We’re part way through the twenty-first century,
and it’s still not clear what alien life (if we find it) will actually look like.
ETs could be “the greys” with big black eyes, as per science fiction… scaly and reptilian,
in line with conspiracy theory… or else like nothing we can even imagine. But when humanity
does finally make contact with alien life, how surprised would we be to find out that
they look exactly like us? The chances that another life form would evolve similarly to
us seem miniscule. But that is, unless it was they who created us in their own image.
This is Unveiled and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; Was God an alien?
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UFOs, or UAP, are fast becoming standard news in the modern world. With so many sightings and
video evidence of strange crafts performing seemingly impossible maneuvers and reaching
incredible speeds, more people than ever before are today aware that there are legitimate UFOs
out there. What some might not know, however, is that certain groups worship these mysterious
objects. Whole religions have formed behind the general idea of aliens coming to save us,
destroy us, teach us, or to do any number of other things to (or with) us. Scientology
is perhaps the most famous example of a religion that focuses on extraterrestrials,
as at it’s heart there’s an entire story about an intergalactic being called Xenu… coming to Earth
to detonate hydrogen bombs around volcanoes in order to destroy his people. UFO religions defend
their alien beliefs by arguing that the more traditional religions aren’t really all that
different; they too believe in an all powerful supernatural being, usually in the sky. So,
could that wider, more universal idea of god actually be super-advanced alien life?
When we use the word god, it can mean various things. Some religions are polytheistic and
have multiple gods, while others are monotheistic and only have one all-powerful being. The actual
definition of a god can range, then, from the creator of the universe… to a being who’s
worshiped for having supernatural powers… to a vaguer but still extremely powerful ruler. Across
all definitions, it’s easy to imagine (with our limited, human understanding) an alien creature
that’s capable of god-like feats. As the author Arthur C. Clarke famously said, “Any sufficiently
advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. While magic powers and god-like powers
might well be considered one and the same thing. And so, imagine for a moment that an ancient human
were to somehow cross paths with a modern day human. We, of course, know that we’re not gods…
but an ancient human might well view us as gods, anyway. We can create fire, communicate instantly
across the world, and kill from a distance with the twitch of a finger. Incomprehensible
technology to humans of the past, that could then appear to be magical or even divine.
The idea of a (or the) god being nothing more than an alien, then, may sound far-fetched,
but advocates say that there is reason to believe. Even if we take an extremely high
definition of god - as a supreme omnipotent being who created the laws of nature, life,
and the universe as we know it - there are models to suggest that all of that might one
day be possible just for our own species. The Kardashev scale most famously ranks
the theoretical levels of advancement that a civilization might achieve, based on how much
energy they could harness. And a type five on the Kardashev Scale has discovered almost everything
there is to know. Type five beings can harness all the energy in their universe and beyond,
to the multiverse. They’re so advanced that they can travel to other dimensions,
create an afterlife, and birth totally new universes by themselves. With this in mind,
if there are alien beings in existence, if type five is possible, and if there are any aliens that
are that advanced (or close to that advanced), then there’s a good chance that we were created by
them. That they created us. All it would take to rethink reality like this is 1) to accept that the
higher levels of the Kardashev Scale are possible, and 2) to accept that humans likely aren’t the
most powerful civilization ever seen; that we would pale into insignificance alongside another.
Most everything that we attribute to the concept of “god” - the performing of miracles, the having
of absolute knowledge, and the manipulating of the universe - is theoretically possible with
highly advanced technology. Take the Greek god Zeus or the Norse god Thor. They were worshiped
by ancient people for (amongst other things) their abilities to harness thunder and lightning,
which were at the time terrifyingly powerful and unpredictable forces. But fast forward to today,
and we’ve now mastered this element of Earthly life. Lightning is a form of electricity, which
we’ve tamed to the point where we can carry it in our pockets. To the ancient Greeks or the Norse,
then, we have the power of gods. But, were a hypothetical alien to have learnt how to
move planets around, for example, as per the Kardashev Scale… then we are suddenly the ancient,
less advanced group, watching on in wonder at what another technologically supreme being can do.
For some, there’s physical evidence of something like this already on Earth. Although the “ancient
aliens” belief that ETs in the distant past may have helped to build some of our most impressive
landmarks is contentious and problematic. The Egyptian pyramids are a popular target,
as they stand as such monumental feats of engineering that it’s hard (for some) to
believe a civilization thousands of years less advanced than our own would have been
able to build them. The answer, they say, is that aliens were somehow involved. Critics highlight,
however, that such beliefs are often thinly hiding prejudice, with it usually the case that western
theorists jump to “aliens” particularly to explain non-western structures and achievements. But,
if we take a step even further back, to beyond (and before) the records of human history,
then might the same kind of approach be used to question the most very fundamental aspects of our
existence? Rather than debating the presence of buildings, or inventions, or human impact,
what happens if we debate the abiogenesis of life; the emergence of something from nothing;
and the seeming unchangeables of our universe, like gravity, time, and thermodynamics? As to
the creation of all of that… we don’t know for sure how any of it happened,
and so the idea of “god” fills that void. But, really, might a type five alien fit just as well?
Today, we have mounting video evidence of strange flying objects with impossible capabilities.
There’s currently no evidence that UFOs definitely are associated with aliens,
of course. They could also be secret technology from different countries or
states with still-human populations. But there remains some argument that UFOs could simply be
the simplest example of technology, knowledge and power that’s beyond us. Brought to us by
proposed god-like groups of extraterrestrial beings who operate on a higher level than us,
as if by nature. Indeed, they could be so high that they don’t even realize that we’re here,
trying to contemplate them. Building a planet, in a star system, in a universe, and forming
life there, are clearly much more substantial engineering feats compared to a small UFO
caught zooming over the Pacific… but such is the Kardashev Scale (and other scales like it) that
there’s no real reason to think those feats are impossible, if there’s enough energy available.
Finally, many religions do face a difficult problem when it comes to the potential proof that
alien life exists. The field of exotheology, popularized by the theologian Ted Peters,
refers to the significance that the discovery of extraterrestrial life will have on various belief
systems. The implications of some religions are that humanity is uniquely special to god, created
in his or her image and endowed with his or her traits - leading many to understand, then, that
aliens don’t (or can’t) exist. But now science argues that that is very likely untrue; that
aliens do exist, and we just need to find them. If, then, what we think of as god actually were an
alien (or a civilization of aliens) then we’re not uniquely special, and probably not even uniquely
special to them. But, also, we still might not ever see them. Carl Sagan provided an illustration
of this on his 1980s show “Cosmos”, where he imagined a world of two dimensional shapes
called Flatland. If a three dimensional cube were to enter that realm, it would only appear as a 2D
square to those within it… and if it were to talk, its voice would reverberate through the heavens as
if the Flatlanders were hearing the voice of god. And, essentially, that’s what humans could face,
were any indication of a higher, alien power to leak through to our own level and dimension.
For all we know, and to turn Clarke’s law around, anything in the world is possible
with sufficiently advanced technology. And if ETs were to have enough technology, and knowledge,
then all of this may well have been their doing. And that’s why god could be an alien.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
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