Calculating God

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Calculating God is a science fiction novel by Robert J. Sawyer. It takes place in a the present day and describes the arrival on Earth of sentient aliens with the message that they have scientific proof of the existence of God as Creator of the Universe.

[edit] Plot summary

On an ordinary day sometime in the 20th century a scientist working in a museum in Toronto has a visitor, a spider-like alien who is contacting him, as one scientist to another, to announce scientific proof of the existence of a Creator for the Universe.

The plot concerns itself mostly with the nature of the proof and its effects on society. At the end the star Betelgeuse is seen to become a supernova, threatening all life within hundreds of light-years with irradiation. One of several dead civilizations discovered by the alien explorers had caused it to happen to sterilize the stellar neighborhood. They did this in order to protect the virtual reality machinery which now housed all the their personalities. According to the alien visitors, several such worlds exist where the inhabitants uploaded themselves into machines instead of exploring the nature of the Universe and God.

Although the supernova happened over 400 years before the events of the novel, the radiation is just reaching Earth. Because the alien's world is closer to Betelgeuse, it must already be dead. However, the alien ship's advanced telescope in orbit then sees a large black entity emerge from space itself and cover the exploding star. This is final proof that a controlling intelligence is guiding and preserving some life-forms.

In the final chapter, the scientist, who is dying of cancer, travels to the entity on the alien ship, where a fusion of genetic materials from human and alien sources produces a new intelligence able to live in space and possibly create its own Universe.