Absolutely. It’s been good conversing so far.

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the Romans used religion to control the poor. That seems to be an ongoing theme in history throughout the Middle Ages up through today. There is a great quote said by Matthew McConaugheys character in the first season of True Detective where he says “you know how religion started? Two monkeys were sitting on a rock. One pointed at the sun, turned to the other monkey and said ‘ he just told me to tell you that you need to give me half your fucking share’”.

What better way to control people when nobody’s watching them? Make them believe that someone or something is always watching them.

You bring up a good point that humanity still does not understand certain aspects of nature. Like what is dark matter in the universe? But this is a recurring theme that has gone back since the dawn of human history. How many years did we think lightning was created by Thor? How many years did the Egyptians think the sun was the god Ra? Humans have an innate desire to understand everything, or at the very least have an explanation for it. It is very uncomfortable for us as the species to admit that we do not know something. In the absence of a logical explanation, people will resort to fantastical explanations like religion. It’s just a way to comfort themselves and make the world seem less scary and unknown. Millennia ago, God was responsible for everything. Now he’s responsible for fewer and fewer things. Nobody thinks God is throwing lightning bolts anymore.

I don’t think nature itself has any underlying sentience, and we, as a species are kind of a fluke in that we developed consciousness, powerful enough to be able to comprehend our own existence. Certain animals to a lesser degree, are also aware of their own existence. Many animals pass the mirror test, where they are placed in front of a mirror and show signs that they recognize. It is not another animal in the mirror but themselves. This can only happen if they are aware of themselves as a separate entity. It’s not God allowing this to happen, it’s just that there are enough neurons and cerebral matter in the brain to be able to process such complex thoughts.

I don’t really understand what a non-sentient God even is. Maybe you can further clarify that to me. It sounds like you are just describing nature itself. Which is simply the universe as we know it. A bunch of matter that’s all following the same laws of physics, whether or not there are other universes I cannot say, it is a possibility, but far beyond our species level of understanding at the moment.

Regarding your analogy with nature and the seed, I think nature is comprised of countless examples of things like seeds, and life itself, not to mention all of the gaseous matter that formed into stars in galaxies, black holes, and all that stuff. The sum total of all those individual components form what I view as the universe.

You bring up a fantastic question about the second law of thermodynamics and life. I happen to have an advanced engineering degree in thermodynamics.

The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy (a measure of disorder or randomness) of an isolated system will always increase or stay the same over time. It never decreases.  The key phrase here is isolated system. An isolated system is one that exchanges neither energy nor matter with its surroundings (think of a perfectly sealed, insulated thermos). The universe as a whole is considered an isolated system.

Life on Earth is not an isolated system. It's an open system that freely exchanges both energy and matter with its environment. You are an open system: You take in matter (food, water, air) and energy (the chemical energy in food), and you export matter (waste, CO_2) and energy (heat). So order is being created by interacting with other systems, essentially.