Intelligent Design in SF

[ThoughtCriminal]

For now, I think I would rather float this here rather than "Science" or "Religion". ;)

I do not consider ID science, but I have thought that it was an interesting idea for many years. I can think of a few major science fiction works and essays that have played with it and I am wondering if anyone else has favorite ID stories. I have not limited ID to the creation of the Universe, but include stories in which a "Higher" species manipulates our evolution.

2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke - Alien artifact manipulates humanity's evolution.
Childhood's End - Arthur C Clarke - Alien "Overlords" manipulate humanity's evolution.
Contact (the Novel) - Carl Sagan - A message is embedded in a mathematical constant.
The Uplift Series - David Brin - every known species in the Galaxy was "Uplifted" by a patron race, but Humanity is a mystery.

[YankeyMCC]

1. You might include Asimov's Robot/Foundation Universe

stories.

The universe shaped by the 'Eternals' as an ID story. That's a thought that occurred to me last time I read through the books and particularly when I re-read the "Foundation's Edge" and "Foundation and Earth" books where Pelorat essentially gives up on searching for Earth because after he's had the idea of the Eternals explained to him he feels like the origin question has been resolved. I didn't like Pelorat much at that point. (I mean that in a good way in terms of the writing. Asimov had created a character who was likeable and respectable to a point where it mattered to me when he 'gave up'.)

[Reader Rabbit]

2. TNG Episode that May Qualify

I can't remember the name of it, but it involved a scavenger hunt of artifacts that eventually led Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians, and humans to discover some gazillion year old race that had "seeded" all their worlds. I wasn't too crazy about the episode, myself. In fact, after representatives from the four species in question viewed the hologram of the proto-chick spokesperson who explained it all to them, I was with the Klingon, who said something to the effect of, "If she weren't already dead, I would kill her with my bare hands!"

I remember watching it with a group of friends, and we all started humming, "It's a Small World After All" as the proto-chick was doing her spiel.

Maybe I'm just too cynical.

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. I agreed with the Klingon too. - nt

[Orsino]

4. Robert J. Sawyer's CALCULATING GOD

Alien race contacts Earth, calmly asserting direct scientific evidence for the existence of God. It's a great read.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. Almost forgot another Clarke classic

short story:

"The Nine Billion Names of God"

[Orrex]

6. Four more, plus a possible fifth

Strata, by Terry Pratchett. The antecedent of his long-running Discworld series, this novel told of a sprawling Company that engages in massive-scale terraforming, thanks to ancient technology left behind by a long-dead world-designing race. This fun but flawed book even makes fun of supposed archaeological anomalies so beloved by "real-world" Creationists.

Plan 9 From Outer Space the boss aliens near the end explicitly discuss God and Creation. We can infer this to mean the Judeo-Christian deity, given the demographics and reactions of the Earthling characters present.

Battlestar Galactica TOS "There are those who say that life here began out there." 'Nuff said.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Earth as an artificial world-computer certainly seems designed to me. Especially amusing IMO given Adams' famous atheism.

Stargate (the original film) Granted, by his own assertion Ra intervened long after the spark of human intelligence had caught fire, but he claimed credit for jump-starting our civilization, so that must count for something.

[Orrex]

8. And a sixth!

I should have realized this a long time ago, but the Marvel Universe entails a series of visits by the mighty Celestials to intervene in the course of human evolution. Sounds like design to me!

[mzteris]

7. Does Andrew Greeley's

"God Game" count?

I read the book - *then* found out Greely was a priest. I'm still shaking my head. Interesting concept, no?

[PVnRT]

9. It is good in the realm of fiction

Because that's what it is and where it belongs - science fiction.

[krispos42]

10. What about Niven's "Known Universe" series?

I have not read all of the KU books but I've read a fair amount. "Ringworld", the six or seven volumes of the "Man-Kzin Wars", and a couple of short-story collections like "Neutron Star". I get the impression, though, that, human evolution had been tampered with.

And of course the fertility lottery that produced that incredibly lucky lady in "Ringworld". Brown? Is that her name?