What is more terrifying to you?

[Undesired Walrus]

Now, I know there are some hardlined athiests out there who would say "Oh man, nothing worries me man, life is what it is"... but you know that is a load of crap, when you look deep in your heart right?

Dont get me wrong, I'm an athiest too, but I do think about death, and when I really think about it, I do become terrified, as I am sure you do at times.

But what concerns me more is the chance there is absolutely no alien life anywhere else in the entire universe. Something I find much, much more terrifying then there being nothing after death. The whole idea that in this universe, that is too massive for us to even begin to comprehend (every grain of sand there is a galaxy, one pictured by hubble far away has at leasty trillion stars), there is only us, is an absolutely terrifying thought.

The very thought that we are here simply as a malfuction, or a random mutation that has never happened in the entire universe makes me feel very, very small. Very, very small.

I'll finish with a quote, one of my all time favourites that I only came across recently...

"It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. "

Neil Armstrong.

(Mods, I'm not sure what section this should go in, so please move it to the right one if need be)

And here is the only thing that I think keeps some of us going (At least me)
http://www.admit-one.net/webimages/wowsignal.jpg

[Seismosaurus]

I find this poll odd, because neither of those things is frightening at all.

The idea that there is no god is not the slightest bit terrifying to me. In fact, I would prefer there to be no god than for there to be a god. If by some bizzare circumstance I had a choice in whether god existed or not, I would choose his not existing in a heartbeat.

The idea that there is no other intelligent life... that would be tremendously, wrenchingly disappointing for me. If we ever found out it was true it would be a really, really sad day. But terrifying? Of course not.

[slingblade]

Well, maybe I wouldn't use the word "terrifying," but since I can readily admit the notion of us being completely alone does unsettle me somewhat, I can answer the poll.

It unsettles me because I get lonely easily. ;)

[plindboe]

Have to use the Planet X option. The thought of no God doesn't bother me the slightest. Extraterrestrial life would be interesting indeed, but I don't see how it's non-existance would terrify me.

[TragicMonkey]

Hey, no aliens means no alien hotties, but it also means no alien threats. Look on the bright side.

[Undesired Walrus]

But doesn't that take the fun out of everything? That there is just us, this tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny speck of a grain of sand. That is it? In a universe so immense nobody can comprehend? I'm sure, sure some other atheists have actually thought about there being nothing after death and been completly terrified.

It's how I feel about the big bang too. That if the big bang is what happened, there was nothing, not even time, completly melts my mind. Completly. You must see what I mean right?

I am just back from the pub having drunk a bottle of red wine, but this is something that has played on my mind a lot.

[Bikewer]

Asimov's Foundation books were built on the premise of a human-only universe.

As Tragicmonkey says, no threats....

[MelBrooksfan]

None of them do I find particularly terrifying. No god? Good. No aliens? Disappointing on some level by a far cry short of terrifying. No planet X? Well, now, that might be a little scary. I'd have to wonder where all those Godzilla monsters came from.

[Marquis de Carabas]

I have a really difficult time imagining why I should care whether or not god or extraterrestrial life exists. Either way, steaks still taste good, Pink Floyd still sounds good, and orgasms still feel good.

[andyandy]

honestly? Neither terrifies me....

i think it'd be great if ET was discovered in my lifetime - i might even be a little peeved to be on my death bed and for it not to have happened....but it doesn't keep me up at night :)

[Just thinking]

... I'll finish with a quote, one of my all time favourites that I only came across recently...

"It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. "

Neil Armstrong.

And I'll paraphrase something I recall from a TV movie I saw well over three decades ago ... from "Between Time and Timbuktu"

"If ever you feel sad or insignificant, just look at all the dirt that can't get up and look around."

[jnelso99]

Asimov's Foundation books were built on the premise of a human-only universe.

So was "Red Dwarf".

[EGarrett]

The idea of there being another distant speck of a planet that also supports life, and both of us being too far to ever have a chance at knowing about each other (though we want to) is more sad to me than being alone.

But nevertheless..."we are alone" is a bit of an oxymoron. We have each other...and the wonderful ability to spread like wildfire throughout the universe if/when our technology gets up to snuff. There are also no theoretical limits on our own survival, and how far we can advance our consciousness with technology.

In other words, if there's no God, and no other alien life...then it's all a giant playground to us. All the distant planets with weird properties, all the minerals and resources on them...the nearly-infinite amount of space...all of it.

[Undesired Walrus]

I guess I'm having a Woody Allen moment....:)

I just hang onto the Wow Signal as the only source of hope.

[TragicMonkey]

Just think of it this way: the universe is ours. We can do whatever we want to it! There's nobody to stop us! Unless we build Cylons. Which I advise against. Two of them are sexy ladies, but the whole genocide and eye-gouging makes it probably not worth it.

[fishbob]

Now, I know there are some hardlined athiests out there who would say "Oh man, nothing worries me man, life is what it is"... but you know that is a load of crap, when you look deep in your heart right?

Wrong.

I thought this thread was going to be about Ebola or Turrists or Global Warming Induced Ruination of Civilzation or the Return of Disco. Now those are some scary things.

No god? No problem.
No intelligent life? I been posting on internet forums. I'm used to that.

[Z]

UW, I'm afraid the consensus seems to be against your opinion - personally, I find it hopeful that there might be no God (even as a Theist), and though I expect there is other intelligent life elsewhere, chances are that life is so far away that it might as well not exist, as far as we're concerned, so frog it.

[negativ]

But doesn't that take the fun out of everything? That there is just us, this tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny speck of a grain of sand. That is it? In a universe so immense nobody can comprehend? I'm sure, sure some other atheists have actually thought about there being nothing after death and been completly terrified.

For as long as I can remember, I always suspected the "God" stuff was no more true than the "Zeus" stuff. My dad was nominally a Christian, but religion just wasn't a big part of my life growing up. However, when it actually dawned on me (age 13, in the shower for some reason) that I was actually going to cease to exist at some unpredictable point that I might or might not see coming, I was pretty freaked out for a while. I eventually came around to realizing that if there is in fact no afterlife of any sort, and if dead is just dead, I certainly won't care.

To me right now, the "fun in everything" derives precisely from the mind-blowing concept that there's just us, this tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny speck of a grain of sand existing in a universe that we can't begin to understand in any significant way. Sure, we can describe to a certain degree the behaviors and qualities of the elements of the "universe" that we are currently able to detect, but we still don't have the slightest clue WHY it exists, WHAT it is in the first place, or even if those questions mean anything at all.

The idea of no other intelligent life in the universe doesn't necessarily terrify me. If this tiny little speck is in fact the only speck where creatures live who have the ability to think about whether or not other curious creatures are living on other specks somewhere out there, that just makes it all the more mind-blowing.

That said, I would certainly be the first guy in line to meet & greet and inadvertently ignite an interplanetary war by means of making some innocuous gesture that coincidentally translated into the most heinous insult imaginable to the ETs, should they ever come to visit. Hell, who DOESN'T want to meet the Vulcans, the Tralfamadorians, or even the Borg? ;)

The one thing that doesn't "terrify" me, but would disappoint me immensely, is if humans never manage, whether because of technological or ethical obstacles, to build androids. Ever since I was a wee tyke and went to the Kennedy Space Center and saw Real Live Space Ships (age 6), I was disappointed and frustrated to learn that we didn't have [debatably] sentient, autonomous robots. Space ships and robots go together, after all, and if we can put a man on the moon, why can't we build some friggin' C-3POs already!? Sheesh.


(that part's not a joke, by the way)

[UserGoogol]

But doesn't that take the fun out of everything? That there is just us, this tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny speck of a grain of sand. That is it? In a universe so immense nobody can comprehend? I'm sure, sure some other atheists have actually thought about there being nothing after death and been completly terrified.

Not really. Maybe it's because I've been a sciencey atheist for my entire life, so I was able to grow used to such existential horrors when I was too young to grasp how horrifying they're supposed to be, perhaps, but the idea that the universe is incomprehensibly huge and completely indifferent to humanity seems totally comfortable to me, even enjoyable, because it lets me really let my mind be blown. Also, the cold and indifferent universe is "out there," and its incomprehensibility doesn't really effect me unless Cthuhlu decides to rise from the deep. All the fun that a person may have is here on Earth, (at least for the time being) so all that other stuff is merely data, for all intents and purposes.

The fact that I'll eventually die and that'll be that is a huge bummer, but "terrified" seems like the wrong word. Death is not itself a bad thing, but merely the end of all good things, and thus fear seems like an irrational response. Of course people including myself have irrational responses to things all the time, but I just don't have the guts in me for such a reaction, I guess.

[Oliver]

Wait a minute, Undesired Walrus. Are you the guy who just turned 20? :D

First of all I guess you're doing the same thing people did to invent religion - to explain the unexplainable and give their lives some meaning based on their new invented faiths. And I might add that faith in aliens is related to this issue.

Anyway: At least the next 10 generations, if they will survive this span of time without blowing themselves from the face of the planet, will probably not be able to find and visit another inhabited planet - but the mathematic probability that there are many planets which are in a condition to have evolved life is pretty high in light of the x-trillions of suns throughout the universe.

Also you shouldn't be scared about death - if you're 80 years old, can't barely move your bones anymore and you're sick and tired of the conservatives, you will probably jump into your grave with a very happy smile. :D

Now people with faith have the great vantage to live their lives according to their religion and to leave the planet with the satisfaction, to have served their lives according to their current modern God. But you can also die a gruesome, long, lonesome death if you think you did not serve your current modern god very well.

Nevertheless, I guess even Atheists have some inner Motor that keeps them going and so they also have some kind of faith - whatever this might be. The point is that it's not very important at all if you will ever see any alien evidence beside the mathematical, high probability.

Or look at it this way. Maybe our solar system is nothing but an atom of a pretty huge, fat looser who is about to shoot himself in 3 seconds, which is in about 9,82 billion years according to our human calendar.

But never mind, I guess all people think about these types of things, especially in younger ages. ;)

[Gaspode]

I find neither even remotely terrifying.

We may never find out whether there is a God. As for aliens we're unlikely to ever know since we'd probably have to search the entire universe.

Looking on the bright side - if there are no aliens we could grab all the best planets for ourselves. :D

[billydkid]

Now, I know there are some hardlined athiests out there who would say "Oh man, nothing worries me man, life is what it is"... but you know that is a load of crap, when you look deep in your heart right?


First, I don't know any atheist who says anything like that. Lots of crap worries me. The atheist position is more accurately - life is difficult and confusing, but belief in a fantastic and implausible supernatural being in no way ameliorates that difficulty or confusion. In fact, clinging to irrational beliefs does nothing but contribute to the difficulty and confusion of life. I may be afraid and confused and lost in this universe, but at least I don't compound the situation by being deliberately stupid.

As far as being afraid of there not being other life - well, in as much as there being other life or there not being life can have no concievable impact on my existence, why would it matter? I might add, to suppose that there is no other life would amount, really, to magical thinking. The same thinking that gives us religion. It is simply implausible to suppose that in the incomprehensible vastness of the universe the earth is the only place where life arose. I have debated others about this before with them arguing that the nearly infinite number of opportunities for life to arise in the universe does not argue in favor of life certainly developing elsewhere. They are wrong. It is only really plausible to suppose that the universe is teeming with life in terms of absolute numbers (though it may be sparse looked at as a whole). To suppose otherwise smacks of irrational eccentricity.

[Mephisto]

Have to use the Planet X option. The thought of no God doesn't bother me the slightest. Extraterrestrial life would be interesting indeed, but I don't see how it's non-existance would terrify me.

Yeah, but then you'd have to admit that being reincarnated on Earth over and over could get really boring. There would be absolutely no chance of coming back as Luke Skywalker. ;)

[Beerina]

That's what periodic mind wipes are for -- to prevent boredom.

Indeed, the number of possibly different meaningful configurations of "stuff", though beyond astronomically large, means that you will repeat some of them eventually, if you are literally living forever.

Hence periodic mind wipes would be a necessity to prevent infinite boredom. You could, of course, disable the emotion of boredom in your brain, but then you'd better not accidentally look at a blank wall, lest you get stuck there for ever and ever. Boredom is a key motivating feature.

As for the question, I would prefer to die, and that's it, rather than be resurrected by some psychotic god who then heaves me into Hell for ever and ever.

There would be absolutely no chance of coming back as Luke Skywalker.

Well, that depends on what are the options when you're up next for reincarnation. "Random placement in mundane universe?" Or "fullfill specific fantasies?" :)

[billydkid]

Some smart person once said, essentially, given the nature of our predicament - that we are here, we should all be in a constant state of astonishment and amazement.

[marksman]

Now, I know there are some hardlined athiests out there who would say "Oh man, nothing worries me man, life is what it is"... but you know that is a load of crap, when you look deep in your heart right?
I believe in God, but I wouldn't be frightened to find my belief to be wrong.

The whole idea that in this universe, that is too massive for us to even begin to comprehend (every grain of sand there is a galaxy, one pictured by hubble far away has at leasty trillion stars), there is only us, is an absolutely terrifying thought.
I think yuo're easily frightened.

The very thought that we are here simply as a malfuction, or a random mutation that has never happened in the entire universe makes me feel very, very small. Very, very small.
We are very small... to the uncaring unfeeling universe. We are enormous to one another.

[steverino]

It terrifies me that we (some of us) go through life as if this was a dress rehearsal. No one has time to connect. But time is running out.

I am thinking in terms of my siblings, and also of my inability to relate to people in Seattle, most of whom might as well be aliens.

What is everybody waiting for?!!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2005/0213/cover.html

But in Seattle, it was cold shoulder after cold shoulder. She was working as a waitress with dozens of people her age, but it took six months before one of them invited her along when they went out after work.


Jodi O'Brien, chairwoman of the sociology department at Seattle University, applies sociological jargon to the interactions she sees every day. Seattle's "social script," she says, can ultimately lead to "alienation" and "isolation." "Politeness is a poor substitute for intimacy and genuine friendship."
"It seems nobody really wants to let you in," she says. "They'll say, 'Oh yeah, yeah, I'll get your number' — but you know that's going nowhere."

[ImaginalDisc]

I'm terrified that the human race is going remain fixated on finding a super-powerful father figure to solve all our problems instead of taking responsability for ourselves.

[Oliver]

I'm terrified that the human race is going remain fixated on finding a super-powerful father figure to solve all our problems instead of taking responsability for ourselves.


What I don't understand about religion is that if there is a god and peole believe in this god, why do they think that their god is the only one instead coming to the conclusion that all religions are probably based on the same god/-s.

[ImaginalDisc]

What I don't understand about religion is that if there is a god and peole believe in this god, why do they think that their god is the only one instead coming to the conclusion that all religions are probably based on the same god/-s.

Because Enki allegedly masturbated the Tigris and Euphrates rivers into existence, while Jehovah tends to frown on the spilling of seed? Because if you ask any two religious people what their gods thinks about any subject, you'll get three different answers? The evidence does not show everyone's percieving the same thing; the evidence shows that people are talking to themselves.

[Michael C]

None of these options frighten me at all. Now if God really does exist: that's a terrifying thought...

:degrin:

[steverino]

What I don't understand about religion is that if there is a god and peole believe in this god, why do they think that their god is the only one instead coming to the conclusion that all religions are probably based on the same god/-s.

For the same reason you believe your own personal non-religious dogma is the ultimate truth.

[Oliver]

For the same reason you believe your own personal non-religious dogma is the ultimate truth.


No, I believe that there is something - call it Nature or the ability to make positive things based on our "enhanced intelligence". But I don't make the failure to give it a name, a white beard or some crazy book - because every religion today should be aware of the fact that all people are "created" by the same god - if there is a god.

So I hope science and rational education will solve this problem to blindly believe in ancient words some day because all this "my God is better than yours" -BS sucks.

[hellaeon]

But doesn't that take the fun out of everything? That there is just us, this tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny speck of a grain of sand. That is it? In a universe so immense nobody can comprehend? I'm sure, sure some other atheists have actually thought about there being nothing after death and been completly terrified.

It's how I feel about the big bang too. That if the big bang is what happened, there was nothing, not even time, completly melts my mind. Completly. You must see what I mean right?

I am just back from the pub having drunk a bottle of red wine, but this is something that has played on my mind a lot.

I cannot imagine no existance of other life in the universe. There just has to be something. And I even would say intelligent on its own level.

As for death? I thought about it and realised I wont think about it when it happens. It leaves a gaping hole. How do I think of nothing. You wont know your dead because your brain wont think it. To be terrified is to be coming to terms with your one chance on the earth.

[Undesired Walrus]

"I'm not afraid of dying, I just dont want to be there when it happens"
-Woody Allen.

[Tricky]

We are very small... to the uncaring unfeeling universe. We are enormous to one another.
Good sig material, Marksman, no matter what side of this issue you are on.

[g4macdad]

"I'm not afraid of dying, I just dont want to be there when it happens"
-Woody Allen.

Maybe you are not so sure of your position on religion?

I often wonder why someone would hate Jesus. Even if he never existed, he did nothing but good. Those people terrify me.

Rather the future they face does.:eye-poppi

[Tricky]

I cannot imagine no existance of other life in the universe. There just has to be something. And I even would say intelligent on its own level.
Why do you think there "has to be something"? It sounds like an emotional appeal.

Having said that, I think it is likely too, given the enormous number of opportunities, but I would never say, in the absence of any evidence for it, that there "has to be".

[Darth Rotor]

I'm terrified that the human race is going remain fixated on finding a super-powerful father figure to solve all our problems instead of taking responsability for ourselves.
How do you propose to fuse about six billion people into a hive mind that does that last, since you set this up as a collective action by (or required by) the human race?

DR

[jnelso99]

I often wonder why someone would hate Jesus. Even if he never existed, he did nothing but good.

I don't think it's Jesus himself that most people have a problem with. It's his fan club.

[strathmeyer]

Do you realize that current projections involve a nonzero probability that all the different forms of life in the universe may all not have enough time to to search enough of the universe to ever communicate with one another? That's even scarier to me, that we're not alone in the universe, but that we'll never know that.

[g4macdad]

I don't think it's Jesus himself that most people have a problem with. It's his fan club.

Isn't that a non-sequitur?

[Michael C]

I often wonder why someone would hate Jesus. Even if he never existed, he did nothing but good.

Nothing but good? According to the Bible, when Jesus met two men possessed with devils, he let the devils go into a herd of swine:

And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.
Matthew, 8:32

That was pretty nasty for the town that needed those pigs, and particularly nasty for the farmer who depended on them for his livelihood. Why didn't Jesus just send the devils away?

Jesus was also capable of terrorising people into believing in his God:

But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Luke, 12:5

I reiterate: the idea of God actually existing is terrifying, particularly the God of the Christian bible. Yes, I'm afraid of death. But a death which simply means that I stop existing is much less frightening than a death where I could be sent to Hell.

And believing in Jesus is not a guarantee that you will go to Heaven. Imagine the Christian who arrives, surprised, at the gates of Hell to be told by the Devil: "Sorry, the Muslims are right: you're in here for eternity".

[Mashuna]

I have a really difficult time imagining why I should care whether or not god or extraterrestrial life exists. Either way, steaks still taste good, Pink Floyd still sounds good, and orgasms still feel good.

Pink Floyd terrifies me.