Your brother makes an excellent point, which is something I’ve always found amusing about atheists: despite their professed godlessness, their values have an uncanny resemblance to those of their Judeo-Christian heritage.
Not many atheists and secularists are willing to turn the other cheek when someone hits them, not look lustfully at the opposite sex, give everything to the poor and care not for the future. Neither are many Christians.
As an example, I have no trouble imagining a scientific civilization that is brutally unegalitarian, aggressive, atheistic, polygamous, Eugenicist, Darwinian, etc. in its values; in fact this would be my preference.
Look at The Domination. This would fit your vision better than the Sith.
Can anyone explain why, in a rapidly changing world, we need "absolute" and "eternal" morality?
IMHO, better question would be: how can dumb, unambitious and completely ordinary person help the world?
Imagine average person, with average intelligence (this means, by standards of this site, dumber then bag of hammers) and average ability, willpower and dedication. Someone who will not sacrifice or unnecessarily endanger his life, someone who will not spend the rest of his life in Africa helping the lepers, someone who will not live on bread and water to give everything to worthy cause, someone who will not give up even six pack of beer and bag of donuts to save life of starving African child :-(
But nevertheless someone who wants to make the world a better place. Any ideas?
On Marginal Revolution there was, about a year ago, similar discussion
Lots of concrete ideas, some of them even practical...
Following a syphilitic madman like prophet and divine being? Had been tried before :-P