Whether this “complements or contradicts existing religious value systems depends largely on the interpretation of those systems by the people who have adopted them,” said Frank. “However, my interviews with astronauts of faith suggest that their religious perspective was strengthened, rather than being weakened.”
Frank notes that his cosmology has parallels with Yuval Harari ’s “dataism,” described by Harari as the “most interesting emerging religion.” Dataism, as defined by Harari, “says that the universe consists of data flows, and the value of any phenomenon or entity is determined by its contribution to data processing.” This may sound kind of cold and metallic, but if life is an algorithm and self-awareness is data processing the parallels with Frank’s ideas are evident.
At the MVA webinar there wasn’t time to address all the points I wanted to discuss with Frank. So I had this new conversation with him. Please find below my comments and questions (all related to space philosophy, cosmic metaphysics, and religion), and listen to hear Frank’s thoughtful replies and other points that came up.
