Godlike Aliens

Science Fiction often shows us alien civilizations so advanced they are godlike, but how realistic are they, and what would such entities be like?
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Credits:
Alien Civilizations: Godlike Aliens
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur
Episode 341, May 5, 2022
Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur
Editors:
Andrew Nelson
Curt Hartung
David McFarlane
Cover Art:
Jakub Grygier www.artstation.com/jakub_grygier
Graphics:
Ken York of YD Visual / ydvisual
Music by:
Martin Rezny, "Lifelight"
Denny Schneidemesser, "Bridge Ambience"
Stellardrone, "A Moment of Stillness", "Cosmic Sunrise", "Limbo"
Aerium, "Fifth Star of Aldebaran"
Miguel Johnson, "Strange New World"

[@ravenheartwraith]

"Bender, being God isn't easy. If you do too much, people get dependent on you. And if you do nothing, they lose hope. You have to use a light touch, When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."

[@SKy_the_Thunder]

"God doesn't care! He basically told me so himself!"

[@ultimateloser3411]

But if this is all hard for that 'God', maybe we should question that self-proclamation

[@jamin309]

You gotta be like a pickpocket or lockcracker

[@oddgumshoethelocalatlas2385]

ur assuming his mind is human

[@blenderbanana]

@@ultimateloser3411 Bender called him God. God was just vibing.

[@Arrynek01]

"35 years ago, Star Trek: The New Generation..." I feel personally attacked by that statement.

[@chocobrowniewin]

lol, we were raised on that stuff from the diaper stage.

[@frankreynolds445]

I was 28 when Star Trek: TNG premiered on TV.

[@billbadson7598]

They're not "aliens" by definition, but some of my favorite godlike "beings" in any scifi universe are the Archailects from the Orion's Arm universe. They're all AI-beings evolved from early earth-based AI beings, but because of the exponential rate of evolution an AI can create for itself, they've become powerful and capable beyond any hope of human comprehension. Among the biggest and most powerful are beings whose "bodies" themselves are (sometimes multiple) dyson swarms, and whose effective brain size is so large that in order to maintain a coherent sense of self, they need thousands or more miniature wormholes in order to transmit data from one side of their brain to the other faster than light, because light doesn't move fast enough to maintain a sense of self. This computational power is needed because they control bodies that take up multiple solar systems, controlling untold numbers of independently functional robotic pieces from the size of planets down to smaller than nanoscale. And they do all of this while simultaneously creating perfect utopias for civilizations consisting of trillions and trillions of biological lifeforms, and potentially quadrillions of digital lifeforms. Within their spheres of influence, they are more or less completely all-knowing and all-powerful, because more matter within their sphere of influence "is them" than "isn't them."

[@DukeRevolution]

Orion's Arm is criminally underrated, and virtually unheard of on KZbin. I've wanted to start a channel to explore it but I always lose steam.

[@SomeKindaSpy]

@@DukeRevolution The issue is there's some... Problems with it. Some eugenics-obsessed and neo-nazi members writing things. Also furries.

[@n.g.s1mple29]

Orions arm is amazing, would spend hours reading there.

[@mrwillard95]

wow this is really interesting

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I've always loved the encyclopedia Galactica there but a lot of the fiction is hit and miss, or was in the past, I probably need to read some of the newer work

[@vikiai4241]

I always felt powerful aliens might not interfere with humans damaging Earths biosphere because they don't see humans as separate to the Earth's biosphere. From their perspective, human activity is just the Earth's biosphere going through a bit of a rough patch, which will - one way or another - eventually self-correct.

[@siddhantmishra3598]

damn

[@johndeflavio6131]

What is the rough patch?

[@icecold9511]

People tend to think aliens just suddenly have their k4 technology. But the old adage You can't get there from here, comes to play. you can't get to computer age without starting with basic metal work. And eventually you have to utilize better sources of energy like hydrocarbons. It is one of the filter issues Isaac has brought up. Their own efforts to advance killed them before they got past that point. Or like in the Expanse when mars was trashing people on earth for the environment. Yet it required all that to get to that point. They didn't appear on Mars by magic.

[@rianmacdonald9454]

umm sorry no, they utterly hate(or more accurate have a huge disdain) for humanity. The damage humanity is doing to the earth under the arrogance of ''god'', the notion of being put here specially by ''god'' - yeah it pisses them off more than could ever be explained effectively. Well, very close to ending it all, they have been testing humanity for a very long time, and well again, very disappointed with the results.

[@icecold9511]

@@rianmacdonald9454 And you know this....how? That is your bigotry. Don't assume they share it. Not to mention the butchery that was the soviet union and communism, who decidedly were officially not religious. They may find that a bit odd. For all we know, aliens still believe in something and may feel compelled to force that belief.

[@kayakMike1000]

Isaac was a damn good Lab instructor back at university. I wasn't taking his class, but I observed because I was considering becoming a teacher at the time.

[@kayakMike1000]

@Dystopian Farmer Isaac has always been remarkably creative and has ideas that always seems pretty far out-of-the-box, but he explains them consicely. The amount of material he covers in 20 minutes would take others over an hour.

[@listenatwork99]

"When you've done things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." This quote from the greatest Sci-fi show of all time, Futurama, is why I think any aliens advanced enough to be considered godlike wouldn't interact directly with other species.

[@jhoughjr1]

To me it is fundamental to christian theology. In order to be free to choose or reject god, then god can't be a demonstrable fact in the way other observations are. If god was provable where would the choice be?

[@IceSpoon]

@@jhoughjr1 I like to think it in a different way. According to natural sciences, everything that exists is either energy or matter. God is none of that. Therefore, God scientifically doesn't exist. That means that if we're talking about God, then you by definition are outside of the realms of science, and that bends the rules and laws we have within the natural scientific universe. And it makes sense that an all mighty God exists outside of the rules and laws we understand.

[@wontcreep]

@@IceSpoon yes, it is considered that science is the study of the physical world. i tend to say, as the concept of god is unbelievably blurry, that the closest to it is mathematics. though you say "if we're talking about God, then you by definition are outside of the realms of science" so it might help to define god which sadly has been proven difficult

[@HENRYIII003]

Internet gods are speaking to me

[@TraditionalAnglican]

I think they’d do it in such a way that we wouldn’t know they were intervening or helping us - Think 10 year jumps rather than 100 year jumps. So, they’d interact directly with us, but we wouldn’t know it.

[@ballHand]

Loads of respect for not having KZbin ads, Isaac.

[@phoule76]

Rule #1 of Futurism: One does not simply discuss godlike aliens without referring to LOTR.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

:) We did Tolkien more in February, but I tend to feel some characters deserve extra mentions.

[@junemoonchild69]

I believe that Elves, the Elven race, certainly existed here in the past, but like any other race of men gone by, so did they eventually die out. 🧝🧝🏻‍♀️🧝🏼‍♂️

[@attilapolyak4181]

I'm right now really happy that my favorite Tolkien elf, Glorfindel, got mentioned, even though he has very little to do with scifi. Then again there's the saying of "something something sufficiently advanced technology something something indistinguishable from magic" and he was very advanced in everything a human would call magic.

[@TheRukisama]

Glorfindel is the man...er...Elf. Too bad he wasn't in the Jackson film, but I understand needing to give Arwen more characterization. Also, beyond being name-dropped at the Council of Elrond, he never comes up again.

[@attilapolyak4181]

@@TheRukisama I absolutely agree. Sad he wasn't in the movie, but totally understandable.

[@eds1942]

Earendil even had a flying ship.

[@luciferangelica4827]

truer words have never something something

[@alexv3357]

It should be said too that elves don't understand the things they can do as magic. As Galadriel put it, "For this is what your folk would call magic, I believe; though I do not understand clearly what they mean; and they seem also to use the same word of the deceits of the Enemy. But this, if you will, is the magic of Galadriel. Did you not say that you wished to see Elf-magic?" Galadriel's mirror, the rings of power, Sting, and all their other works are just technology that is obscure to the book's hobbit narrators.

[@xXevilsmilesXx]

I work in customer service. I have certainly met and interacted with hundreds or thousands of simulated humans.

[@letsgetreal6402]

I don't work in customer service, I just grew up in L.A....and I can confirm! They are everywhere. Probably outnumber actual ppl at this point!!!

[@dontbothertoreply9755]

says an NPC cashier.

[@xXevilsmilesXx]

@@dontbothertoreply9755 Say I the employed. Shoo, away with you degenerate tick.

[@achtsekundenfurz7876]

I came into being wit two characters who gave me the things I needed -- not always what I _wanted_ but close enough. But then, I hit level 18, and I had to find another NPC, one who would give me some currency for things i could do. Super annoying difficulty spike. OTOH, at the same level, trading was unlocked, and for the first time, I was able to buy a vehicle and enough chemicals, fuel, and/or firearms to sterilize the entire neighborhood. Still a pretty weird point of progression. Now, there were some other unlocks, for example (a) to get to know one of the other users and found a party with them, provided we sink some time and effort into that. Or (b) just wait for level 21, which unlocks a "challenge mode" everybody speaks of, where one can PK at will without major reprimands by the admins of the server. Seems to be quite popular among players, and the prerequisite potions for that mode are dirt-cheap. I think I'll still go for option (a). I'm more of a co-op person.

[@xXevilsmilesXx]

@@achtsekundenfurz7876 TL;DR

[@jerrybaker8597]

One reason i can see a god like aliean ignoring our suffering is because we can fix all our problems our selves

[@sargeinamerica]

I have been watching this channel since the beginning and MAN HAS IT REALLY BECOME AN AMAZING THING!! Fantastic job just fantastic!!

[@zappababe8577]

It really has, you're right!

[@Yolo_Swagins]

True, i myself im watching Isaac since he has like 2000 subscribers, one o the Best channels.

[@topdog5252]

True. I’ve come to love it. I’m impressed by the scope of his knowledge of fiction as well as reality

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@Polyvalent]

It really is heartwarming to see how far this channel has come.

[@Zurround]

The original Battlestar Galactica had a god like alien being somewhat similar to Q in ability and origin. I forgot his name but he took a human form that only Starbuck and Apollo could see. His race would not allow him to interfere with the evolution of the human race so his own superiors refused to allow him to solve the problems of the human race for them (would make for a pretty short show). He for example could not use his powers to just teleport the entire colonial fleet to Earth and wipe out all of the cylons for him but similar to Q he had near godlike omnipotence so he was able to (and his species DID allow this) give VERY GOOD ADVICE to them.

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@larrysouthern5098]

I totally agree...... 👽.....

[@jamesrobinson9176]

Now I have to start watching again. Don't remember that one

[@Zurround]

@@jamesrobinson9176 I forgot his name. Donald P Belleriso who worked on Quantum Leap was also a part of Battlestar and only Starbuck and Apollo being able to see him reminded me of the hologram only Dr. Sam Beckett could see in Quantum leap, filmed about a decade later. Physically he could have destroyed the cylons and gotten them to Earth because his race were on a par with the Q continuum in ability. Usually in fiction if a being has godlike ability like the Q they are either a "trickster" (Superman had Mr. Mxylplk, the 5th dimensional imp) or if they are benevolent like the Battlestar Character then their race has some variation on the "prime directive". In Battlestar his superiors refused to allow him to help the humans at all because they felt that they must not at all interfere with the history and evolution of lesser races, basically Battlestar Galactica's equivalent to the prime directive. However, he begged the others who had superiority over him to let him help the humans because he cared about them and had become friends with Starbuck and Apollo. He was already in trouble for resurrecting a dead Apollo and his superiors finally relented and essentially said to him "Fine. You can give the humans ADVICE but that is all. So all he was ALLOWED to do was give them advice. He was on a short leash and he would have gotten in a lot of trouble had he used his powers beyond advice again (meaning if another character died he could not resurrect them). Q like beings in fiction that are benevolent usually have tough restrictions placed on them on how they can use their powers to help the main characters because if they solved all of their problems for them it would pretty much end the show.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I was a little surprised they didn't carry Count Iblis over to the reboot BSG, but they might have wanted their angels and demons a bit more removed from the plot, and Cavil kinda fills that role I suppose

[@theFLCLguy]

The closest thing to a god I can imagine is a being or civilization that survived their universes end and helped form the next.

[@Michael18599]

Like galactus

[@MrNote-lz7lh]

You have a high definition of a deity. Mine would be on the level of the Greek deities. Eternal youth and able to toy with entire lesser civilizations.

[@sadsader100yearsago9]

That would be a Capital G God, not a lowercase g

[@tasosalexiadis7748]

Like the Hierrogramates in The Book of the New Sun.

[@JuwanBuchanan]

So basically Galactus

[@davidk7212]

My favorite godlike character has always been Tom Bombadil from LoTR. I also liked the Askgards from SG1, until the whole replicators situation basically killed the idea of them being godlike.

[@SebSenseGreen]

Yeah same about SG1. But it is kind of explained why it is. Once the replicators started to "eat" Asgards tech, they were essentially made of the same tech which is mostly energy based. That's why they had a hard time with them and why the technologically under developed humans were able to do some damage to them. Because, moving towards an energy based tech left the replicators vulnerable in other areas that the Asgards didn't think of. What baffles me is when the Asgards were made aware of that fact.... they essentially did nothing with it. They continued to fight them with their energy based tech and essentially ignored what was learned by Humans.

[@jeremycraft8452]

@@SebSenseGreen The Asgards’ hubris was their own undoing.

[@Johnrich395]

The replicators were ultimately an “Achilles heel shot”, they were very specifically able to exploit one of the very few weaknesses that the Asgards had. Also, it’s implied that the replicators are winning because the Asgards keep getting distracted to help us. Remember, the Asgards ultimately were victorious over the Replicators, with help of the humans and Tokra, it just cost them so much that they ran out of time to save themselves.

[@RealBradMiller]

Such a merry fellow. Bright blue his jacket was, and his boots were yellow. When he passes the water lilies they all open and say 'hello!'

[@kayakMike1000]

I really did not like how the Asgard blew themselves out at the end... I mean, couldn't the Nox do anything for them?

[@Drew-do9wx]

Doctor Who is pretty godlike. I mean he lives forever, fights evil, and travels anywhere he wants in a pimped out phone booth.

[@John_Weiss]

It was stated, in the revived series, that the Time Lords we're mythological to races that were themselves ancient and godlike.

[@WizzleTeats69]

And he turns from white to black.

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

did not expect to hear Isaac say ROFLSTOMP, or edit Isaac Newton's head onto the Hulk's body. making my shift a little more bearable, thank you

[@letsgetreal6402]

What kind of work do you do that your shifts are sucky but you can sit and watch a video? (Not a set up, just curious)

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

@@letsgetreal6402 Call center tech support 🤷🏼 call volume is variable enough that sometimes I can watch roughly half an episode without getting a call and today was one of those slow days. As for why it sucks, I'm just a little burned out on keeping up my friendly customer service persona for callers and some of the shortcomings of my department. On the bright side, Thursdays are the start of my work week so it syncs with the SFIA upload schedule :)

[@letsgetreal6402]

@@xXx_Regulus_xXx ah okay. Makes sense. the only thing I could think of when I asked was maybe graveyard shift at a gas station.

[@danielstarkey9953]

Diogenes was without question the most correct of his contemporaries. “There is no where to spit in a rich man’s house but his face.”

[@flakeyjunk2410]

The real gods were the friends we made along the way.

[@escapedcops08]

Yeah... NO I'll NEVER consider my friends "gods", I am my own master.

[@michaelwerkov3438]

@@escapedcops08 you have friends with a party pooper attitude like that? you sound like you overexplain your own jokes while missing everyone elses

[@michaelwerkov3438]

and also, i prefer, the real friends were the gods we made along the way. some in test tubes. other by arcane ritual. but all are my buds now.

[@blackomega2526]

🤣

[@flakeyjunk2410]

My friend just brought me a Gatorade and Big Mac after last night's drinking. As far as I'm concerned he is my new lord and saviour.

[@TheRedJadex]

My favorite godlike aliens are the Planet-TYPES from the nasuverse. Not just for thier exotic abilities, but also, their weird and unusual designs, with one just being a giant cross, other a black gas humanoid giant held together by a small star, and a crystaline spider-like giant.

[@Eldkorp]

What a wonderful episode! Been a longtime lurker here, and so rarely comments, but this particular episode really got my mind working. Thank you!

[@michaelking9818]

Thank you for your comment

[@Appleblade]

Fun Fact: Immanuel Kant believed Saturn and Neptune were inhabited by dramatically more intelligent beings than us... based on his and most modern era philosopher's acceptance of the great chain of being.

[@Falconlibrary]

Favorite godlike alien from film: John Carpenter's "Starman", where the alien has evolved into a being comprised entirely of energy who is totally benevolent. Sounds boring, but putting a creature like that in the midst of us savage humans actually makes for some juicy drama.

[@CeresKLee]

Whoa! I never thought about it before, but "Starman" (the original story by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon) has some commonality with "The Child" (Star Trek: The Next Generation) only the alien making Deanna Troi pregnant instead fully forming from an adult from some human hair DNA.

[@shoujahatsumetsu]

I like that we finally got a sequel to "Gods & Monsters: Space as Lovecraft Envisioned it"

[@achtsekundenfurz7876]

Also known as "Make _World of Lovecraft_ , not _World of Warcraft_ " ;)

[@cesararias7023]

Isaac Arthur: chopping the alien ambassador's head off is a bad idea. Alien Ambassador: In our culture to not chop the ambassador's head off is a big offense. You'll be punished for your disrespect.

[@biglogan6142]

lol ... I'm such a B5 fanboy, and it's so underappreciated, that I get genuinely excited even by just seeing people vaguely reference it in a collage of space elves lol

[@miseee007]

I was a hard trekker but then i watched B5...

[@Deridus]

Massive B5 fan, here. To be honest, I always though season 1 was what Startrek should have been.

[@biglogan6142]

@@miseee007 I'm still a massive trek fan! They're not mutually exclusive :) ... I love stargate and the expanse and even star wars ... I just love B5 more :)

[@miseee007]

@@biglogan6142 Of course! But i would put B5 in first place now, for me at least.

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@stardude2006]

Any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic to a primitive mind. - Arthur C Clarke

[@sharonbraselton3135]

Yes it chef has q. Power.

[@petersmythe6462]

"A human group compared to animal cousins" It really depends on the animal. A neolithic hunter gatherer group will have a stupidly efficient matchup against megafauna, most fish, anything that uses armor as a defense, etc. Where it will have problems is at the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Small mammals can steal our food and spread disease. We have almost no useful protection against biting or stinging insects (which also spread disease) and they can easily take a 90% loss and keep on coming. We also lose very badly in the long run to bacteria, viruses, and parasites in that situation, as even a 2% age-indiscriminate annual mortality rate spike is a serious problem for humans, and 5% is an extinction level event. Compare: rabbits, where 80% is fine.

[@nathancawley8759]

When godlike entities are being discussed, one often forgotten but really crucial points is range. In a spatial and sense how far away can they be and still meaningfully interact with something. Say one wanted to turn lead into gold... would it need to touch it? Could he do it from across the room or from a billion light years away? Does it need to traverse all of the spatial distance between 2 points to travel between them.

[@NoticerOfficial]

If they are what we call them, reaching across the universe to tap our planet or system could be something as simple as opening a door or tapping the screen of a smart phone…and likely is.

[@changsangma1915]

When Godlike entities are the focal point of hypothesis, your imagination only allows for projecting a notion only your human brain would like to comprehend about something beyond mortal comprehension or probability of existence. Finding meaning in such hypothetical circumstance is just non logic brain load, but a fun past time for anyone that enjoys high reaching fictions.

[@samus598]

In Hyperion Cantos there are highly evolved beings that exist in the 4th dimension, outside of time. They aren't even aware of humanity's existence until our AI goes rogue and starts tearing holes in spacetime and poking their heads into the 4th dimension. Much like a God would they have a role to play in saving us from our own devices.

[@petersmythe6462]

A colony of ants might fair ok against a mouse. I don't think they can actually force an engagement but if the mouse wants to attack the colony, I'll bet it's getting an awful lot of bites and stings.

[@merc7105]

Isaac, I’m so glad I found your chan. Your scripts are so thoughtful and well narrated. And your sense of humour and visuals are wonderful. Thank you.

[@aaronturner2694]

I cant believe his much this channel has grown in the last five years. This channel hasn’t lost any of its allures! Glad to still be able to watch, thank you Isaac!

[@0mn1vore]

About one-dimensional godlike aliens: I don't know, an advanced alien or AI who's found a purpose and was able to automate everything else -- no need to eat, sleep, get a job, pay bills and so on, at least not consciously -- might opt to strip its personality down to only those qualities which serve that purpose. It might appreciate the efficiency and/or minimalist aesthetic of being that way. But yeah, it's mostly lazy writing. Or maybe that's just me, since I get pretty monomaniacal about my projects, often forgetting to eat, sleep... I haven't forgotten to show up for work, but have had some rough shifts due to sleep deprivation.

[@M1AIN40]

This is honestly my favourite episode Isaac done so far, the capabilities and how you thought of such examples is just awesome 👏🏿

[@dec2]

At a certain level of omnipotence, a godlike alien might consider us the actual godlikes. With our vulnerabilities and limits we achieve a certain status that is unachievable for them, thus their greatest desire

[@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman]

Irrational

[@pillarmenn1936]

That wouldn't be godlike though and there's nothing stopping them from creating a body that can go through those hardships themselves while placing their consciousness within it. If they're "omnipotent", then nothing should be impossible for them sans subjective truths such as emotions, morals, etc.

[@kam8754]

Inferior beings often exhibit great copage (like me talking as if I'm not one)

[@cannonfodder4376]

Yet another very informative episode as always Isaac. Loved the implications from such logic and the possible story ideas that may arise. The deeper implications are both interesting and unsettling to say the least. And some First Rule of Warfare showings too.😀

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@Dampfaeus]

Humans are more flavorful than pie? I see, I see. Human eating Alien, Isaac Arthur confirmed.

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@tylerdruskoff9689]

I thought you’d bring up how some Polynesian islanders make wooden planes to call upon the god they think brought them corned beef and canned peaches during ww2.

[@MediumDSpeaks]

Animorphs had the Elmist, who would occasionally interfere in important but not game breaking ways. He played a game of universe alteration and civilization evolution against an equally powerful adversary born of the heart of a nebula, but he was still so playful and humble. Loved him so much

[@thinktankdetective8307]

If there is a God of Thursday, we know who he is going to be.

[@thinktankdetective8307]

@@abhiprakash74999 Thorsday

[@angeldude101]

Thursday is probably the most well known just because its god is more popular. There are also gods for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, which are respectively Týr, Odin, and Frigg. Saturday's god for some reason is from a completely different pantheon, that being the Roman god Saturn. I give you one guess for who/what Sunday and Monday belong to.

[@watcher805]

I see Isaac Arthur, I click. I think. I learn. I enjoy. I grow.

[@zippy-zappa-zeppo-zorba-etc]

Not four minutes in and we got two more "first rules of war." We need a supercut of all first rules of warfare.

[@matthewreinke1569]

Damn right

[@jeffzeiler346]

I love how intimately familiar Mr Arthur is popular culture mythology, clearly comfortable pulling examples of super powered heroes and villains off the top of his head.

[@scottd3025]

@Issac Arthur. I just discovered your awesome body of work. Your content, delivery, and production savvy are exceptional. I absolutely love your voice. It is a unique strength that makes you “one of a kind”. You are an inspiration. Your formula is perfect. Don’t change a thing.

[@TheNightWatcher1385]

At around 16:00 you asked why a super entity or species would ignore threats. The Precursors in Halo had a somewhat plausible reason. Their religion is built around the idea that the universe is a living organism that feeds off of emotions and experiences, and it’s their job as its stewards to ensure the universe is always being “fed”, not to engineer all outcomes to their liking. They set things in motion, but would rarely, if ever manipulate the outcomes, even if it was detrimental to their species. This is because they considered every experience to be “nourishing” to the universal organism, both good and bad.

[@taewoosuh9323]

Happy Arthursday everybody

[@yishaqdavid2029]

"some weird quest to calculate every digit of pi" That made me actually laugh out loud. Such a funny statement. "weird quest" LOL

[@TheVoiceOfReason93]

To be fair to the Jedi, while there are only 20,000 Jedi Knights, there are over a billion settled planets in the Star Wars galaxy across a hundred thousand light-years. Even with a million they would be hard-pressed to be everywhere at once.

[@brindlebucker4741]

I think this might be my single favourite of your episodes! Really enjoyed it. Keep up the good work!

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@benjamina2711]

Great video as always, and I just have to comment as a person with no kids of my own, that the clips of petulant children and their exasperated parents are hilarious, and I would like to nominate them for the Best Supporting Cast in a Crazy Sci-fi Nonfiction Series award

[@mjk9388]

Excellent thinking, as always. Great job Isaac and team!

[@gregray373]

This was incredibly fascinating! Thank you Isaac!!

[@ariannagarcia8304]

Isaac A. Thank you so much for the amazing content, which many if us have learned from, have fallen asleep to, or started the day with. If you ever miss the class room you can always think of us the audience as your students, the videos your lectures, and those in the comments participating in active learning. Thank you, happy teacher appreciation week. Happy arthursday everyone. Ps next time I won't forget the drink and the snack.

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@blackomega2526]

Issac making a good morning great as always for years.

[@jenshuber553]

One of the best and most inspiring episodes so far! I'm so glad I saw it, even though I didn't find the title really interesting at first glance.

[@Ron4885]

This kind of exploration on the videos is so interesting and fascinating to me. This is one (like many) I'll listen to many times. Thank you. 😊

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@mnrvaprjct]

To quote: “It is presumed that if 10-dimensional string theory is correct - There must be six additional dimensions that are curled up into complicated undetectably small shapes at the Planck scale known as Calabi-Yau spaces - this is where the strings in string theory vibrate. Every point in spacetime would therefore possess six additional dimensions whose topology is described by a Calabi-Yau space, of which there are a large number of possibilities” So, you know the theory that super-intelligences will shrink themselves smaller and smaller to become maximally efficient? What if they take that to the extreme of the extremes and literally pack themselves into these 6 dimensional calabi-yau spaces - so that they exist everywhere and nowhere (at the macro scale) at the same time.

[@IwinMahWay]

You got me 👐

[@SirTorcharite]

Wouldn't that also imply them being in all time while simultaneously never having a beginning? What are the implications of a non-constant transforming into a multidimensional constant.

[@Zurround]

Your entire thread is just a bunch of ridiculous word salad that makes no sense at all.

[@greggweber9967]

Therefore what we call one Dimension could be here while others are Heaven with its physics, and another being Hell with its physics. And others.

[@greggweber9967]

@@Zurround Not equating anyone with anyone but IMHO more like a Parable which to many is just a story.

[@silverharloe]

"Picard season 2 which will have premiered by the time this episode goes live" Good? timing since you managed to get this episode out on the same day as the last episode of Picard season 2, and I just watched it before listening to this and the overlap is interesting.

[@jhoughjr1]

I imagined Picard yelling NOOOOO and smashing shit up, ya know like he did all the time in next gen....

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I'm afraid to watch the season from the at-best "mixed reviews" folks have been giving me :(

[@Rose_Harmonic]

"... because he will ROFL stomp you all by himself." Lol, this is the best script writing I've ever seen. 13:00

[@PeetaProduction]

A new SFIA video, what a treat!

[@ryalloric1088]

4:44 That's gotta be a record for fastest time between first rules of warfare!

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

To be fair I often do two back-to-back when I have done the bit in a while :)

[@matthewreinke1569]

Thanks! I love the aliens series. More please!

[@philipmurphy2]

Always the fun topics on Isaac's KZbin channel for sure.

[@DanielGenis5000]

Loved this one, truly fascinating concepts!

[@erideimos1207]

Just think, Sara and Isaac, if you had a son next year, he might be a 15 year old, 185 pound, 6"2" teenage boy in just 2038! With a teenage sister, you could see godlike aliens in your own lifetime! Can't wait to see how all that theoretical knowledge of spoiled children holds up :) Awesome episode as always, thanks so much! I just recently completed watching every episode a second time, but rarely comment because I'm usually in "shut up and think about it" mode.

[@deltahavoc1224]

If this simulation is to develop skills hopefully they are forgiving, because I sure as hell didnt make all the best decisions

[@johnstarko8479]

Thanks for making a blog about my kind . Very informative to have it explained from a human’s perspective.

[@temporallabsol9531]

Thanks man. Needed something interesting this morning

[@SuLokify]

Before watching - I always wondered whether wildly different forms of life might exist on wildly different timescales. An aside, mammals generally get about a billion heartbeats in a single lifetime. Our sun operates on about an 11-year cycle... And as far as we know will also live through on the order of about a billion of those. Wonder if there's some Pareto principle type thing going on or just a wild coincidence

[@bigblueshoe777]

Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker posits sentient star life. Cool comment.

[@SuLokify]

@@bigblueshoe777 I'll check it out, thanks for the recommendation! Also, for clarity I just want to say the "about a billion beats per lifetime for mammals" thing is REALLY loose, as there's a big variance in lifespan in the wild versus with medical care, animals like dogs come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and illnesses etc so it's hard to really count total heartbeats. Let's say humans average 70 BPM over their lifetime. There are about 525,000 minutes in a year - this particular human gets in about 36,750,000 heartbeats per year. If she lives to the ripe old age of 75, that's actually more like 2.75 billion lifetime beats. If she's all on her own out in the wild with no medicine, no dental care, and lives to be 35 then it's more like 1.3billion lifetime. An elephant might average 30bpm, that's 15.75 million per year. Average of 60 (48-70 according to google) years and you end up with 0.945 billion. Mice range from 300 to 850 beats per minute - or roughly 160 to 440 million beats in a year, and live 1-3 years. You get the idea. The sun is 4.6 billion years old, with another 5 billion to go, that's enough time for around 870million 11 year cycles. Neat!

[@dontbothertoreply9755]

yes is well known that there is geobiological life forms that only go out of ecstasy when tectonic interaction occurs.

[@smhaceofspades2813]

Nothing better than the Q I love John de Lance!!!!

[@guillermoelnino]

jon luke pickard: why do i feel irritated?

[@axotytawar1115]

@@guillermoelnino as a french it is always funny to hear that :D

[@Rocket_Man]

Thanks for makin my vacay from tha Fin side of YT, outta this world! Gonna relax to these docs

[@Onk599]

27:30 that kid is smiling so much while supposinglu having a tantrum lol. Great vid btw!!

[@AngeloXification]

I'd love to see a fictional story where super technologically advanced being impersonate deities when introducing themselves to Earth.

[@samus598]

Maybe try Ilium by Dan Simmons. It is about a race of AI enhanced intelligences recreating the Trojan war for their own amusement, depicting themselves as the Greek Gods. Just like in the Iliad those Gods are fighting and competing amongst each other, giving cybernetic enhancements to their chosen heroes to aid them on the battlefield, cheating by using their technology to favor one side or the other. It can be kind of a slog since it follows the events of the Iliad closely, but the dynamic between these God-mimicking super intelligences and the humans caught up in their game of hubris was really well done. A lot of it is told through the eyes of a 20th century Iliad expert who is revived and tasked with witnessing the war and reporting to the Gods about how closely their "game" follows the events of the story. I think a lot of Dan Simmons books can be slow at times, but the payoff is always worth it.

[@Dotanalyst]

Stargate SG-1

[@tsamuel6224]

There are god like beings in the Bible, often presumed to be aliens about a century more advanced than we are. In this case god like simply means stupefyingly more advanced than the observer.

[@kinanatto257]

As always. Wonderful vid

[@0326jlc]

Maxim 37: There is no "overkill." There is only "open fire" and "reload." -The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries

[@revermen3580]

If they were real they'd have to be a troll. You walk reverently into the light to meet this higher being and the silence is stunning and profound. Then you hear from all around you. Bahdabahbahpah im lovin it!

[@voidremoved]

God is real. Maybe you are not wrong though... God does troll people, Jesus is a troll... Even the Holy Spirit is a troll, harassing the prophets like Moses, and sending the hornet to chase sinners around. The Gospel is true, but not just the positive parts for the saved... The bad parts of the Gospel are true too. So, non-believers may very well hear laughter all around... As the destroying angels close in for the kill... When the sinners die the second death and are thrown in to the unquenchable fire.

[@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei]

Humans: Godlike aliens would just see us like we see ants Also humans: Ants are extremely fascinating. Look, they even developed herding and agriculture. Wouldn't it be awesome if we could somehow communicate with them? Hey kid, stop destroying the ant hill, they worked on it so hard!

[@Cheretruck_]

Godlike aliens not even see or interested on humans. Just like how we ignore billions of bacterias.

[@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei]

@@Cheretruck_ Not really. We study them. If we don't study about them, we probably don't know about them. And that's not ignorance, that's just our lack of instruments, because they are so small. So if the godlike aliens aren't like the size of a sun (in that case I would kinda doubt they are that intelligent, they would proably be more like space whales), they would find interest in us and other life of our planet. If they can't recognize the fact that we build clearly artificial structures over the entire planet and are capable of planning and research, they are also probably not that smart after all. Same goes for the fact that the life on our planet clearly consists of complex organisms and it's something we don't see on all the other planets we can observe, so it's clearly a rare occurance. Every intelligent alien civilization would be interested in us as much as we would be interested in them, doesn't matter how much less or more developed they are. We celebrate every bacteria we find on another planet and study them. And we have a lot of linguists and exobiologists ect. who would love to find alien life, because it's quite hard to research a topic like "How does intelligent life on planets emerge in different situations" or "what kinds of different languages can developed by different species with different body parts" as long as our sample size for intelligent, abstract thinking beings is 1. And the more the better.

[@John_Weiss]

That kinda describes the relationship between the Archialects and nearbaseline humans in the Orion's Arm universe.

[@joknul1]

So happy for this video, thank you

[@prakadox]

Thanks Isaac, Good episode!

[@Ezra411st]

Okay, here is my idea to determine if an AI is friendly or not friendly to life. It is to do two things, one gives the AI a role in a virtual world with no connection to the outside world, so it can't escape. If it passes, then gives it control over the world it presently lives in and see what it does. If it passes, then give it a limited access to outside information. If it passes this too, the world than finally give it the same role as it started with, and give it some hard lines it can't cross. Oh and the task given must be safe towards humans, not a crime bot or something of that type

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@zero132132]

Modern applications of machine intelligence are a big part of what lead to idiotic, life-ending decision making during the pandemic. Your proposal is oksy for weeding out something that's actively hostile, but that isn't really what people should be worried about with AI.

[@jrr7031]

@@zero132132 what do you mean? Explain how machine learning(lovely politicaly correct term for A.I.) led to decisions made during pandemic

[@dragoninthewest1]

Epicurus said that if there were Gods, they'd be something from another dimension and not the stylized versions of human ego which he thought the Olympians to be

[@BologneyT]

WOW! I can actually go to that event!! I'm glad I watched the video to the end to find out about it! I probably won't make it and it's short notice but it's awesome knowing I could. I missed the last KZbinr who did an in-person event near me.

[@markusstevens4858]

Lmao your humor is part of what makes me LOVE this channel 💯😀

[@cetus835]

Hello, what are your thoughts on the latest conclusions drawn from taking median values of variables of the Drake equation, that it's 54-99% likely we are alone in our galaxy and 33-86% alone in the observable universe?

[@SomeKindaSpy]

Source?

[@eds1942]

We are a long way off from having a decent sample size of verified exoplanets of the right composition to make that kind of assessment.

[@xXevilsmilesXx]

A thought occurs. What if dark matter IS the result of some kind of matter conversion by a hyper advance civilization?

[@SuLokify]

Or what we see as dark matter around distant galaxies is just dyson spheres built so far out from their parent stars that their hull temp matches the CMB and thus is invisible to us. (To do that around our sun it would have to be around 90AU in radius, not enough matter in our system to do it and probably no reason to but fun to think about)

[@mortenolsen838]

An interesting thought. However, that doesn't seem likely because of the even temporal distribution of DM.

[@OpreanMircea]

@@mortenolsen838 you say that dark matter doesn't grow, but how well do we know that?

[@OpreanMircea]

@@SuLokify each megastructure having one or more black holes inside where all the waste heat is dumped in, using run of the mill heat pumps, the reason why they do that may be simply because they don't want to be bothered, or something else we aren't aware if yet

[@OpreanMircea]

I have been thinking about something like this for the last few days, I want to turn it into a short story

[@nomeremannthetameruinkhan]

we love your vids and we thank you both. please keep up the great work take care. we appreciate brilliance.

[@firstandlastname6194]

I was thinking Special Circumstances in the first part of the video. Thats what I liked about the Culture novels, they hold off on the ROFLstomping for as long as they can in the plot, but when it comes it is oh so satisfying.

[@saladinbob]

The Q absolutely do get their god-like powers from technology. This is outright stated by Quinn in the Voyager episode _Death Wish._

[@dannygjk]

Plus it is logical.

[@Kargoneth]

Indeed. Actual godlike beings in fiction are underwhelming and flawed for narrative purposes.

[@waverlyking6045]

Also, fiction is created by human minds which cannot grasp the true scope of something godlike. We can only think in human terms.

[@PlanetOcean]

Superb episode, godlike aliens is more or less any alien race that pop up on Earth orbit, to have the technology to travel between stars....compared with humans they will be like god like due to teir technology will givve them total domination against humanity.

[@richardchandler6969]

Try Serial Experiments Lain or Solaris if you aren't already familiar. Two very different angles but strangely enough a lot of overlapping concepts being examined. Not quite underwhelming examples of god like entities in fiction. In my opinion.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

@@richardchandler6969 I'd definitely second that on Solaris

[@richardchandler6969]

@@isaacarthurSFIA My apologies for adding yet another entry to what has to be the longest "Dude you gotta watch this show" list but yeah... Serial Experiments Lain was every bit as unsettling and surreal as Solaris. 👍

[@ethanhunstiger4868]

A good way to do benevolent, super powerful aliens is to imply that they have their own struggles. They are helping, just with problems the other, less advanced species are not aware of.

[@ianharrison5758]

I have an advanced Human from another universe playing the role of god like alien, and his reasoning for limited direct intervention is made clear to everyone and he’s not like a “well I definitely know better” Tbf, his brain isn’t capable of doing some of the wilder things available to someone or his archetype, he has the ability to draw upon all the knowledge of his own universe should he need it. Should a hyper specific problem occur that the extremely advanced tech of a Kardeshev level 2 civilization or higher can’t handle, he will directly intervene directly with far more advanced tech or physical phenomena, but normally just acts as a guide. Open, honest, testable, and falsifiable. When he teaches a civilization something, it’s for a good reason and helps them, and when he doesn’t help them it’s in the form of not just handing them the solution to every problem, as a journey from start to end done so fast has no value, and the gift of becoming like him only means something or is safe for others to exist around if that being understands the development of a civilization through collective experience. In the same way humans 2000 years ago would have unleashed nukes as the wrath of the gods if we gave it to them, giving any civilization power without giving them the knowledge to use it wisely is dangerous, and the wisdom to use it ethically is only possible through experience. This way he can be in the spotlight but not a hehe, we have god on our side so fuck uou random negotiation that isn’t going well.

[@No_OneV]

Been waiting for this episode

[@petersmythe6462]

I would argue we see a pretty capricious god (or indeed, gods, monotheism developed later) in Abrahamic mythology as well. Unless you think going to a world of primitive aliens, declaring them to be evil except for a single family, and then causing a mass extinction event that wipes out everything but a small seedship is a normal thing to do.

[@bryanhfuller7937]

They say that were made in his own image right? I guarantee that we are flawed beyond belief and are not near-perfect. So that being the case wouldn't that also describe God? If he made us like him and he's saying that he's not perfect but he's got flaws, issues he's working through... Just throwing that out there thought

[@eds1942]

The text refers to the Elohim a few hundred times. Literally, “the gods”. They used the word for a few things; God, the gods, angels and even earthly judges to name a few. But, relics still persist into the English. The most notable examples are found in early Genesis from the creation in chapter 1 through to the start of the Flood story in chapter 6. Where you’ll see in the English versions something along the lines of: “And God (or the Lord) said: “Let us”...”. And it’s talking about the Flooding of the World as they knew it. Though, it’s borrowing heavily from the epic of Gilgamesh. At any rate, the Ancient Aliens theory people from the “Hiatory” channel likely have this subject covered.

[@philyeary8809]

How would almighty Peter handle evil as the chaotic problem it is?

[@MrNote-lz7lh]

Well if civilization was anything like it is today then wiping it out was the Good thing to do.

[@petersmythe6462]

@@philyeary8809 IDK probably with some serious favoritism of societies, groups, and individuals that have cultures, institutions, beliefs, etc that do not normalize inegalitarian valuation of sapient life. Whether that is cannibalism of the non-mortally wounded living, slavery, bigotry, market cruelty that values the worth of a being by its financial spending power, etc. One thing I am definitely not doing is destroying 99.9999% of the members of every living species because one of those species is infighting with itself. Really no matter what it's doing. You don't have to be a particularly good interventionist to know that's not a great option. It makes no sense to see siblings fighting over something and pull out a nuclear bomb to deal with the situation.

[@shubhamkumar6689]

I would love to see a video about medieval aliens or an alien civilization witnessing industrial revolution.

[@icecold9511]

The funny thing is, that pretty much has to happen. I guarantee aliens didn't just suddenly have a star ship.

[@shubhamkumar6689]

@@icecold9511 yes and i wonder what kind of societies they had, how fast or slow they evolved technologically.

[@icecold9511]

@@shubhamkumar6689 our own experience suggests once they start using metal, they will quickly use up the more easily accessible stuff if they don't advance to serious mining in time. And our experience with hydrocarbons suggests the same. Ether quickly advance or run out. If the human race got a great reset right now, we'd be stuck at low level industry. The easily recovered energy resources a low level civilization can recover has been used up.

[@shubhamkumar6689]

@@icecold9511 we have around here for at least 100k years, we wasted almost all those years wandering around.

[@icecold9511]

@@shubhamkumar6689 But anything beyond stone tools is only a handful of thousand years.

[@rossmckitrick7806]

I loved that it took me soooo long to follow your thought process (i find it hard to hold multiple story lines at once, not your fault) but when I got there brilliant outward thinking, assuming we are talking concepts not fact (as much as fact is a thing)

[@dino575]

Looking forward to watching this :)

[@Cartoonicus]

The problem with all of this is that we’re talking about creatures that are supposedly so much smarter and more knowledgeable and wiser than us, and yet we’re trying to psychoanalyze and predict and understand what they would be like, using our own inferior knowledge and wisdom. It’s the same problem with the question of Why an all good and all powerful being would allow evil, and we forget that He’s the one who decides what good and evil are. Isaac Just inadvertently, made the case for God.

[@mondaysinsanity8193]

yeah, no. just made "god" sound even more like an abusive boyfriend is all.

[@thek2despot426]

Yeah, but how/why does God decide what's good and evil, and how does that not make God's goodness totally vacuous if he's good just because he said so (which any narcissist could do)?

[@nervun8097]

God-like aliens? Evangelion Moment

[@richardchandler6969]

It's kinda a shame how little recognition anime gets from science fiction fans. They're missing some really good stories. I felt like NGE borrowed significantly from Solaris in addition to the obvious Lovecraft elements. Good stuff. 😁

[@jonsel27578]

I appreciate this channel so much...

[@chrisa.1740]

I'm glad you included The First Rule of Warfare in this video. It's been a while since we covered that most important of rules.