I asked AI 📟 “What is more likely: the existence of God or life 👽 beyond the Earth?”

Quantifying the likelihood of the existence of God or life beyond Earth in percentage terms is inherently problematic for several reasons:

🌐 Nature of Evidence

The question of extraterrestrial life is a scientific one, and scientists look for empirical evidence to answer it. The existence of God, on the other hand, is a question that often falls into the realms of philosophy, theology, and personal belief. The methods for inquiry are fundamentally different.

🌐 Current Indicators

While there is no direct evidence of extraterrestrial life, there are indications that the building blocks of life are widespread in the universe and that conditions suitable for life could exist on many planets. This gives some basis for estimating the likelihood of life elsewhere, even if it’s still speculative.

🌐 Personal Beliefs and Subjectivity

Belief in God often stems from personal experiences, religious teachings, philosophical considerations, and cultural upbringing. Such beliefs are deeply subjective, and assigning a probability to them can be seen as a misunderstanding of the nature of faith.

🌐 Definitions Matter

The definition of “God” varies significantly across religions and individuals. Some might believe in a personal deity, others in a more abstract force or principle, and others in multiple deities. Similarly, “life beyond Earth” can range from microbial life to advanced civilizations.

🌐 Absence of Evidence

Just because we haven’t found evidence for something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. For both the existence of God and extraterrestrial life, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Given these complexities, assigning percentages to the likelihood of either the existence of God or life beyond Earth would be speculative and not based on empirical evidence or objective standards. Furthermore, many people would argue that the two questions are not comparable in terms of how they should be approached or understood.