Certain uninformed individuals within the scientific community continue to perpetuate the notion that faith and reason are incompatible. This is complete nonsense.

Faith is a tactical filter trait, which may become indispensable to our overall success in the age to come. The reasoning is simple and rational, but it does require a hint of philosophical objectivity.

Basically, when someone invites you to adopt a degree of faith about something, they are essentially asking you to incur a level of risk. While certitude is risk-free, faith is not. Most people are willing to assume some risk from time to time, provided the anticipated rewards can justify their actions—as they happen to reckon it.

For example, no one may be willing to purchase expensive lottery tickets if the odds of winning are astronomically high and the prize amount is very low. However, if the jackpot remains unclaimed and is rolled over several times, more buyers will be willing to participate due to the above average bonanza that has accrued. In many cases, a simple calculator can be enlisted to determine whether or not, one should take the bet.

So, the concept of applied faith can be reduced to the basic notion of risk vs. reward and further quantified into cost vs. anticipated pleasure. Naturally, the line drawn between reward and pleasure should not be considered linear or generic. After all, one’s personal predilections must be factored in, such as: worldview, lifestyle, ethical principles, utopian ideals, feelings, tastes, tolerances, etc. For instance, no two people may gauge common tax law with the exact same degree of delight.

When and if our civilization becomes spacefaring (routine space travel), our descendants will find themselves in a very precarious position, due to all the enslavement-ready technologies (ERT) cluttering the landscape. This would include self-replicating robots, space-based lasers, mass drivers, nanobots, etc.

Recruitment in this ultra-high-tech environment will be unlike anything witnessed before. To illustrate this point, let’s overlay a modern-day approach.

Obviously this overt methodology relies heavily on the honour system, which presupposes that every applicant will be completely truthful. But is this realistic—given the gravity and sweeping implications of the appointment?

The exact same dilemma arises while sifting through padded résumés. Overt background checks may not be sufficient either to weed out every problematic candidate. After all, the mind might be bottomless and as such, we may never develop a machine or technique that can adequately determine everyone’s deepest intentions, alter egos, animosities, will to power, etc. As a result, we are saddled with a new gaping security hole that must be seriously addressed at some point.

Since all our current approaches are becoming obsolete, in time we will need something new and vastly more imaginative. So, after years of deliberation and contemplation, I developed the Anonymity Biosphere or AB solution. I believe it’s the best practical recruitment method to facilitate deep space colonization. (Read the Futurist Series for a more detailed explanation).

To summarize briefly,

1. AB’s provide a controlled environment where the administrators can test the behaviours and propensities of their evaluees—under the guise of anonymity.

2. A well-thought through proposal is presented to the evaluees containing a faith offer, which lists a series of costs and rewards for all those who choose to accept it. Obviously, this is staged in such a way that would exclude any inkling of it being a shoo-in.

3. Each evaluee then weighs all the pluses and minuses, and decides whether or not to take the bet. (The more monumental they deem the reward, the more likely they are to go for broke. It would be too pessimistic for them not to.)

4. The proposal is carefully worded so that the only people, who are willing to fulfill the cost terms of the contract, are the very same ones who can survive each other effortlessly in a Free Crown environment, which is their big reward.

So this covert approach cleanly differentiates or mechanically filters out the true selectees from all the other evaluees—unlike the overt methodologies. Hence, the recruitment problem is solved through the use of faith, as a crucial demarcation flag in the overall process.

This standalone philosophy is perfectly sound and rational, even if:

1. The philosophers and chosen selectees are the only ones who come to fully understand it.

2. Our civilization is alone in the universe.

3. All the religions are false.

4. Everyone on this planet is an atheist.

5. And God never existed.

If you have a better solution to this galactic security problem, please e-mail it to me for publication. Otherwise, barring some divine intervention—we’ll eventually have to go with our best option at hand.

It’s entirely reasonable why one might wonder if this is not the first time our species has been down this road. After all, if we are destined to build AB’s on ourselves in the future, then maybe we’ve already done it to ourselves. Perhaps God is one of us.

In any case, if the earth is one of God’s AB’s, then the Bible is essentially his faith offer to us—his evaluees. This scenario is certainly possible and scripturally defensible. Here are some basic “cost vs. anticipated pleasure” verses to ponder over.

Like me, perhaps you want to take the bet and declare your newfound Christian faith. It’s not irrational either way (that we can know now), but it might be deeply consequential.