[ExI] Christianity: where to now?

[Bryan Bishop]

On Saturday 17 May 2008, M1N3R wrote:
> Or what will be the future of religion anyways? I'm interested in
> material on the topic, mainly connected to the Catholic Church. If
> they must change, then how? And how is Christianity compatible with
> most of the future models presented here? I just can't imagine a

Suppose the singularity occurs; what then? There will be a few billion 
people that are behind the times. Many of them will suddenly have tools 
and technology that they otherwise never had before. So this would mean 
that you suddenly have billions of people very intensely interested in 
something that they have never seen before, something that offers them 
hope [and possibly doom] for themselves, their children, parents and 
their villages. What would help ease the transistion, should they want 
one? By transition I mean training and education about what's going on 
and how to upgrade their shock level. What would help the medicine go 
down? A spoonful of sugar? 

Anyway, in Zindell's novels as well as in Orion's Arm, there's no 
indication that Catholicism or the 'Kristians' [as Zindell calls them] 
are made impossible in a post-singularity scenario. But frankly, when 
you have a live demonstration right in front of a young kid, who are 
they going to believe? Prayer for a cure to a disease, or a machine 
that can deliver? Hm. 

Breaking up old, crusty social institutions is an interesting topic. How 
would you do this without stepping on too many toes? Reform of 
institutions isn't exactly something that humans are specialized in. 
Especially since most institutions are supposed to last forever (the 
U.S. Experiment didn't have a due date).

> posthuman believing in God... Can you?

Yes. It's very easy to imagine that.

- Bryan
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