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00:00 In life, science, and everything, there are the big questions, and then the really big
00:05 questions.
00:06 In that second group are things like, what's real?
00:09 What happens before you're born or after you die?
00:12 And is it possible to travel in time?
00:14 In today's video, though, we're pitching two of the greatest, most fundamental questions
00:19 against one another; do aliens exist, and does God exist?
00:24 This is Unveiled, and today we're taking a closer look at the ultimate head-to-head;
00:29 God vs. Aliens.
00:30 Which has more proof?
00:32 Do you need the big questions answered?
00:34 Are you constantly curious?
00:35 Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
00:38 And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
00:42 It might be argued that the human quest to truly understand the universe has led us down
00:46 two distinct paths; the spiritual journey in search of evidence for God, and the scientific
00:51 exploration of the potential for extraterrestrial life.
00:55 In both cases, what we're really doing is trying to find something more than just
00:59 life as we know it on planet Earth.
01:01 These parallel pursuits not only shape our understanding of physical existence, then,
01:06 but also of how we think about ourselves and our place in the world and reality.
01:11 Coming up, we'll delve into the historical perspectives on proof of God, the intricate
01:16 intersection between faith and science, and the compelling modern-day search for extraterrestrial
01:21 life, always aiming to answer the question; God vs. Aliens.
01:26 Which has more proof?
01:27 So, let's start with God.
01:30 And importantly, we're not imagining any one particular God.
01:33 Here, "God" is a catch-all term for any believed-to-be higher being that might be
01:39 watching, guiding, creating, or judging us.
01:42 The search for evidence of God has pretty much been a constant throughout most of human
01:46 history.
01:47 Although the beliefs themselves have differed, and the stories about God are often at odds
01:51 with each other, every major civilization we know of has at some point sought answers
01:56 - through scripture, philosophical debates, through prayer, worship, by focusing on certain
02:02 seemingly sacred locations, and via the celebration of any number of mystical experiences.
02:08 However, while religious belief or faith often transcends the need for empirical proof of
02:13 anything, there are some historical examples that provide glimpses into humanity's attempts
02:18 to definitely validate the existence of a higher power.
02:21 In medieval times, the teleological argument - often associated with St. Thomas Aquinas
02:26 - posited that the complexity and orderliness of the natural world were evidence enough
02:31 of a divine creator.
02:32 The rich mechanisms of life - from the varied beauty of biological organisms to the endless
02:37 precision of celestial movements - were seen as manifestations of God's design.
02:42 Although that explanation is still a little woolly to most modern minds, it did mark the
02:46 beginning of a move away from the even vaguer ideas on God being unknowable, or on God working
02:52 in mysterious ways.
02:54 It also bred the often-cited "watchmaker" analogy, first put forward by the British
02:58 clergyman William Paley in 1802, wherein God is pitched as the watchmaker of the universe.
03:04 Clearly, though, just calling something God's design, or just re-branding God as some kind
03:09 of master technician, does little to actually prove that God exists.
03:14 It was during the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution that things started to change,
03:18 particularly as many who were leading the scientific charge were also dedicated believers
03:23 in God.
03:25 Figures like Sir Isaac Newton, a devout Christian, famously made major contributions to physics.
03:31 Newton's laws of motion and universal gravitation - which essentially explained why and how
03:36 everything moves as it does - were seen by some as revealing the underlying order imposed
03:41 by a divine architect - i.e. by God.
03:45 On the other hand, however, and despite any religious views he may have had, Newton's
03:49 work was such a milestone because it encouraged others to probe deeper and deeper into the
03:54 universe around them… which in turn led many to doubt the religious systems that had,
03:59 until then, been unquestioned.
04:01 Arguably the most famous episode of apparent conflict between both modes of thought came
04:06 a couple of hundred years later with Charles Darwin, who's said to have struggled between
04:10 his religious beliefs and his realisation regarding the theory of evolution.
04:14 Meanwhile, in the contemporary era, we've seen prominent theistic evolutionists such
04:19 as Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health in the US,
04:24 and a leading geneticist.
04:26 During his career, he has consistently been seen as a high-ranking example of someone
04:30 who reconciles science with religion, once describing himself as a "serious Christian".
04:36 On the one hand, Collins is a key figure in the history of the Human Genome Project.
04:41 On the other, he founded the BioLogos Foundation, a group dedicated to the belief in evolutionary
04:47 creation - which, among other things, argues that God is directly involved with or responsible
04:52 for evolution.
04:54 Over the years, we've seen similar apparent crossovers across almost all fields of science.
04:59 The German astronomer Johannes Kepler believed that he was only ever contemplating the universe
05:04 after God had created it, as a way to "share in his thoughts".
05:09 The British mathematician and father of the computer, Charles Babbage, mentioned in his
05:13 writing a belief in "divine energy" as well as in "miracles", and in general,
05:18 the "Creator God".
05:20 The astrophysicist Carl Sagan famously discussed the cosmos from the perspective of Hinduism,
05:26 suggesting that perhaps it, above all other religions, got it most right, once describing
05:31 Hindu teachings as a "premonition of modern astronomical ideas".
05:36 But still, it remains that almost all of the above amounts to interpretations only.
05:41 Some viewpoints cater for God and science, others don't.
05:45 Many influential figures have either had religious beliefs or spoken about a religious view,
05:49 but no one has so far been able to offer up absolute proof that God is real.
05:54 Of course, faith is a deeply personal and subjective experience; it just doesn't adhere
05:58 to the rigour of the scientific method.
06:01 And perhaps, if a god were proved, then religions would fall because of it.
06:05 Or that God would no longer especially qualify as a god, more just another part of the physical
06:10 world.
06:11 So, let's now switch to aliens, and to some degree, the search for extraterrestrial life
06:16 might currently be pitched as "science's religion" to begin with.
06:21 Scientists are constantly looking for proof of something that they so far haven't found.
06:25 As the Fermi Paradox famously encapsulates, "there is an apparent contradiction between
06:30 the high probability of extraterrestrial civilizations existing and the lack of tangible evidence
06:35 for or contact with those civilizations".
06:39 Believers in God may well argue in a similar vein, although here, with the hunt for aliens,
06:44 we are wholly rooted in the principles of observation, data analysis, and the scientific
06:49 method.
06:50 The E.T. search involves a combination of disciplines, including astrobiology, astronomy,
06:55 and planetary science.
06:56 There's also the Drake Equation to measure by.
06:59 Formulated by astrophysicist Frank Drake, it attempts to estimate the number of advanced
07:04 civilizations in our galaxy by considering factors such as the rate of star formation,
07:10 the fraction of stars with planets, and the likelihood of life emerging on suitable planets.
07:14 The search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, then involves scanning the cosmos
07:19 for signals that may indicate the presence of intelligent beings.
07:23 The use of radio telescopes and other advanced technologies allows scientists to sift through
07:28 vast amounts of data in the hope of detecting artificial signals amid the cosmic background
07:34 noise.
07:35 Recent advancements in astrobiology provide additional food for thought.
07:39 The discovery of extremophiles on Earth, organisms that thrive in extreme environments, has expanded
07:45 our understanding of potential habitable zones beyond Earth.
07:49 The identification of exoplanets in the habitable zone around their star, where conditions might
07:54 allow for liquid water and potentially life, adds fuel to the belief that the universe
07:59 could be teeming with diverse life forms.
08:02 And of course, with alien life as opposed to God, we do at least have one seemingly
08:07 comparable example to go by… us.
08:10 While it's true that alien life, if and when we find it, may be nothing quite so humanoid
08:15 as ourselves, it's also true that we do at least know that things can be alive…
08:20 seeing as we have a whole planet, Earth, to demonstrate just that.
08:25 Nevertheless, and despite our best efforts, the so-called "Great Silence" persists.
08:30 Aliens, as with God, are yet to reveal themselves to us.
08:33 The discovery of potentially habitable exoplanets, like Kepler-452b, may have fuelled optimism
08:40 about the prevalence of life beyond our solar system… but the leap from "potential habitability"
08:45 to the actual presence of life is still huge.
08:49 Similarly, the detection in recent times of methane and organic salts on Mars certainly
08:54 has sparked excitement about the possibility of past or even current microbial life there.
08:59 The conformation of liquid water beneath the icy surface of moons like Europa and Enceladus
09:04 has had us further picturing new life comparatively close by.
09:08 But again, while it may feel as though we're forever on the brink of a major discovery,
09:13 we still have to actually make that discovery before it can be said that we have proof.
09:17 So, what's your verdict?
09:19 In comparing the proof of God and aliens, one thing that is clear is that these goals
09:24 are found on different planes.
09:26 Religious belief relies on faith, as well as personal experience, scripture and philosophical
09:32 reasoning.
09:33 In contrast, the search for extraterrestrial life is outwardly scientific from the start,
09:38 always demanding proof as standard.
09:41 It may be common to ask "do you believe in aliens?" but for the scientists who are
09:45 fronting the search, belief actually has nothing to do with it.
09:49 They're simply testing hypotheses to deliver results.
09:52 Science doesn't have faith that aliens are out there, it just increasingly, strongly
09:57 suspects that they are.
09:58 So, on the face of it, it might be said that aliens have more proof… because we now have
10:03 plenty in terms of potential planets they could live on, potential vehicles they could
10:07 pilot, and potential means by which they might survive.
10:10 But still, in terms of undeniable evidence, we're ultimately at the same stage with
10:15 aliens as we are with God.
10:17 There's nothing.
10:18 Perhaps what the debate serves to highlight most of all is the multifaceted nature of
10:23 the human quest for meaning.
10:25 Whether that's within the depths of our souls, or far out among the stars.
10:30 What do you think?
10:31 Is there anything we missed?
10:32 Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you
10:36 subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.