What do you think of dark matter representing an intelligent higher power that doesn't have a consciousness? Say, one that is capable of intelligent design?
I am wondering how something could be intelligent and yet have no consciousness. Anyway, if this presence were to represent a sort of God, I think that for many people a God without consciousness would not be appealing at all. The idea of God loving you and caring for you is gone, since It does not have the capacity to do either of those things. There would be no reason to worship this God or pray to it. You could sit and marvel and the wonder and mystery, but it still would not provide you with any sense of purpose. Throughout history religion has continued to shape its views based on scientific discoveries. Each time something new is learned, a new gap is filled. I think it's only a matter of time before this "God of the Gaps" is totally eliminated.
I would say that IBM's Watson (the Jeopardy!-playing AI) is intelligent, but lacks a consciousness. Heck, modern smartphones are somewhat intelligent these days!
I just mentioned it because I think it's an interesting topic. Personally, I believe in a God that is all loving. But don't you think that if we do eventually fill in those gaps, there will be nothing else for us to strive for? I believe that the gaps in our knowledge and understanding are what make us human and should humble us. I do hope that there will always, regardless of technological or scientific advances, be gaps that we will never quite understand.
I agree that things would get pretty boring if all gaps were filled and everything was known. My point was that your theory on dark matter is no different than any others throughout history that have attributed unknown phenomena to divine intervention.
And I'd say all of those should at least be pondered as possible signs of something greater.
I'm intrigued by the idea of non-conscious intelligent design, as it is vastly different from what I've always heard from 'creationists' and the like. Are you suggesting a sort automatic process of creation? Some sort of entity that does not understand what it's doing, and yet it does? This is very interesting, though all the obvious questions (such as where did that come from) are still present. I'll leave those out for the sake of the discussion.
I'm not necessarily suggesting it because I do believe in God as a conscience intelligent being. The thought of a non-conscience intelligent being came up when I was having this conversation with a friend and he said that he wouldn't discredit that idea (I believe he's either atheist or agnostic). What I think is an interesting idea is the thought of an automatic creation process that is fully aware of what it is doing, but only that. That the creation is instantaneous genius, if that makes sense.