Is There Proof of God by Science? | Unveiled XL Documentary
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00:00 If you were a scientist working at the very cutting edge of human innovation, what breakthrough
00:06 would you be most determined to make?
00:08 There are a number of big hitters you might choose.
00:11 Perhaps you'd want to develop a theory of everything.
00:14 Maybe you'd like to invent genuine time travel.
00:17 Or you'd ardently desire to be the first person ever to enter into a black hole.
00:22 But then again, and arguably beyond all of those ambitions, what you might want most
00:27 of all is to solve the question that has bugged humanity since time immemorial.
00:33 Does God exist?
00:35 In this video, we'll first take a closer look at a hypothetical situation in which
00:39 God is proven.
00:41 Then we'll delve deeper into the real world paradox known as "the problem of the creator
00:47 God."
00:48 And finally, we'll take a closer look at the bizarre and potential relationship between
00:52 our ideas on God and on alien life.
00:55 As always, while watching, be sure to air your views in the comments.
01:00 This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question; could we prove
01:05 God?
01:06 Do you need the big questions answered?
01:09 Are you constantly curious?
01:11 Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
01:14 And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
01:21 Depending on the culture or country, God assumes many shapes and embodies various ideologies.
01:27 For centuries, humans have worshipped, researchers have studied, and atheists have dismissed
01:32 the opinion of God.
01:34 But what if faith had nothing to do with it?
01:37 Hmm.
01:38 You've got a point there.
01:40 You know, sometimes even I'd rather be watching football.
01:45 Does St. Louis still have a team?
01:46 Science and religion might initially seem incompatible, but both fields are founded
02:00 on finding apparent truths concerning reality.
02:03 The main difference between them is the methodology employed to determine fundamental statements.
02:09 Science demands objectivity and verifiable facts, while religion places its emphasis
02:13 on faith arising from scripture or dogma.
02:16 Historically, there have been arguments for and against both.
02:26 Science deals with hypotheses and theories, which makes it an ever-changing field.
02:31 In a matter of years, a school textbook can become dramatically out of date simply due
02:35 to modern discoveries invalidating once-popular ideas.
02:38 So, if science is constantly evolving, what constitutes a scientific fact?
02:43 Well, it is a contestable term, but some principles are backed by such an overwhelming
02:47 amount of empirical evidence that they're generally seen as beyond reproach.
03:02 The theories aim to explain an unexplained element of the world; the facts are objective
03:07 observations.
03:08 While the sciences have steadily developed throughout history, people have always asked
03:12 the ultimate question; but why?
03:14 It's led philosophers to debate the existence of deities for thousands of years, to the
03:19 point where classical theism argues that we, as humans, simply don't have the required
03:24 knowledge to define a transcendent god.
03:36 If the two paths did converge, and we did have empirical proof of an omniscient being,
03:41 then the world would be a very different place.
03:43 Okay, God is real, and arguing against that is to consciously ignore observable facts.
03:49 The first concern would still centre on defining what exactly the now-confirmed God is.
03:55 Countless religions exist with their own belief systems, though Hinduism, Islam and Christianity
04:00 are arguably amongst the most pervasive current institutions with a deity.
04:04 Many Hindus consider Brahman to be the supreme being who assumes many forms.
04:08 Muslims believe in Allah, a transcendent entity responsible for creating the universe, and
04:13 Christians see God as a being who sent Jesus to save humans from their sins.
04:18 Significant variations exist between all three, but there are certain shared characteristics.
04:23 For the sake of today's question, God is supreme, monotheistic, omnipotent and omnipresent.
04:29 But as centuries-old ideas are flung into disarray, people's primary, perhaps natural
04:33 concern would still be to determine whether the certified deity is in fact their God.
04:39 The global confusion would be unlike anything else ever experienced, with two main, feasible
04:44 consequences.
04:45 The first, all current religions would dissolve, to birth a new belief system idolizing the
04:50 scientifically proven God.
04:52 Theoretically uniting cultures, such an outcome could usher in a new era of peace - though
04:56 such an idealistic resolution would be a best-case scenario.
05:08 The second, and perhaps more plausible outcome, involves religions weaving science's God
05:13 into their pre-existing belief systems.
05:15 The God becomes everyone's God, but disagreements between interpretations would still happen.
05:21 Here, religions without a singular deity are likely to suffer worst.
05:25 The meditative teachings of something like Buddhism could survive the change, but even
05:29 they don't leave much room for a factual God.
05:32 In such a universe, denying God means rejecting science, which puts atheism in quite a pickle,
05:37 too.
05:38 Would non-believers disappear overnight?
05:41 Probably not, but they might now take the form of non-conformists rather than atheists.
05:45 For a real-world comparison, despite the mountains of evidence showing the Earth to be round,
05:50 not everyone accepts this as an undeniable truth.
05:53 Beliefs aren't always enough, and even a proven God wouldn't be accepted by everyone
05:57 - especially if its existence isn't regularly reaffirmed by science, as a reminder.
06:03 Researchers would also be far from done.
06:06 Scientific facts are commonly used as bedrocks to form additional theories and laws.
06:11 In the real world, again, it's a fact that letting go of your phone prompts it to plummet
06:15 to the ground, but Newton's law of universal gravitation enables the speed and force of
06:19 impact to be calculated.
06:21 Then there's Einstein's theory of general relativity, which tries to explain why the
06:26 phone falls downwards rather than floating upwards or remaining suspended in mid-air.
06:31 And so, proving God proposes a whole new range of mysteries.
06:34 Why does God exist?
06:36 How does God impact other fundamental theories?
06:39 Even if nothing appears to actually change, our entire understanding of the natural world
06:43 would be challenged.
06:45 As would our thoughts on the birth of the universe and life itself.
06:48 "Written with the finger of God."
06:54 Scientists wouldn't be satisfied with only confirming God's existence, and would next
06:58 seek to understand God's will.
07:00 Meanwhile, those who had previously had faith in God would see that taken away from them,
07:04 too.
07:05 There'd be no need to "believe" in something we know to be true.
07:08 Both shifts could have a major impact.
07:11 For example, the afterlife.
07:13 While exceptions do exist, most religions assume admission into "the good place"
07:17 is in some way determined by a person's lifelong efforts.
07:23 If this became scientific fact, it should create worldwide peace of mind.
07:27 If the conditions to avoid the "bad place" were known, criminal behaviour should theoretically
07:32 decline since there's no escaping judgement.
07:34 However, accountability isn't always a credible deterrent for crime, so a completely safe
07:39 utopia is still dubious.
07:42 Unaccountability is one thing, but the reverse also holds true - godly responsibility.
07:48 Things like earthquakes and tsunamis suddenly seem a lot more purposeful.
07:52 Like the Old Testament's Great Flood, any catastrophic disasters would be seen as a
07:56 clear message from God, rather than an act controlled by nature.
08:00 By extension, areas subjected to fewer disasters could suddenly - and dangerously - claim a
08:05 divine superiority over less fortunate places.
08:08 Natural events have often been attributed by some to some sort of divine plan in the
08:12 past.
08:13 But there'd now be a switch between believing everything happens for a reason and knowing
08:17 that it does.
08:18 And that reason would be God.
08:20 But, more than that, we'd need to determine if - and where - free will and God's will
08:25 differ.
08:26 If a flood happens, would it 100% be God's fault?
08:30 Or does part of the blame still lay with whoever was in charge of maintaining flood defences?
08:37 God's presence would place every incident under a microscope, possibly undermining humanity's
08:41 basic ideas of justice and fairness.
08:44 Karl Marx famously described religion as "the opium of the people", a quote often presented
08:49 as a criticism of theology.
08:51 And while religion's place in society would clearly change, its hold on the people probably
08:56 wouldn't.
08:57 In fact, a confirmed god could have an even greater sway over its followers, discouraging
09:02 the masses from revolting via a belief that the Kingdom of God rewards suffering.
09:07 Our mortal lives could be more widely seen as only stepping stones, because in this alternate
09:11 reality where God and the afterlife are a given, who'd be willing to risk eternal
09:15 damnation for a non-conformist 60 or 70 years on Earth?
09:20 Inevitably, though, feelings of fear, paranoia and contempt would brew.
09:24 This would perhaps lead to the formation of a new form of atheism, populated by those
09:29 who, for various reasons, would refuse to bow to any god, regardless of whether it had
09:33 been proven.
09:35 Over the course of history, various societies have worshipped physical beings as living
09:39 deities, from the Egyptian pharaohs to pre-1945 Japanese emperors.
09:44 But even then, not everyone fell in line.
09:47 If God was fact, there'd still be those who defied it.
09:50 Nevertheless, the removal of God's transcendence would still constitute massive change.
09:55 The having of faith is a vital part of most belief systems, but it has little place in
09:59 science.
10:00 By actualizing God, science would elevate humans to a similar level, potentially even
10:05 superseding the Supreme Being before long.
10:09 Knowledge is power, and there'd be no greater knowledge or power than this.
10:13 Finally, would people readily accept science's God as the endpoint of everything?
10:17 The question of who created God, or who created "the Creator", has existed since the days
10:23 of Aristotle.
10:24 The argument says that a cause and effect chain can't be infinite.
10:27 So, something must exist that causes but was not affected.
10:31 If you accept the idea, then that something is God.
10:35 Modern science kicks against this train of thought as there's nothing to suggest a
10:38 chain can't be unlimited.
10:40 But if science suddenly found in favour of God, then the endpoint theory might also be
10:44 confirmed.
10:45 Whether or not it'd afford our lives with any more or less meaning is another question
10:50 entirely.
10:55 Statistics show that around 80% of the global population follow or at least associate with
11:00 some form of religion.
11:02 In many of those, there's either a pantheon of gods and deities to worship, or there's
11:07 one Supreme Being above all, the God, who's usually responsible for creating everything
11:13 in the universe.
11:14 But then, and especially if that last part is true, then isn't there a pretty big problem
11:19 to work out?
11:30 How many people believe in God?
11:31 It's a simple question but with a complex answer.
11:35 Because God means different things depending on who you ask and how you ask it, as well.
11:40 According to a 2022 poll by the US analytics company Gallup, 81% of Americans answer yes
11:47 when asked directly "do you believe in God?".
11:50 However, past polls have shown that whenever there are more options available, that seemingly
11:55 steadfast belief drops.
11:57 For example, a 2017 poll gave five options, enabling takers to choose whether they were
12:03 convinced that God exists, whether they thought God probably exists but with a little doubt,
12:08 God probably exists but with a lot of doubt, God probably doesn't exist but they're
12:13 not sure, or whether they were convinced that God does not exist.
12:18 Under those conditions, the percentage choosing the first option, convinced that God exists,
12:23 came in lower, at 64%.
12:26 And again, that was in 2017.
12:28 Almost all studies show that belief in God in general has continuously fallen in recent
12:33 years, so those numbers would likely drop further today.
12:37 And of course, if the same questions were asked in different countries, or on a global
12:41 scale, then the results would almost certainly be significantly different again.
12:45 In America, the majority religion is Christianity, a monotheistic system with the one God at
12:51 the top of it.
12:52 But in China, the most populous nation in the world, the majority of people subscribe
12:56 to traditional Chinese folk religion, or are atheists.
13:00 In India, the second most populous nation on Earth, the majority religion is Hinduism,
13:05 a polytheistic system with multiple gods to follow.
13:09 Clearly, the question "do you believe in God?" doesn't mean the same thing to everyone.
13:13 However, and with a monotheistic figure especially, there are some seemingly fundamental debates
13:19 as to whether or not God exists.
13:21 For one, is God really good?
13:23 The other big sticking point is, who created God?
13:27 In most monotheistic traditions, God created the universe.
13:31 At first, there was nothing and then there was something, all thanks to God.
13:35 But if God was around to make all of this possible, then who or what made God possible?
13:41 This seeming paradox is known as the "problem of the creator God".
13:45 And for those who use it to question or deny God, it then ultimately leads us into another
13:50 problem known as an "infinite regress".
13:53 This is a situation in which a series of circumstances are directly linked and governed by whatever
13:58 comes before and after, continuing on and on forever.
14:02 So, if God created the universe, then what created God?
14:06 If X created God, then what created X?
14:09 If Y created X, then what created Y?
14:12 There are other examples of infinite regress in practice, such as Aristotle's "paradox
14:16 of place", which says that if everything has a place, then all of those places have
14:21 a place, too… which then also have a place, and so on, and so on.
14:26 It's how you may have imagined your address as a child.
14:29 You might have said that you lived in "the universe", then "the galaxy", then "the
14:34 solar system", then "Earth", then "your country, your city, neighbourhood, road,
14:40 your bedroom, etc."
14:41 It's also something like seeing yourself reflected in two mirrors positioned opposite
14:45 one another.
14:46 The image of your face goes on and on and on.
14:49 But taking it back to the problem of God, and while many atheists and philosophers don't
14:54 buy it, those who believe in God also say that the counter-argument is quite simple.
15:00 God is what's known as "the first cause".
15:02 This again links back to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who mused that eventually
15:07 there must be what he termed an "unmoved mover".
15:10 This is something that affects something else, but is not affected by anything itself.
15:15 For believers, with regard to the universe and everything that's in it, this is God.
15:19 God is the unmoved mover, the first or primary cause, responsible for everything but the
15:25 result of nothing.
15:26 For those arguing against the existence of God, this is often received as something of
15:31 a cop-out.
15:32 God as the first cause doubles up as saying God just is.
15:36 But why and how could that be, they ask?
15:39 Aristotle seemingly delivered an answer, to some degree, further suggesting that an unmoved
15:43 mover - in this case, God - would have to exist in some kind of void, outside of time,
15:49 space and place.
15:50 From there, it's a relatively easy jump to the ethereal, all-permeating presence that
15:55 many view God to be.
15:57 In general, many theists argue that to try to impose universal laws onto God - i.e. to
16:02 suggest that God must be created because everything else is - is redundant from the outset.
16:08 God made the laws of the universe, but is not and never has been limited by those laws.
16:13 Perhaps this can be viewed in the same way as a video game developer is never held to
16:16 the rules that they create inside the game.
16:19 They exist on a higher plane, as does God in relation to the universe.
16:23 And on that higher plane, even the concept of creation perhaps just isn't needed.
16:28 Then again, some religions just sidestep the problem entirely.
16:32 In Buddhism, for example, there is no creator God.
16:35 Most Buddhist figures are not quite so far removed from humankind.
16:39 They're more like higher, exalted versions of us.
16:43 Examples to follow, but examples that are still guided by the same or similar physical
16:47 realities.
16:49 That said, there are aspects of and versions of Buddhism that do rely heavily on their
16:53 being transcendence to higher planes.
16:56 But, for those who break out of the circle of life and death to reach nirvana, it's
17:01 something that should come to be known.
17:03 This is never really the case in most monotheistic religions.
17:07 While some believe that you might enter heaven in the afterlife, and perhaps even exist alongside
17:12 God, there is always an unshakable hierarchy that God is at the top of.
17:17 The concept of faith is accepting that.
17:19 But what's your verdict?
17:20 Clearly, this is a question that could be answered in a number of ways.
17:24 At its core is the belief, or doubt, that if God created everything, then doesn't
17:28 something need to have existed beforehand to create the creator?
17:32 And then something before that to create the creator-creator?
17:35 The resulting infinite regress is the ultimate cosmic rabbit hole, and it's easy to get
17:39 lost in.
17:40 However, the counter-argument says that, actually, trying to imagine God in this way is pointless.
17:46 That God made the rules that we're trying to get them to fit in with.
17:50 But God really exists beyond those rules.
17:53 If the universe is a melting pot, then God is simply the one that's stirring it.
18:12 Only in just these opening discussions, we can see that the issue of God is far from
18:17 straightforward.
18:19 Science says one thing, religion says another.
18:22 The global population increasingly turns to science, but billions of people still associate
18:26 with faith as well.
18:28 Next then, we'll consider God against another as yet unknown entity in the modern world.
18:34 Alien life.
18:35 Because, actually, are the two much more closely related than they may at first appear?
18:42 We're partway through the 21st century, and it's still not clear what alien life
18:49 - if we find it - will actually look like.
18:52 ETs could be the greys with big black eyes, as per science fiction; scaly and reptilian
18:58 in line with conspiracy theory; or else, like nothing we can even imagine.
19:03 But when humanity does finally make contact with alien life, how surprised would we be
19:08 to find out that they look exactly like us?
19:12 The chances that another lifeform would evolve similarly to us seem miniscule.
19:17 But that is, unless it was they who created us in their own image.
19:26 UFOs, or UAP, are fast becoming standard news in the modern world, with so many sightings
19:37 and video evidence of strange crafts performing seemingly impossible manoeuvres and reaching
19:42 incredible speeds.
19:44 More people than ever before are today aware that there are legitimate UFOs out there.
19:49 What some might not know, however, is that certain groups worship these mysterious objects.
19:55 Whole religions have formed behind the general idea of aliens coming to save us, destroy
20:01 us, teach us, or - to do any number of other things - to or with us.
20:06 Scientology is perhaps the most famous example of a religion that focuses on extraterrestrials,
20:12 as at its heart there's an entire story about an intergalactic being called Xenu coming
20:17 to Earth to detonate hydrogen bombs around volcanoes in order to destroy his people.
20:23 UFO religions defend their alien beliefs by arguing that the more traditional religions
20:27 aren't really all that different.
20:29 They, too, believe in an all-powerful, supernatural being, usually in the sky.
20:34 So, could that wider, more universal idea of God actually be super-advanced alien life?
20:40 When we use the word "god", it can mean various things.
20:44 Some religions are polytheistic and have multiple gods, while others are monotheistic and only
20:49 have one all-powerful being.
20:51 The actual definition of a god can range, then, from the creator of the universe…
20:56 to a being who's worshipped for having supernatural powers… to a vague but still extremely
21:00 powerful ruler.
21:02 Across all definitions, it's easy to imagine - with our limited human understanding - an
21:07 alien creature that's capable of god-like feats.
21:10 As the author Arthur C. Clarke famously said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is
21:15 indistinguishable from magic."
21:17 While magic powers and god-like powers might well be considered one and the same thing…
21:22 and so imagine for a moment that an ancient human were to somehow cross paths with a modern-day
21:27 human.
21:28 We, of course, know that we're not gods, but an ancient human might well view us as
21:33 gods anyway.
21:34 We can create fire, communicate instantly across the world, and kill from a distance
21:40 with the twitch of a finger.
21:41 Incomprehensible technology to humans of the past that could then appear to be magical
21:46 or even divine.
21:48 The idea of a or the god being nothing more than an alien, then, may sound far-fetched…
21:54 but advocates say there is reason to believe.
21:56 Even if we take an extremely high definition of god… as a supreme, omnipotent being who
22:02 created the laws of nature, life, and the universe as we know it… there are models
22:07 to suggest that all of that might one day be possible just for our own species.
22:12 The Kardashev Scale most famously ranks the theoretical levels of advancement that a civilization
22:17 might achieve, based on how much energy they could harness.
22:21 And a Type Five on the Kardashev Scale has discovered almost everything there is to know.
22:26 Type Five beings can harness all the energy in their universe and beyond to the multiverse.
22:31 They're so advanced that they can travel to other dimensions, create an afterlife,
22:36 and birth totally new universes by themselves.
22:40 With this in mind, if there are alien beings in existence, if Type Five is possible, and
22:45 if there are any aliens that are that advanced or close to that advanced… then there's
22:50 a good chance that we were created by them.
22:53 That they created us.
22:55 All it would take to rethink reality like this is one, to accept that the higher levels
23:00 of the Kardashev Scale are possible, and two, to accept that humans likely aren't the
23:05 most powerful civilization ever seen; that we would pale into insignificance alongside
23:11 another.
23:12 Most everything we attribute to the concept of a god - the performing of miracles, the
23:16 having of absolute knowledge, and the manipulating of the universe - is theoretically possible
23:22 with highly advanced technology.
23:24 Take the Greek god Zeus or the Norse god Thor.
23:27 They were worshipped by ancient people for, among other things, their ability to harness
23:32 thunder and lightning, which were at the time terrifyingly powerful and unpredictable forces.
23:37 But fast forward to today, and we've now mastered this element of earthly life.
23:42 Lightning is a form of electricity, which we've tamed to the point where we can carry
23:47 it around in our pockets.
23:48 To the ancient Greeks or Norse, then, we have the power of gods… but, were a hypothetical
23:53 alien to have learned how to move planets around, for example, as per the Kardashev
23:58 Scale, then we are suddenly the ancient, less advanced group, watching on in wonder at what
24:03 another technologically supreme being can do.
24:06 For some, there's physical evidence of something like that already on Earth… although the
24:11 ancient aliens' belief that ETs in the distant past may have helped to build some of our
24:16 most impressive landmarks is contentious and problematic.
24:19 The Egyptian pyramids are a particular target, as they stand as such monumental feats of
24:25 engineering that it's hard for some to believe a civilization thousands of years less advanced
24:30 than our own would have been able to build them.
24:32 The answer, they say, is that aliens were somehow involved.
24:36 Critics highlight, however, that such beliefs are often thinly hiding prejudice… with
24:40 it usually the case that Western theorists jump to aliens, particularly, to explain non-Western
24:47 structures and achievements.
24:48 But, if we take a step even further back, to beyond and before the records of human
24:53 history… then might the same kind of approach be used to question the most very fundamental
24:59 aspects of our existence?
25:01 Rather than debating the presence of buildings, or inventions, or human impact… what happens
25:06 if we debate the abiogenesis of life?
25:09 The emergence of something from nothing?
25:11 And the seeming unchangeables of our universe, like gravity, time, and thermodynamics?
25:17 As to the creation of all that, we don't know for sure how any of it happened… and
25:21 so the idea of God fills that void.
25:24 But really, might a Type Five alien fit just as well?
25:28 Today we have mounting video evidence of strange flying objects with impossible capabilities.
25:33 There's currently no evidence that UFOs definitely are associated with aliens, of
25:38 course.
25:39 They could also be top-secret technology from different countries or states with still-human
25:43 populations.
25:44 But, there remains some argument that UFOs could simply be the simplest example of technology,
25:50 knowledge and power that's beyond us.
25:53 Brought to us by proposed God-like groups of extraterrestrial beings who operate on
25:58 a higher level than us, as if by nature.
26:01 Indeed, they could be so high that they don't even realise that we're here, trying to
26:06 contemplate them.
26:07 Building a planet in a star system, in a universe, and forming life there, are clearly much more
26:13 substantial engineering feats compared to "a small UFO caught zooming over the Pacific".
26:19 But such is the Kardashev Scale and other scales like it, that there's no real reason
26:23 to think that those feats are impossible, if there's enough energy available.
26:28 Finally, many religions do face a difficult problem when it comes to the potential proof
26:32 that alien life exists.
26:34 The field of exotheology, popularised by the theologian Ted Peters, refers to the significance
26:40 that the discovery of extraterrestrial life will have on various belief systems.
26:44 The implications of some religions are that humanity is uniquely special to God, created
26:50 in his or her image and endowed with his or her traits… leading many to understand,
26:55 then, that aliens don't or can't exist.
26:58 But now science argues that that is very likely untrue.
27:02 That aliens do exist, and we just need to find them.
27:06 If then what we think of as God actually were an alien or a civilisation of aliens, then
27:11 we're not uniquely special, and probably not even uniquely special to them.
27:16 But also, we still might not ever see them.
27:19 Carl Sagan provided an illustration of this on his 1980s show, Cosmos, where he imagined
27:24 a world of two-dimensional shapes called Flatland.
27:28 If a three-dimensional cube were to enter that realm, it would only appear as a 2D square
27:33 to those within it.
27:35 And if it were to talk, its voice would reverberate through the heavens, as if the Flatlanders
27:39 were hearing the voice of a god.
27:41 And essentially, that's what humans could face were any indication of a higher alien
27:46 power to leak through to our own level and dimension.
27:49 For all we know, and to turn Clark's Law around, anything in the world is possible
27:54 with sufficiently advanced technology.
27:56 And if ETs were to have enough technology, and knowledge, then all of this may well have
28:01 been their doing.
28:07 In life, science, and everything, there are the big questions, and then the really big
28:12 questions.
28:13 In that second group are things like, what's real?
28:16 What happens before you're born, or after you die?
28:19 And is it possible to travel in time?
28:21 In today's video, though, we're pitching two of the greatest, most fundamental questions
28:26 against one another; do aliens exist, and does God exist?
28:30 It might be argued that the human quest to truly understand the universe has led us down
28:42 two distinct paths; the spiritual journey in search of evidence for God, and the scientific
28:47 exploration of the potential for extraterrestrial life.
28:51 In both cases, what we're really doing is trying to find something more than just life
28:55 as we know it on planet Earth.
28:57 These parallel pursuits not only shape our understanding of physical existence, then,
29:02 but also of how we think about ourselves and our place in the world and reality.
29:07 Coming up, we'll delve into the historical perspectives on proof of God, the intricate
29:12 intersection between faith and science, and the compelling modern-day search for extraterrestrial
29:17 life, always aiming to answer the question, "God vs. Aliens - which has more proof?"
29:24 So, let's start with God.
29:26 And importantly, we're not imagining any one particular God.
29:29 Here, "God" is a catch-all term for any believed-to-be higher being that might be
29:35 watching, guiding, creating, or judging us.
29:38 The search for evidence of God has pretty much been a constant throughout most of human
29:42 history.
29:43 Although the beliefs themselves have differed, and the stories about God are often at odds
29:47 with each other, every major civilization we know of has at some point sought answers.
29:53 Through scripture, philosophical debates, through prayer, worship, by focusing on certain
29:58 seemingly sacred locations, and via the celebration of any number of mystical experiences.
30:04 However, while religious belief, or faith, often transcends the need for empirical proof
30:08 of anything, there are some historical examples that provide glimpses into humanity's attempts
30:14 to definitely validate the existence of a higher power.
30:17 In medieval times, the teleological argument, often associated with St. Thomas Aquinas,
30:22 posited that the complexity and orderliness of the natural world were evidence enough
30:27 of a divine creator.
30:28 The rich mechanisms of life, from the varied beauty of biological organisms to the endless
30:33 precision of celestial movements, were seen as manifestations of God's design.
30:38 Although that explanation is still a little wooly to most modern minds, it did mark the
30:42 beginning of a move away from the even vaguer ideas on God being unknowable, or on God working
30:48 in mysterious ways.
30:50 It also bred the often-cited "watchmaker" analogy, first put forward by the British
30:54 clergyman William Paley in 1802, wherein God is pitched as the "watchmaker" of the
30:59 universe.
31:00 Clearly, though, just calling something God's design, or just re-branding God as some kind
31:05 of master technician, does little to actually prove that God exists.
31:10 It was during the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution that things started to change,
31:14 particularly as many who were leading the scientific charge were also dedicated believers
31:19 in God.
31:21 Figures like Sir Isaac Newton, a devout Christian, famously made major contributions to physics.
31:26 Newton's laws of motion and universal gravitation, which essentially explained why and how everything
31:32 moves as it does, were seen by some as revealing the underlying order imposed by a divine architect,
31:39 i.e. by God.
31:41 On the other hand, however, and despite any religious views he may have had, Newton's
31:45 work was such a milestone because it encouraged others to probe deeper and deeper into the
31:50 universe around them, which in turn led many to doubt the religious systems that had, until
31:55 then, been unquestioned.
31:57 Arguably the most famous episode of apparent conflict between both modes of thought came
32:02 a couple of hundred years later with Charles Darwin, who's said to have struggled between
32:06 his religious beliefs and his realisation regarding the theory of evolution.
32:10 Meanwhile, in the contemporary era, we've seen prominent theistic evolutionists such
32:15 as Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health in the US,
32:20 and a leading geneticist.
32:22 During his career, he has consistently been seen as a high-ranking example of someone
32:26 who reconciles science with religion, once describing himself as a "serious Christian".
32:32 On the one hand, Collins is a key figure in the history of the Human Genome Project.
32:37 On the other, he founded the BioLogos Foundation, a group dedicated to the belief in evolutionary
32:43 creation, which among other things, argues that God is directly involved with or responsible
32:48 for evolution.
32:50 Over the years, we've seen similar apparent crossovers across almost all fields of science.
32:55 The German astronomer Johannes Kepler believed that he was only ever contemplating the universe
33:00 after God had created it, as a way to "share in his thoughts".
33:05 The British mathematician and father of the computer, Charles Babbage, mentioned in his
33:09 writing a belief in "divine energy" as well as in "miracles", and in general,
33:14 the "Creator God".
33:16 The astrophysicist Carl Sagan famously discussed the cosmos from the perspective of Hinduism,
33:22 suggesting that perhaps it, above all other religions, got it most right, once describing
33:27 Hindu teachings as a "premonition of modern astronomical ideas".
33:32 But still, it remains that almost all of the above amounts to interpretations only.
33:37 Some viewpoints cater for God and science, others don't.
33:41 Many influential figures have either had religious beliefs or spoken about a religious view…
33:45 but no one has so far been able to offer up absolute proof that God is real.
33:50 Of course, faith is a deeply personal and subjective experience.
33:54 It just doesn't adhere to the rigour of the scientific method.
33:57 And perhaps, if a god were proved, then religions would fall because of it.
34:01 Or that God would no longer especially qualify as a god, more just another part of the physical
34:06 world.
34:07 So, let's now switch to aliens, and to some degree, the search for extraterrestrial life
34:12 might currently be pitched as "science's religion" to begin with.
34:17 Scientists are constantly looking for proof of something that they so far haven't found.
34:21 As the Fermi Paradox famously encapsulates, "there is an apparent contradiction between
34:26 the high probability of extraterrestrial civilizations existing and the lack of tangible evidence
34:31 for or contact with those civilizations."
34:34 Believers in God may well argue in a similar vein, although here, with the hunt for aliens,
34:40 we are wholly rooted in the principles of observation, data analysis, and the scientific
34:45 method.
34:46 The ET search involves a combination of disciplines, including astrobiology, astronomy, and planetary
34:52 science.
34:53 There's also the Drake Equation to measure by.
34:55 Formulated by astrophysicist Frank Drake, it attempts to estimate the number of advanced
35:00 civilizations in our galaxy by considering factors such as the rate of star formation,
35:06 the fraction of stars with planets, and the likelihood of life emerging on suitable planets.
35:10 The search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, then involves scanning the cosmos
35:15 for signals that may indicate the presence of intelligent beings.
35:19 The use of radio telescopes and other advanced technologies allows scientists to sift through
35:24 vast amounts of data in the hope of detecting artificial signals amid the cosmic background
35:30 noise.
35:31 Recent advancements in astrobiology provide additional food for thought.
35:35 The discovery of extremophiles on Earth, organisms that thrive in extreme environments, has expanded
35:41 our understanding of potential habitable zones beyond Earth.
35:45 The identification of exoplanets in the habitable zone around their star, where conditions might
35:50 allow for liquid water and potentially life, adds fuel to the belief that the universe
35:55 could be teeming with diverse life forms.
35:57 And, of course, with alien life as opposed to God, we do at least have one seemingly
36:03 comparable example to go by - us.
36:06 While it's true that alien life, if and when we find it, may be nothing quite so humanoid
36:11 as ourselves, it's also true that we do at least know that things can be alive - seeing
36:17 as we have a whole planet, Earth, to demonstrate just that.
36:21 Nevertheless, and despite our best efforts, the so-called "Great Silence" persists.
36:26 Aliens, as with God, are yet to reveal themselves to us.
36:29 The discovery of potentially habitable exoplanets, like Kepler-452b, may have fuelled optimism
36:36 about the prevalence of life beyond our solar system… but the leap from "potential habitability"
36:41 to the actual presence of life is still huge.
36:45 Similarly, the detection in recent times of methane and organic salts on Mars certainly
36:50 has sparked excitement about the possibility of past or even current microbial life there.
36:55 The conformation of liquid water beneath the icy surface of moons like Europa and Enceladus
37:01 has had us further picturing new life comparatively close by.
37:04 But, again, while it may feel as though we're forever on the brink of a major discovery,
37:09 we still have to actually make that discovery before it can be said that we have proof.
37:13 So, what's your verdict?
37:15 In comparing the proof of God and aliens, one thing that is clear is that these goals
37:20 are found on different planes.
37:22 Alienist belief relies on faith, as well as personal experience, scripture, and philosophical
37:28 reasoning.
37:29 In contrast, the search for extraterrestrial life is outwardly scientific from the start,
37:34 always demanding proof as standard.
37:37 It may be common to ask "do you believe in aliens?", but for the scientists who are
37:41 fronting the search, belief actually has nothing to do with it.
37:45 They're simply testing hypotheses to deliver results.
37:48 Science doesn't have faith that aliens are out there, it just increasingly strongly suspects
37:53 that they are.
37:54 So, on the face of it, it might be said that aliens have more proof.
37:58 Because we now have plenty in terms of potential planets they could live on, potential vehicles
38:02 they could pilot, and potential means by which they might survive.
38:06 But still, in terms of undeniable evidence, we're ultimately at the same stage with aliens
38:12 as we are with God.
38:13 There's nothing.
38:14 Perhaps what the debate serves to highlight most of all is the multifaceted nature of
38:19 the human quest for meaning, whether that's within the depths of our souls, or far out
38:24 among the stars.
38:27 God versus aliens versus humanity.
38:29 Together, we form three corners of a cosmic triangle that will possibly always ignite
38:35 debate.
38:36 But the fact is that when it comes to God, there isn't any scientific proof.
38:41 We are completely lacking with regard to empirical evidence, and we're totally dependent on faith.
38:46 Ultimately, is it similar with extraterrestrials, and with advanced civilizations like Kardashev
38:51 Type 5s?
38:53 Possibly.
38:54 Although we do at least have statistical estimates to fall back on when it comes to the potential
38:58 for aliens.
39:25 Could we prove God?
39:31 As the human story rolls on and on, it can often feel as though nothing is impossible.
39:36 So if there is a God, it seems likely that one day we will irrefutably discover them.
39:41 But that said, would proof of God even be enough?
39:45 Because mightn't that proof only serve to inspire those who have it, to seek evidence
39:49 of another, even higher entity, somewhere beyond?
39:54 What do you think?
39:55 Is there anything we missed?
39:56 Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you
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