What if...?

[skepticFromTX]

One morning you find on the kitchen counter a plain white envelope which bears the words:

THE EXPLANATION

and nothing else. You don't know where it came from and there's no one there to ask. You open the envelope and find a single typewritten page inside. Puzzled, you begin reading and after the first few sentences its significance begins to dawn on you. With mounting excitement (or perhaps dread) you read on as the message unfolds. You've never seen writing like this before: prose so clear that it's truth is absolutely impossible to deny. Like it or not, you realize in your gut that it just can't be wrong! Sweating now, you reach the end of the last sentence and sit heavily on the floor. Drained. You have just read an explanation of what the universe is, how it originated, and how sentient life came to be.

Of course... it's so obvious! You wonder how all the great minds down through the centuries could have missed it. How many other people know about this...? I can't possibly be the only one. Can I?

You read it again, and this time you notice that nowhere in THE EXPLANATION is any mention made of a Creator, or an Intelligent Designer, or any other form of Deity or Supernatural Being.

Does your life change?
If so, how?

[Chad]

Yes, my life would change.

I would make a better effort to lock my door and secure my house to make sure no more sneaky weirdos leave strange one page messages on my kitchen counter.

In all seriousness though, it would depend on the contents of the message.

[Goat]

Yes, my life would change.

I would make a better effort to lock my door and secure my house to make sure no more sneaky weirdos leave strange one page messages on my kitchen counter.

In all seriousness though, it would depend on the contents of the message.

Inside there is just one little number


42

[methylatedghosts]

Inside there is just one little number


42

Hahahaha. Nice.

But as for the TS, does this say anything about WHY life started and the universe started? Or if at all there is a why? Does it say what our "mission" here is if there is one?

Because if all we have is a how and what, then to me, that would just be a piece of info that is interesting to know, if you know what I mean. I don't think it'd be that life-changing unless you wrote a book about it or proved it by way of science etc.

In the end, I think all it'd do is get you alot of money, but probably wouldn't change how you lived your life.

Those who believe in a creator would say "see here's proof. It doesn't say there isn't a creator"

Those who don't would say "see, here's proof. It doesn't say there is a creator"

[Bugmaster]

I think most theists would say that they already do have The Explanation (tm), and that it most certainly includes the Creator, so The Explanation (tm) wouldn't do anything for them.

Most atheists, on the other hand, would say that life, Universe, and everything are complicated things, and that our current explanations of them are pretty good already (though far from complete, of course), so The Explanation (tm) would need to include a whole lot of evidence in order to be persuasive, and that won't fit on a page.