# Any sufficiently advanced alien intelligence is indistinguishable from god



## BillionNamesofGod (Jan 28, 2019)

This was recently used in a recent Star Trek Discovery episode.
I was wondering if this was used in sci fi, and I found it in a Charles Stross book quoted exactly.

Surely this idea of Aliens perceived as gods is common in sci fi ?
Just wondering if anyone knows any stories that use this idea as a main theme?


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## Anthoney (Jan 28, 2019)

Stargate SG1 and Atlantis but not so much in Universe.


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## DaveRich (Jan 28, 2019)

One of the main characters in my books is somewhat like that though they do not perceive themselves in that way.


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## Rodders (Jan 29, 2019)

Isn't that an Arthur C. Clarke quote?


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## Alex The G and T (Jan 29, 2019)

Not exactly:
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Heh!  When I looked this up, to get it right, I found a funny list of variants:


Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God.[10][7] (Shermer's last law)
Any sufficiently advanced act of benevolence is indistinguishable from malevolence[11] (referring to artificial intelligence)
The following two variants are very similar, and combine the third law with Hanlon's razor
Any sufficiently advanced cluelessness is indistinguishable from malice[12] (Clark's law)
Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice[7] (Grey's law)
Any sufficiently advanced troll is indistinguishable from a genuine kook _or_ the viewpoints of even the most extreme crank are indistinguishable from sufficiently advanced satire (Poe's law)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo[13]
Any sufficiently advanced idea is distinguishable from mere magical incantation provided the former is presented as a mathematical proof, verifiable by sufficiently competent mathematicians[14]
Any sufficiently crappy research is indistinguishable from fraud (Andrew Gelman)[15]
Wiki Clarke's three laws - Wikipedia


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## JunkMonkey (Apr 21, 2022)

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C Clarke.

"La Magie n'est que de la science qui n'a pas pas été mise en équations". 
Magic is jut science that hasn't yet been put into equations. (My translation.)

Stefan Wul, _Piege sur Zarkass_ (1957)


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## Astro Pen (Apr 21, 2022)

I think god in that "alien" context is just human teleology.  We suffer an aspirational condition pulling us toward a perfect goal. A goal which recedes from us as fast as we approach it because perfection, like infinity, is unattainable.
There will always be the notion of god like advanced civilisations elsewhere,  but I believe it is an anthropomorphic error, mistaking our intrinsic internal desire, and proven ability to advance, for an imagined superior civilisation that most likely does not exist.
Certainly not in the bipedal, high tech, and 'moral' form we usually envisage. That is actually us, but we always miss the target.


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## Swank (Apr 21, 2022)

Plenty of stories feature societies which venerate a powerful entity - regardless of whether they seem it as divine or just all-powerful.

There really isn't a need for that society to believe that the entity is supernatural - like a god.


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## Le Panda du Mal (Apr 21, 2022)

I suppose it depends on someone's conception of god. If someone thinks of god as a very powerful being among other beings, then yes. But I think it would be hard to convince the classical theist that a given entity, however powerful, is the God they believe in.


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## Swank (Apr 21, 2022)

Le Panda du Mal said:


> I suppose it depends on someone's conception of god. If someone thinks of god as a very powerful being among other beings, then yes. But I think it would be hard to convince the classical theist that a given entity, however powerful, is the God they believe in.


Folks have been known to switch gods.


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## Le Panda du Mal (Apr 21, 2022)

Swank said:


> Folks have been known to switch gods.


Sure. Other folks have been known to die horribly rather than do so.


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## nixie (Apr 21, 2022)

Please keep on topic, we don't this thread to develop into a religious discussion.


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## Le Panda du Mal (Apr 21, 2022)

The whole topic is an inherently religious discussion?


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## Le Panda du Mal (Apr 21, 2022)

BillionNamesofGod said:


> This was recently used in a recent Star Trek Discovery episode.
> I was wondering if this was used in sci fi, and I found it in a Charles Stross book quoted exactly.
> 
> Surely this idea of Aliens perceived as gods is common in sci fi ?
> Just wondering if anyone knows any stories that use this idea as a main theme?



A lot of Doctor Who stories use this concept, e.g. Pyramids of Mars, Talons of Weng-Chiang.


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## M. Robert Gibson (Apr 21, 2022)

Perhaps _The Stone God Awakens_ by *Philip José Farmer*








						The Stone God Awakens
					

A 20th century scientist is rendered frozen at the molecular level, and then reanimated millennia later by a freak accident to a strange ...



					www.goodreads.com
				




While not actually an alien, the main character might as well be to the evolved creatures



> A 20th century scientist is rendered frozen at the molecular level, and then reanimated millennia later by a freak accident to a strange world populated by sentient, anthropomorphic animals, who take his awakening to be the fulfillment of prophecy. He accepts the mantle of godhood and sets about discovering this brave new world, hoping to find clues to the past while finding his place as the last human... or is he? To find the answers he must lead his tribe of feline worshippers to the heart of a rival god- a great tree spanning half a continent.


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## Swank (Apr 21, 2022)

Le Panda du Mal said:


> Sure. Other folks have been known to die horribly rather than do so.


I'm not sure why that contradicts what I said.


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## Brian G Turner (Apr 21, 2022)

Le Panda du Mal said:


> The whole topic is an inherently religious discussion?


Not really, it's more about how we humans may perceive entities so powerful that we don't understand them. 

However, as it's an old thread explicitly asking about belief issues, either we hadn't canned that topic or else this thread flew under the radar so I'll close it now before it inevitably becomes a discussion about religion rather than anything SFF based.


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