermia/, accesssed July 4, 2023.
16 Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion. HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
17 Harris, Sam. Letter to a Christian Nation (p. 73). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
18 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_(2012_film)
20 Hoyle, Fred. The Black Cloud (Valancourt 20th Century Classics). Valancourt Books. Kindle Edition.
21 Richard Dawkins: By the Book. The New York Times. https://web.archive.org/web/20230623175616/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/books/review/richard-dawkins-by-the-book.html, accessed July 5, 2023.
22 Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion. HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
23 ibid.
24 Richard Dawkins on Intelligent Design Proponents (Compilation). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0OKgA3ZlUU [2:50], accessed July 3, 2023.
25 Harris, Sam. Letter to a Christian Nation (pp. 71-72). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
26 Dennett, Daniel. Breaking the Spell (p. 61). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
According to very well informed people, NASA has around twelve independent and completely separate sub-organizations that are tasked to discover extra terrestrial life. These agencies have unlimited budgets and access to unlimited technology. They have been looking for it since before the manned program. As of today they have scanned over one billion stars. And according to the latest news they have not even found an amoeba.
Now, it is not completely clear how they could detect an amoeba many millions of light years away, that technology is really classified, but the point is emphatically made by the authorities that know: there has been no intelligent structure observed in over a billion possibilities.
Furthermore: If life on Earth were a random accident then surely in a billion attempts at least an amoeba would have been found.
Going further: there is no other solar system even remotely similar to our own; that is: several planets with moons on the same plane in a more or less circular orbit around a star.
This is it. We are the only life in the observable galactic universe.
Now, if the above is true, then this simple fact appears to be proof that God created the universe and it exists just for us.
What a wonderment ! The entire Milky Way with all of its stars, asteroids and comets are necessary for life on earth.
We really are the Crown of creation and made in the image of God.
THE ENTIRE creation coul well be considered a supercomputer as created by God... call Him an alien as a way for atheists to feel more comfortable about things