God did not create Man, but Man may create Heaven

We are in very interesting times and what our future may look like, endlessly fascinates me. I merely consume lots of great thinking from others. I wish I was smart enough to formulate a unique theory. Our potential, or maybe likely future, boggles my very average mind. And there are some wild ideas about the world we will live in and what it might look like in the not so distant future. Some of those potential scenarios are very optimistic, but many paint potentially dark and scary outcomes. This is a personal exploration of some of that thinking and my humble guess at our future.

Religion is also a topic I find to be very fascinating. I think there is a corollary to our future. Why are we religious? What has been the impact on our history and how is it impacting individual behavior in our quickly changing culture and society today? I think the battle of religion against science and reason has yet to play itself out. I believe that religion’s purpose, need and usefulness, is eroding quickly; arguably its usefulness is already behind us but we have yet to recognize this as a whole. Will there be some reckoning where things come to a head or does religion fade away during this century? Maybe religion becomes reconfigured because we have an innate need to belong to something that is greater?

Recently I watched an episode of the National Geographic show called “The Year Million” which was a series that focused on many theories and aspects of what mankind will look like in the year million; a long way from 2017. One episode called "Dude, Where's My Body?" suggests that in the not-so-distant future, we will be able to load our minds and lives into a digital state and vacate our biological life. This what they called the Metaverse. This theory resonates with me for a number of reasons.

What is the Metaverse? Good question. However, before we answer that question, let us start with making sure we have somewhat of a baseline on the characteristics of Heaven; mostly as a concept. Before I define this, I must state that I am no theologian nor am I religious. That being said, from my perspective, heaven is a state that humanity can go to if they are deemed to qualify by their God. We vacate our earthly bodies and live in a higher state with all the others that came before us and have been good or deemed worthy. An afterlife is the essence of this concept and found in most religions. We live in the 'house of God' and historically, the heavens have largely been portrayed to be above the clouds and beyond Earth; consistent in what our knowledge of the world was 2000 years ago. We remain there for eternity in a virtuous state. Certainly not a perfect description but I think this hits the major elements. This desire for an after-life or some aspect of immortality is found in most religions. Of course, this gets to our core fear as mortal humans, that life is finite. I certainly do not want to die.

Another thing to think about is that there is also an alternative to heaven in most religions. We of course refer to this as Hell; primarily a Christian concept. There does seem to be a binary choice in all religions split by good and evil. What is also an interesting condition is that while we often refer to all life on Earth as ‘all living creatures of God’, Heaven and Hell in many religions is reserved for only human life.

Now the Metaverse is a ‘virtual reality’ in which users not only interact with but enter and live in a computer-generated environment. And like Heaven, we vacate our Earthly bodies, and go into a higher state; in this case, a virtual and digital world. The Metaverse today would require several evolutionary steps from a technical, biological and energy perspective. With the growing speed of our technical capabilities, I suspect the Metaverse becomes a reality in the next fifty years. We would, in theory, be able to remain in the Metaverse for eternity.  You would be able to interact with all other humans who have also entered the Metaverse. The similarities between the core elements of Heaven and the Metaverse are substantial, with the exception of two key points; the first is that man will create the Metaverse and God created Heaven, and second, Heaven is not real and the Metaverse will be.

The Metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the internet.

Now, the likelihood of the Metaverse I think is high. What is uncertain is how virtuous it will be. First, I believe the only way the Metaverse does not become a reality is if mankind self-destructs before the technology needed to make the Metaverse becomes a reality. In respect to what the Metaverse will be like is also dictated by the fallibility of the human condition. There may be no overriding virtuous and high moral standard governed by a God in the Metaverse. There is a real possibility that the Metaverse may contain both Heavenly and Hellish like conditions because there is not a single God-like force directing and controlling good morality. The simplicity of the binary choice between good and evil being judged by an all-knowing God is aspirational. What is concerning is a world created by the frailties and complexities that exist within the human condition puts the likelihood that the Metaverse is heavenly in question, and may be even certain. This could be a key difference between the Metaverse and Heaven. I think there is a real potential that the Metaverse embodies both Heaven and Hell. If this is the case, then the Metaverse could mirror our life on Earth. If this were the result, then the only advancement would be immortality.

My quick view of religion is that it allowed us to make sense of a world that we did not understand. We lived in a world where there really was only one truth, and that was death. You can view this mortal reality in two ways; that there was finality and everything ended, or there was some next step after this life. This next step is aspirational and I think embedded in what makes us human. Additionally and maybe more importantly, the potential of moving to an afterlife provides a control mechanism for those that ruled. To create a possibility that there was a next step, mankind was able to impose a morality condition that was beneficial in controlling the growing masses in a time where there was limited opportunity to impose control on humanity in an overarching manner. However, as we grow smarter and gain more knowledge about our world and the Universe beyond, the likelihood of a God, Heaven and Hell, and all that goes with religion becomes less reasonable, rational and necessary.

In turn, we are growing and evolving to allow us to get to a point where we will be able to shed the limitations of biology and become immortal. I think the Metaverse is a near-certain future; barring the potential that our self-destructive ways don’t get the better of us first. What the Metaverse looks like when we get there is significantly less certain. The core decision or eventuality boils down to whether the Metaverse will be just good, like Heaven, or human nature will create a condition where there is good and bad, much like our historical mortal life. There are a lot of questions that we must contemplate in the Metaverse. Is the Metaverse an event horizon? Or is evolution finite or infinite? Is the Metaverse the end of humanity? Or will we have a mortal coil that is our umbilical cord to humanity in the Metaverse? What will the process of entering the Metaverse be like; gradual or a quick download? What will our sensation of this new world be like? One could presume that because there will be the capacity to shed the limitations of our current world that this new reality will be many times more sensational than what we know today. May be infinitely more sensational, and will that be good or bad, Heaven or Hell?

I will certainly spend the rest of my days observing and exploring how likely the Metaverse will be in our future. From a personal perspective, I suspect that I will unlikely be able to take advantage of a life in the Metaverse. I suspect I will be on the outside looking in of this opportunity. And for someone who does not want to die, I find the cruel and personally disappointing. They only silver lining is that I believe my children will have the opportunity to enter the Metaverse. And I hope it is Heavenly. I find it ironic that it is very likely that the fiction our ancestors created will essentially come to fruition as the result of our evolution and making.

The Fear of Death has caused so much Death

Why do we have religion? This is a topic I think about a lot. I am not religious and as I have aged, I think the need for religion becomes unnecessary in a world of reason and science. This is the half-full view. The other side of this coin is I think there is a strong case to be made that religion is also quite destructive, and should be eliminated accordingly.

The Crusades were a campaign aimed at recovering the ‘Holy Land’ from Muslim rule. The term "Crusades" is also applied to other church-sanctioned campaigns. These efforts were largely about killing others who did not pray to the exact version of their God. While the Crusades were specifically the result of Christian doctrine, this view is generally shared amongst all religions.

So with that in mind, I think the first reason we have religion is this innate feeling mankind has that there is a higher power. We are prone to ponder our existence and the meaning of life. As we explore this intellectual rabbit hole, one possibility is our purpose is the result of this powerful guiding hand. I must confess that I too wonder about this possibility. Even today, I cannot totally rule out there is a creator, but our growing knowledge and understanding of this world strongly suggest that it is highly unlikely.

The second reason for religion is that the existence of God(s) has provided a way for us to reconcile our world and the many unknowns. From a historical perspective, it is pretty easy to understand why religion came into existence. It is not hard to imagine many thousands of years ago that events like hurricanes, earthquakes, plague, famine, the sun, moon and stars were the result of God’s creation, displeasure or affirmation. An easy answer for a world that was not well understood.

The one unknown that every human contemplates is death. This is a very scary proposition with generally two options, finality or something more. And God knows which one is more palatable. So depending on the religion and God(s) that you happen to ascribe to, you are generally provided a convenient and easily understood package that allows you to contemplate a future. In many instances, the religious answer is that we continue in some fashion whether that is in another place, like Heaven, or here on Earth provided through a new body and life. In my mind, and based on a growing knowledge of our world, there is little question that the likely reality is we only have one chance at this life. A conclusion that I find depressing and would prefer not to accept. Instead, religion lets all believe that those who go before us are in a ‘better place’, and waiting for us to allow for a grand and emotional reunion. And just to put the cherry on top, we get to remain in this place of bliss and tranquility with all those we love, for eternity. This assumes that in the only life we are certain of, we have met some moral and behavioral threshold that allows us entrance after we have been judged by our God.

So this condition of morality and good behavior during our Earthly life has a nice ancillary benefit of controlling and managing the masses. Religion has afforded many leaders the two-pronged benefit of being a source of power being the conduit to omnipotence and control over society. This creates a strong motivation for people in or, that desire power, to instill these tenants in a society that is either controlled by religion or at least highly influenced by religion.

So the titled irony that our fear of death has resulted in death for many of us, is both a shocking and mysterious reality for me. The basic premise being we are religious as a result of this core fear of mortality and religion is the greatest source of premature death throughout our history; probably infant mortality is higher. Every war for the past 2000 years is either directly or effectively caused by religion. I would suspect that our human tribal condition is fueled by religion. In one way or another, religion is responsible for all wars and human conflict through the vast majority of human history. The result has been untold and significant death. At minimum, this is ironic. In actuality, it is a vicious circle and reality demonstrating the self-destructive nature of the human condition.

Galileo is one famous scientist that found themselves in conflict with religion. In an odd twist of fate, his scientific studies were funded by the Catholic Church. However, when he concluded that the Earth orbited the Sun, his inquisition began. This is one example of the long history of science and religion being in conflict. When will the reality of science allow society at large to see that religion is no longer something modern society needs.?

Today religion finds itself in an interesting period. As our society improves its knowledge and reason and can communicate this thinking to larger and larger portions of society, one would presume people will become less religious. Secularism and atheism have seen growth, particularly in the last ten years. That being said, religion still has a firm grasp on large portions of our world. Today, religion is still causing the deaths of many. And this likely will not go away anytime in the near future.

Will we ever overcome this fear as a species, or will it result in the end of humanity?