Pandaemonium Architecture 6.0

In this course

McMullin is a theologian working within the Catholic tradition who grapples with how contact with extraterrestrial intelligence would reshape religious thought on Earth. His key move is to analogize this scenario to the theological crises sparked by 16th-century European discovery of Mesoamerican peoples, suggesting that encounter with alien intelligence poses similar challenges to Christian cosmology and doctrine. The course uses him to ground speculative questions about AI and technological discovery in the history of theological adaptation, showing how contact scenarios demand new frameworks for understanding humanity's place in creation.

Mentioned in 1 reading

Steven J. Dick

Cosmic Evolution from Cosmos and Culture

4

While all of these scenarios are interesting to contemplate, most compelling, and most discussed, is the problem of how the discovery of clear evidence of a signal from extraterrestrial intelligence would affect theology on Earth, even if n…those who have recently provided reflections from within the Catholic tradition. McMullin related the problem to that faced by 16th century Europeans discovering the peoples of Mesoamerica. Fully aware of Thomas Paine’s objections to Christ…The case where an extraterrestrial message is decoded is even more startling. Astronomer Jill Tarter, a pioneer in the field of SETI, believes an extraterrestrial message, unambiguously decoded, might be “a missionary campaign without prece…

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