Are we God ?

I read a fascinating article in a recent Economist whereby the rationale for the lack of interstellar aliens or other civilizations was floated.   It's a tad "science-y" dealing with gamma ray bursts, their frequency and effects, but worth the read if you have 10minutes.

It got me thinking  - what if we're the first ?  While statistically improbable, some species does indeed have to be first.  It will be lonely that's for certain, and indeed we may find evidence in the future of other civilizations that have existed, or are at a different stage of growth than we are.

What this reminded me of was a concept I was exposed to years ago in a book by Sir Arthur C. Clarke, noted science fiction writer and futurist.  Mr Clarke is credited with having dreamed up ideas in the 1940's to 1950's such as the global satellite communication network we use today, mobile phones and space elevators.  In one of his works that I've always been quite fond of - Childhood's End - Clarke cites racial memory as a mechanism where the future is "remembered" into the past as it will become evocative or traumatizing to us as a species.  Which got me thinking...what in our past is like that, perhaps nothing more so than religious beliefs.

If I put these two ideas together as I'm often wont to do, what if the role of God in our formative millennia as a species is due to the fact that our lucky position in the universe means we are simply older and more advanced than other worlds..?  In other words, we are the future gods to other worlds, all seeing, and knowing and able to control that which seems uncontrollable.  Even by today's standards, we can 'pull-off' many of the same illusions we credit our Gods with doing in days gone past.  A less advanced civilization watching us fly, communicate over great distance, use advanced powers to control weather and so on might easily assume we are divine in some way.

It's an interesting concept and one that raises questions about our responsibilities to others. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.