History Main / EarthIsYoung

** Despite the fact that they're delusions, these are ''not'' a bad thing. Yes, they're lies hiding the true wonder of the world from humanity... but the true wonder of the world is rather inimical to human life and sanity -- there's a special and dangerous kind of insanity that plagues non-miraculous beings that suddenly discover the Prosaic World is a lie through direct exposure to miracles. Few people can function with the knowledge that ''everything'' is alive, and at the incomprehensible whim of a god, they might not just be turned into a cat, but have [[CosmicRetcon always been a cat.]]

** Despite the fact that they're delusions, these are ''not'' a bad thing. Yes, they're lies hiding the true wonder of the world from humanity... but the true wonder of the world is rather inimical to human life and sanity -- there's a special and dangerous kind of insanity that plagues non-miraculous beings that suddenly discover the Prosaic World is a lie through direct exposure to miracles.

* Heinlein's "Job: A Comedy of Justice" is a Type C. As Satan puts it at one point, "My brother Jehovah is a bit of a jerk." What bothers Satan about the world is mostly that Jehovah stole most of the design. [spoiler:(It turns out that all this world-making, by a whole host of divine beings, under the review of another class of beings described as being "as far above me as I am above you" is all some cosmic artistic expression. As Satan explains, "This isn't about justice. This is about art.")]

* This is the entire idea behind creationism. While one could argue the necessity of the Fall for Christianity to make sense, one must wonder why the Ussher timeline is so important.

* Type B: The ScienceIsWrong[=/=]MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate approach: "Scientists believe the silliest things, lol. Evidence Schmevidence."

* The movie version of ''LeftBehind'' uses plain simple Type A. TheBible is literal truth, nothing to argue about. Criotical thinking doesn't exist in this setting, and it works both ways. Protagonists who spent their entire lives with a secular world-view doesn't seem to feel ''any'' need for any explanation of how young earth creationism can possibly be true. In return, the rapture actually happening doesn't seem to give anyone else the idea that evangelical Christianity might be true after all.

* Type C: The JerkassGods approach: Yeah, the evidence is there. But God or {{Satan}} placed it there as a MindScrew.

* Type C: The JerkassGods approach: Yeah, the evidence is there. But God or TheDevil placed it there as a MindScrew.

** ''"Alien, alien attack. [[ThisIsSparta They. Want. Their. Planet. Back."'']]

** The ''reason'' for this strange situation also bears mentioning: A couple of thousand years ago, an [[LightIsNotGood Angel]] came to Earth. He was so offended when he saw a very large dinosaur defecate, he [[DisproportionateRetribution wiped them from the face of the planet]]. Prosaic is evidently the world-spirit's attempt to create a world where horrifying things don't just happen on a god's whim.

* {{Nobilis}} has a [[MindScrew characteristically odd]] version of Type C. The apparent age of Earth joins ''all other logical scientific principles'' in being the [[GeniusLoci world's own]] delusion, called Prosaic Reality. It [[EnforcedMasquerade keeps mortals entrapped]] via continual CosmicRetcon.

* Type A: The "So what?" approach: The world is young, period. Science doesn't come into it.

* [[ChurchOfHappyology The Epsilon Program]] in ''GrandTheftAuto: [[GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'' believes a bizarre variant of Type A, claiming that the world is only ''157'' years old.

->"I always thought this planet was so huge. But lookin' at it from space, I realized it's so small. We're just floatin' in the dark. ......kinda makes you feel powerless. On top of that it's got [[OmnicidalManiac Sephiroth]] festerin' inside it like a sickness. That's why I say this planet's still a kid. A little kid sick and trembling in the middle of this huge universe. Someone's gotta protect it. Ya follow me? That someone is us."
->--'''Cid Highwind''', ''FinalFantasyVII''

In either case, what about all the scientific evidence that the world is much, much older? What about ancient fossils and Carbon 14 dating? What about starlight that has traveled at light-speed from distant galaxies for billions of years, and so on? There are several approaches to this.

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!! Justifications for present-day Earth being young

!!!Examples

* The ShortStory ''EvolvingConspiracy'' by Roger [=McBride=] Allen gives a nice metaphor for Type D: In order to make it seem that someone has slept in a bed, what would be the best way to achieve this? ''Actually'' sleeping in said bed. And God, being the master over space ''and time'', did just that in 4004 BC.

Note that in theory, that doesn't have to mean that the world is created. However, a young Earth (almost?) always seem to come with some kind of creator. This creator could be a God, alien, time-travelling human or simply an author writing the story of our lives. However, if the creator is a computer programmer and our world is just a simulation, then see InsideTheMatrix rather than this trope.

The story takes place on present-day Earth. Maybe [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture give or take a few decades]] or centuries. However, the world is really young. It doesn't have billions or years behind it, nope, it has only been around for a few thousand years.

Mote that in theory, that doesn't have to mean that the world is created. However, a young Earth (almost?) always seem to come with some kind of creator. This creator could be a God, alien, time-travelling human or simply an author writing the story of our lives. However, if the creator is a computer programmer and our world is just a simulation, then see InsideTheMatrix rather then this trope.

In either case, what about all the scientific evidence that the world is much, much older? What about ancient fossils and Carbon 14 dating? What about starlight that have traveled at light-speed from distant galaxies for billions of years, and so on? There are several approaches to this.

* Type B: The ScienceIsWrong / MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate approach: "Scientists believe the silliest things, lol. Evidence Schmevidence."

* Type D: The {{Postmodern}} "AllMythsAreTrue" approach - the world is as old or young as people believe it to be. The theory that the universe was created six minutes ago, assuming that we all spawned completely with memories and unwashed clothes and everything, is ''equally'' valid to any other theory.

* Type E: The LampshadeHanging approach: God did put the ancient-looking dinosaus skeletons there and everything, but didn't mean anything by it. He was simply decorating His creation!

* In LegendOfTheOverfiend, the world is only three thousand years old. Uses the Type A (lack of) justification. The world is simply stated to be young, and this is never discussed. The intro of the movie version also have an indirect hint of Type B: Mankind is scolded for being so ignorant and foolish that they don't even know about parallel universes, so one can expect that people are supposed to simply shut up about their silly little theories about the origins of the universe.

* ChickTracts uses straight Type B: Scientists are evil, and need to be cured of their heresy by the power of EasyEvangelism.
* {{Preacher}} uses straight Type C: TheBible is literal truth, and the reason we have reason to believe otherwise is that [[GodIsFlawed God is desperate to be loved]]: If our lives are HellOnEarth and we don't have any reason to believe that God even ''exists'' but ''still'' love him anyway, then our love is such a sweet ego-boost in His eyes.
* {{Sandman}} goes for Type D. Time, history and reality are all very relative concepts, and what says that an act of creation can't be retroactive anyway?
** In ''A Dream Of A Thousand Cats'' (a short-story in the third book), the universe-as-we-know-it cannot possibly be older then a few years or decades - but the apocalypse wrote the old universe out of history, and created the new universe retroactively.

* The {{Fables}} album ''The Great Fables Crossover'' takes the Type D postmodernist approach: The world is the story we live in - it's recently written, and in danger of getting unwritten.

* One alternate continuity for OldWorldOfDarkness takes place on present-day earth in a universe where time itself started only 20.000 years ago but wasn't created. Instead, Earth evolved. Yes, Earth itself, not just life on earth. It was a mnemonic evolution rather then a biological one. In this setting, physical reality is a mirror of the human mind's conception of reality, not the other way around. The planet started out as small and flat, lated grew round, and now a whole universe is popping up around it in accordance to mankind's ever-growing consciousness.

* The movie version of LeftBehind uses plain simple Type A. TheBible is literal truth, nothing to argue about. Criotical thinking doesn't exist in this setting, and it works both ways. Protagonists who spent their entire lives with a secular world-view doesn't seem to feel ANY need for any explanation of how young earth creationism can possibly be true. In return, the rapture actually happening doesn't seem to give anyone else the idea that evangelical Christianity might be true after all.

* In GoodOmens, the Earth has only been around for 6000 years and all the 'old' stuff in the ground is God's decoration.
* In ''{{Strata}}'' the main character designs planets for a living, and it is explained that it is important to give each planet a "history" to make it feel like something billions of years old rather than just a big lump of rock. At the end of the book it turns out that the entire Universe was constructed with this in mind and is only a few thousand years old.
* In ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' the Earth is only 10 million years old (this may not sound young, but it's equivalent to thinking someone is 70 and finding out that they're 8 weeks old. [[spoiler: It is also built by mice, the true masters of our world.]])

* Subverted in {{SPOCK}}s song ''Alien Attack'': It starts out as a straigt Type B, ranting about how geology is just a theory that shouldn't be trusted. And then it turns out that they are not talking about the earth being young (which would have made more sense from the first lines) - instead, they are talking about how the dinosaurs actually survived the extinction level event by fleeing out into space. Now they are back, and mighty pissed that the humans evolved and took over their planet in their absence.

* {{Exalted}} uses a variant of this trope, going with a straight Type B on the back-cover.

In ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' the Earth is only 10 million years old (this may not sound young, but it's equivalent to thinking someone is 70 and finding out that they're 8 weeks old. [[spoiler: It is also built by mice, the true masters of our world.]])