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205 than the idea that we are being visited by messengers of a powerful, wise, and benign advanced civilization?’ The human spacecraft of the future might come to typify an alien soci- ety’s idea of a UFO, suggested Baird. Extraterrestrials might consider human guests as gods or mythical beings, whose true reasons for coming would remain a mystery.'° The aliens in Sagan’s novel CONTACT played the traditional role of angels, proposed Davies, acting as intermediaries between mankind and God, cryptically indicating the way toward occult knowledge of the uni- verse and human existence. This theme of aliens acting as a conduit to the Ultimate touches a deep chord in the human psyche.”” There is an alternate possibility; extraterrestrials might seem more like devils, malignant super- human beings who injure us. Science fiction author Brian Aldiss reached farther back into our cul- tural past, dismissing aliens as merely the latest form of animism. “An intimacy with the non-human is a fundamental human trait,” he proposed. “A vast population of ghosts, ghouls, and other mythical creatures has accompanied humankind through the ages. Above these minions, as reli- gion outranks superstition, are assembled an even more formidable array of fictitious beings, the gods and goddesses.” Aldiss concluded that “the latest manifestation of the creaking floorboard of the brain, the alien arriv- ing from outer space, is the most interesting.”'* Here we must introduce a cautionary note. Applying our assumptions about past phenomena to the present and the future may be misleading. The fact that many human conceptions of gods derive from animism does not necessarily mean that extraterrestrials do too. As Cohen and Stewart observed, we cannot dismiss ideas about aliens just because they resemble some human myths. Some extraterrestrials might turn out to be real, even if they are detectable only by their actions. Puccetti perceived another underlying motivation for human worship of imagined superior beings: a striving to find something that could offer understanding, sympathy, love. Although this desire may have its roots in childhood dependence, it is a genuine need.” Will religion be important in all civilizations? If it is a useful survival tool, speculated Wason, religion may well evolve on other worlds. If it is a con- tingent by-product of other evolved capabilities like music, it may be unique to humans and not a common feature of intelligent life.”° Some analysts find that faith has practical benefits. Evolutionary biolo- gist David Sloan Wilson proposed that religion is a mega-adaptation, a trait that evolved because it conferred advantages on those who bore it. The religious impulse evolved early because it helped make groups of humans Will They Be Religious? Will They Be Religious?