06-24-2018, 09:56 AM
I am satisfied that the universe, the solar system, and the Earth are several billion years old. The only 'advanced civilization; that could create a universe that makes sense is one solitary God who established physical and mathematical laws that He enforces rigidly. Evolution is a biological fact defended in the fossil record, and those who fault the fossil record for having less evidence than is necessary for denying their theistic explanation need recognize that it is miraculous itself that so much of the fossil record already exists.
Even such intelligence as we humans (and elephants, cetaceans, and other smart creatures have) has evolved here. In our case it may be that the interaction between canids (wolves at first and then dogs) made us modern humans much of what we are. Going from the hunter-gatherer world through agriculture, classical urban civilization, and modernity has been done by us humans without the aid of any advanced civilizations outside our world. Genius is a reality even if it gets no attribution in a place like Egypt for something so now banal as a sailboat. I can only wonder how many equivalents of Thomas Alva Edison there might have been in antiquity. Nobody attributes his inventions to any visitations by any space travelers.
Even such intelligence as we humans (and elephants, cetaceans, and other smart creatures have) has evolved here. In our case it may be that the interaction between canids (wolves at first and then dogs) made us modern humans much of what we are. Going from the hunter-gatherer world through agriculture, classical urban civilization, and modernity has been done by us humans without the aid of any advanced civilizations outside our world. Genius is a reality even if it gets no attribution in a place like Egypt for something so now banal as a sailboat. I can only wonder how many equivalents of Thomas Alva Edison there might have been in antiquity. Nobody attributes his inventions to any visitations by any space travelers.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.