Life on other planets

I think a more interesting question for me as an atheist would be what if alien intelligent life had a concept of god very similar to human concepts?Would this imply that evolved intelligence is prone to inventing such things? Or would it imply that actually there might be something to this whole god thang after all?More investigation would be needed..........Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.

And I would agree. But is that just our atheistic bias shining through? What similarities would we consider supportive of an evolutionary answer? I suspect that some here would cite any similarities as being evidence of there being "something" out there. Something that is not just the product of human invention. I suspect they would consider our attitude to an evolutionary answer as akin to that of the religious you refer to.So how can we hope to differentiate? Are there any clear predictions that an evolutionary answer could claim with regard to potential alien god concepts?

I wasn't thinking of any "specific religious answer". I was thinking of the more generalised (deistic?) argument that the commonality of spirituality across human cultures is evidence of "something".If discovered in alien cultures too the argument between evolutionary origins and an actual indication of some sort of "spiritual" reality would be an interesting one. IMHO.

OK.How about aliens that believe that there is a "non-empirical" realm (i.e. spiritual by any other name) that indicates a higher purpose and meaning to life that transcends mere physical existence?Would that not at least chime with human notions of spirituality to the extent that the commonality was suggestive of "evidence"?Jeez - I cannot believe that I am the one arguing the pro-spiritual case here!! Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.