In this radio‑style segment, Dennis Prager argues that adulthood is not a matter of age but a conscious decision to assume personal responsibility. He claims that taking responsibility for one’s actions is the core of adulthood and that the political left encourages a childlike mindset that rejects adult authority, making adulthood almost synonymous with conservatism. After laying out this view, Prager takes a caller’s question about the discovery of past or present life on Mars. He explains that such a finding would not undermine his belief in God; rather, it might reinforce it, and he dismisses abiogenesis as implausible. He speculates on how intelligent extraterrestrials might respond to humanity’s religious landscape, humorously imagining them declaring a creator bored with Earth’s repetitive mistakes. Throughout, Prager mixes serious philosophical points with humor and personal anecdotes, ultimately concluding that current scientific evidence leads him to believe humanity is alone in the universe.
Chapters
Here's— I have thought about this my whole life. I used to teach college-age kids at a retreat center in California, which is why I moved to California. I got a job there. And as director of the institute, so I gave them a talk. They were there for 4 weeks. They slept there, ate there, everything. And I said, you, uh, When do you become an adult? So they all had 21, 18, 30, whatever they guessed. I said you become an adult when you decide to be an adult. If you don't decide to be an adult at 50, you're still a kid at 50. Everybody has known a 50-year-old child. They're quite common, actually. You become an adult when you decide to be. What does it mean to be an adult? First and foremost, you take personal responsibility. That's, that's the key element of adulthood. I am responsible for my behavior. I do not blame my errors on society. The left in America teaches people to be children because it's children who don't like adults. That is the essence of leftism. Children who loathe adults. They make them look bad. Adulthood is almost coextensive with conservatism. I wish it weren't. I'm just telling you what the reality is. All right, everybody. Anthony, Phoenix, Arizona. Hello, Anthony of Phoenix.
Hi, Dennis Prager. Longtime listener. Love the show. Hey, um, with the mission to Mars, um, if they discover that life was indeed there billions of years ago, whatever the case may be, how would it change your views on God and religion?
And, um, very fair question.
By the way, uh, Kopitar was a great player as well. Not as great as Gretzky, but, uh, pretty good hockey player. Thanks, Dennis Prager.
Thank you. You're very welcome. I watched them during the Stanley Cup run. So I was gonna ask the caller something, but he decided just to listen to and answer. It's a very legitimate question, but I have an equally legitimate question. Would you ask an atheist, hey, with zero evidence of life, let alone intelligent life anywhere else, Does that affect your atheism? How come the questions are only posed to people who believe in God? Gee, X, Y, or Z, why haven't they challenged, or do they challenge your view on God? Fair questions. But nobody asks X, Y, and Z, why don't they affect your atheism? Just not asked, are they? Cracks me up. So, there's like no challenge to atheism. If they found evidence of life on Mars, it would have zero impact on me because if anything, it might increase my belief in God. That spores from Earth or what, through an asteroid collision or whatever, got onto Mars is how I would explain it. But even if it was there, that it developed, nothing happened. Shows you how rare it is for something to happen. Now, I don't believe that life comes from non-life. Abiogenesis, it is called, that there is no biology to the genesis. I don't believe that. It makes no sense to me. That's the reason. It's not I don't believe it for theological reasons. But I've thought about it. What if we had intelligent life? My first question to intelligent life would be, do you believe in God, or do you believe, how do you believe you came about? You know, some variation on that subject. And then they would probably say, we have come because we have heard that an increasing number of Americans considers themselves nones, N-O-N-E-S. Having no religion. And we would like to tell you from the galaxy to Palladian that you are wrong. There is a creator, but he is bored watching Groundhog Day on Earth with every generation making the same errors as previous generations. So he has come to Terperidian to see how we're doing. That might be the response. All right, Sean claims that he is from another part of the universe, and I will say that when he said that at the interview, when we interviewed him for the job, uh, I found it overwhelming. And I remember saying to Alan, this is our man. There is a certain non-human element to engineering. So he's, in fact, I'd even say he's our man. He's our thing. Thank you. Neptune. All right, y'all. Oh, do I hear the magic music? That means we're going to take a break and I'm going to be back with you. Now, intelligent life, that would be a blast. I have now my own view based on just my own view. I admit it. I— nobody has reasons, scientific reasons in this regard, or at least certainly no scientific proof. But science leads me, actually in this case, science, it is science, leads me to believe we are alone in the universe, for better and for worse. Back in a moment.
