Quote: "And equally, we've always needed some powerful entity to blame, or to have to appease in order to set things right again."

While I think we have their hard work to thank for some basic principles that have withstood the test of Time, their method by definition wasn't so methodical. 

For example, when it came to "set things right again" who came up with sacrifice?

Someone convinced the others that God worked on some sort of monetary system based on blood. And if the result wasn't achieved then you just didn't offer enough blood or the right kind of blood. Proof that the Shame-man shouldn't be allowed back at the all-you-can-eat peyote buffet.

Imagine the laugh the Aliens will have when they hear us explain all that we know about Quantum Physics. (In my version the Aliens can laugh but mostly expressed through a series of farts and tap dancing) thanks be to Kurt