Humans imagine gods in human form.
What are the foundations and origin of the Exodemic Fictional Universe?
The first science fiction novel that I ever read was Isaac Asimov’s The Gods Themselves. The title is based on this quote: “Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.” About the same time, I read Erich von Däniken’s book Chariots of the Gods? Asimov’s novel remains of interest to me because it introduced me to what is now a common plot element in many science fiction stories: other “parallel universes” that we might be able to have contact with. I was vastly unimpressed by the “evidence” in Chariots of the Gods? that was presented as supporting the idea that Earth had long ago been visited by space aliens. However, von Däniken got me thinking: might it be possible for someone to travel vast distances from another star to Earth and then not bother to leave behind clear evidence of their having been here?
Three other important influences on me were Arthur C. Clarke, Jack Vance and Carl Sagan. Clarke’s science fiction did a good job of depicting alien visitors to Earth who
- arrived here long ago
- helped create the human species
- were vastly more technologically advanced than we are
Clarke suggested that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic“.
In his novel Contact, Sagan asked an interesting question: might it be possible to find scientific evidence that supports the idea that our universe was created by intelligent design?
What is the rancher's relationship with a particular blade of grass?
I’ve long enjoyed reading the science fiction stories of Jack Vance. Vance imagined an organization (“The Institute”) that would act to limit the development of advanced technologies. Vance set many of his stories in a future where a technological singularity was actively avoided.
Most of the features of the Exodemic Fictional Universe can be traced back to the sources listed above. Stories set in the Exodemic Fictional Universe involve an alien lifeform called the Huaoshy. The Huaoshy had a biological origin, but they long ago transformed themselves into an artificial lifeform, one for which sexual reproduction is a long-forgotten relic of the past.
In Asimov’s The Gods Themselves, the aliens had a “larval stage” with three “sexes” that needed to cooperate in order to produce “offspring”. Stories in the Exodemic Fictional Universe often depict aliens who abandon their sexuality and so sometimes “thon” is used as a genderless pronoun to replace “he” and “she”.
The advanced technology of the Huaoshy is described in the Encyclopedia of Future Technology and Science. The Huaoshy Space Age started about a billion years ago and their current level of technological development is so far beyond our own that the Huaoshy have seemingly magical abilities. The Huaoshy long ago visited Earth and domesticated some apes and created the human species. The Huaoshy are The Gods Thonselves.
Not only did the Huaoshy create us, they have in the past carried out dimensional engineering projects that determined some of the important features of the universe that we find ourselves in.
The Huaoshy thus provide the basic conditions for stories in Exodemic Fictional Universe. The remaining question is: what is your personal relationship with the Huaoshy. This question can also be rephrased as: what is your relationship with the gods (the Huaoshy)?
You can't handle the truth!
First Contact. The Huaoshy learned long ago that care must be taken when a technologically advanced civilization comes in contact with a more primitive civilization. The Huaoshy adopted some rules that help primitive cultures like our own survive “first contact” with the Huaoshy.
Sorry, Hollywood, but there are no epic space battles or alien invasions in the Exodemic Fictional Universe.
The Huaoshy are generally uninterested in primitive lifeforms such as humans. Think about a human ranch owner who likes to breed horses. Imagine the relationship that a rancher would have with a particular blade of grass in a pasture. That is the kind of relationship that humanity has with the Huaoshy.
The Huaoshy are not totally disinterested in humans. The Huaoshy have spread through thousands of galaxies making sure that conditions are favorable for species like us, as a horse rancher might irrigate a desert…
Is humanity a weed?
Encyclopedia of Future Science 