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Permalink Reply by Silverevilchao on March 22, 2011 at 5:45pm

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I thought I was the only person who thought that there could possibly be "sufficiently advanced" aliens out there... >.>;; After all, many things we do today with technology would be considered magical to peoples thousands of years ago!

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Permalink Reply by TNT666 on March 22, 2011 at 7:42pm

That statement assumes all people previous to last millennia even had the concept of magic. But many didn't, some tribesmen have no words or concepts for that which does not exist, they live strictly in the near present, at a utilitarian level.

 

I think the same goes for any reasonably intelligent human... if something out of our sphere of knowledge were to happen, such as an alien landing in town and showing off new tricks, we would not call it magic but simply a technology which we havn't yet mastered.

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Permalink Reply by Johan Fruh on September 23, 2011 at 9:49am

Are you sure that some tribes don't have any way of digesting incomprehensible things? Not magic, not religion, not anything?! Rain is utilitarian, but how would they go about trying to explain it and control it when in need of it?

I'd be surprised of any existence of such tribes, and really really interested in finding out more about them.

 

I'm under the impression there's always going to be ONE little twerp in a tribe, to be the first to say he understands it all. And then almost everyone else starts believing him.. and burn those who don't.

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Permalink Reply by TNT666 on September 23, 2011 at 12:44pm

That is also one of our own Western civilisation biases. In several cultural anthropological studies, it is observed that really old style tribes don't dwell on those things. Yes there are things they don't understand, but the point is not WHY? but ... how can I effectively use it. They were extremely utilitarian. The unexplained deserved very little brain time.

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Permalink Reply by Natalie A Sera on September 23, 2011 at 7:38pm

If you think they are strictly utilitarian, you haven't listened to their stories told around the campfire at night. Of course they have no words for what they BELIEVE doesn't exist -- but they definitely have words for what they DO believe exists. Creation myths and fears of demons (or whatever you want to call them), taboos, sacrifices, medicinal rites, etc. are universal. It's a totally human desire to explain the world, and if you don't have advanced science, then you resort to the supernatural. Technology may be a concept they don't have a word for, though.

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Permalink Reply by TNT666 on September 23, 2011 at 8:06pm

I don't buy the "innateness" of religion idea, though, for cultural reasons, I do agree that it appears universal, among modern civilisations and those indigenous peoples that have mingled much with Northerners. But in studying truly untouched tribes, researchers have found it impossible to impart the notion of "spirituality to them. It's not that they've evolved differently, genetically they're identical, it's just that their peoples never got onto the "must explain everything" bandwagon. Society developing religion was a huge bonus for the expansion of the Homo sapiens populations. Tribes that did not catch on to religions are simply less invasive. Religion is simply a tool that was developed to control people's activity, gods (of varying definitions) are but the psychological weaponry to accomplish that power.

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Permalink Reply by Trance Gemini on September 24, 2011 at 10:37am

Maybe but I'm not sure I'd call it a god....

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Permalink Reply by Trance Gemini on September 24, 2011 at 10:39am

Weird. Most of what I said here is missing....

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Permalink Reply by Graeme on March 5, 2010 at 5:48pm

No human has had the senses to know anything about a god so I'm 100% certain that no god, that any human has ever described attributes of, exists.

I'm repeating myself here but I think the whole concept of a god is primitive. If a being created the universe it's not magical/supernatural so there's no reason to call it god.

I am, therefore, 100% certain that no "gods" exist.

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Permalink Reply by Lorien on March 5, 2010 at 6:00pm

I am 100% positive you can not prove it exists!

I am (100-(1/infinity)) % sure it does not exist!

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Permalink Reply by Martin C on March 5, 2010 at 6:34pm

I am 110% sure there is no biblical god as evidence contradicts it. As for some power or force, I can only be 98% sure I guess.

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Permalink Reply by Martin C on March 5, 2010 at 6:39pm

Forgot, I am about 50% certain some tribal leader named Yahweh or Jehovah existed and long after he did something for his tribe to give them. Some type id freedom or power, stories about him were attributed to the god Aten's mythology.

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