Yeah - I was raised Methodist and went through a lot of
   religious questing, ending up Eastern Orthodox (ALMOST became
   Catholic tho, just before it) - and there was never a time I
   didn't trust that Science was more or less on the right path
   with enough of it. I"m agnostic now but I like to keep my ears
   open on all sides always a little skeptical but always
   listening. I give a harsher criticism to the Sciences because of
   Scientism becoming the up-and-coming predominant religion of the
   near future... and if a lot of humanity is going to be led by
   Scientists that _don't_ know how to lead people? Well, they'd
   better get things right. I'm not much of a fan of Scientism as
   it stands now though. It's a religion in a very primitive state.
   == Oh ancient alien stuff. I was into that as a teenager for a
   little bit. I reconciled a lot of my Sunday school stuff with my
   love of Sci-Fi, so I just imagined God-as-alien at the time and
   tried to fit the bible stories into it. Worked pretty well. Was
   fun. == It can be as old as the Universe, if we expand our
   definition of life. As it stands, basing life upon things that
   resemble humans in SOME way, about 3.5 billion years. and, so
   far, no evidence of our kind of life on other planets. Might
   change. Who knows. == Well, when I say sci-fi I mean "sci". The
   only sci-fi I consider legit is hard science fiction.
   Theoretical physics is hard sci fi to me, for example paid for
   by Universities. Well, not particle physics. That's good science
   there. But the probability stuff? eh, I take with a grain of
   salt. Maybe, maybe not. why? 'cause statistically, I don't
   exist. But I'm here. == Oh I like Dubstep. I like how it got
   incorporated into mainstream music, especially the rising tone,
   the bass drop (usually with a couple of memorable words) and
   then the craziness. My favorite pattern of newer music. = I hope
   so. My hope is this: We'll broaden our definition of life. Right
   now, it's limited to peculiar conditions here and it's somewhat
   arbitrary. I think as time goes on, the line between
   life/not-life is going to have to get fuzzier and fuzzier. Then
   we'll see more life. ==