Is this really a Religion?
I'm not sure if this falls into the realm of a religion, since there
is no statement about a deity to worship. That is to say, the major objects in the
center of this “religion” or just that, objects, not
powerful sentient beings to worship. They do not hear prayers. They grant no
boons. I do not exclude the possibility of the existence of a
god, or gods, but I doesn't include them here either.
These object include the fact the the universe has 3 large expanded spatial
dimensions, the Sun, the Earth, the Moon, and Jupiter.
Key components
There are two key components: existence and life. I suppose a third could be intelligence/sentient life, but that would be an extension.
Existence
Obviously, we just have a place to live. The fact that our universe has 3
expanded spatial dimensions is important. So is the fact that our solar system
has only one star, and that it's a boring main sequence star too. The Earth,
besides giving us a place to live, has a few features that are very important
for our continued survival. So do the Moon and Jupiter. The features of our
solar system, which I believe are so vital, seem to be rare. But then again, we
can only see so much. If we were in a neighboring solar system looking back at
this solar system with the technology of today, we would not be able to see much
either.
Life
Not just
life, but a continuing biosphere where life is able to evolve into complex and
sentience. I believe the conditions that lead to life are
fairly common, but the conditions must persist. Mars and Venus may have had the
right conditions for life to begin, unfortunately the conditions there are too hostile.
Venus has gotten too hot, while Mars is too cold and has a too thin of an
atmosphere. Jupiter's moon Europa still has some hope, if only for a massive bacterial blanket
at the bottom of the ice covered oceans. (Are we sure there are ice covered
oceans on Europa? We have the ice covered part.)
Deep Question #1: What is
“Life”
One of the deep questions is, “What is life?” Am I alive,
or simply a machine based on organic chemistry? There is no easily
identifiable delineation between non-living and living. Rather it is a
continuum with organic chemistry reactions known to all Chem-101
students on the non-living side to obvious living things such as plants, animals,
etc. (Are viruses alive or nasty chemistry?)
Deep Question #2: How to identify
“Sentience”
Another question regards sentience, not so much as what it is, but
rather how to tell if one has it. (No, I don't believe in that
spiritual mumble jumble about souls.) Obviously, a brain of some form
is required. Just because we can't communicate with chimps or dolphins
or octopus or dogs or birds, does that mean they are not sentient? If we finally
build a smart toaster, not just a toaster with pre-program stimulus-response
algorithm, would we say that is a sentient toaster?
(Obviously, we are sentient, since we get to define what it
means. :))