Seed-Wad
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I'm not sure whether this should be in philosophy or Faith&Spirituality, but as it is more an entertaining of an idea than actual faith in it, I guess it belongs here.
The following is an explanation of what I think god would be like if one were to exist, based on everything I know of the world, and of my life.
Author-god
Universe-object.
Let's look at a 2-D universe, starting with a big-bang like our universe is supposed to have started,
fig. 1
and let's suppose it will one day collapse like some think will happen to ours as well,
fig. 2
then, if we take time to be just another spacial dimension, we obtain the following object:
fig. 3
This object is timeless. Like a videotape or a book, it will just sit there in its parent universe and be static.
Enter the God concept.
Like we can write computer programs, or algorithms, so a God would have been able to set our universal constants and starting conditions before setting the computation in motion that would compile the universe-object.
Fig. 4. Rule 30 by Stephen Wolfram is an algorithm (cellular automatum) that calculates row (i) from row (i-1) using a certain rule based on whether the preceding cell was black, and how many of its neighbors were black, and then choosing whether to color the new cell in row (i) black or to leave it blank. In this human made 'universe', the rows can be seen as the time dimension, the columns as the single spacial dimension, and rule 30 as the totality of physics. The first cell is made black before the program is run. Rule 30 is such that it impossible for humans to predict what patterns will form in the right half of the figure without actually running the rule using the same initial condition.
Source: http://www.meditopia.org/chap5.htm
It is important to note here that once the initial conditions are set, the universe-object will be formed without godly intervention, in so that t=1 will lead to t=2 purely through a logical computation. Yet, it should remain possible for god to have certain handlebars through which to interject its influence on pivotal moments, should wish be so.
The butterfly effect.
The smallest influence can drastically alter the eventual outcome of history. An imperceptible change of force in the atmosphere might change the weather a few weeks later from heavy rain to sunny weather, a second of delay might make you miss a bus, putting you in a different situation you otherwise would have been in, exposing you to different stimuli, which may germinate into different thoughts years later, different actions - every influence is connected to every other within the network within reach. Our lives evolve in the way they do because of countless coincidences.
Precognition.
In Patrick Rothfuss' book The Wise Man's Fear, a cthaeh is a malicious creature that knows every possible future, and thus knows exactly what words to say to you to make the worst possible future reality.
When we think of a god, we imagine such a god to have knowledge akin to the cthaeh. Whether this knowledge is indeed perfect remains to be questioned but at least any knowledge of the intricate results of minor changes will far exceed that of any mortal being.
It also fits a god to have a much broader scope of interest, to be able to simultaneously enjoy the epic fate of clashing galaxies as well as the delicacy of a mere human (or animal, or even vegetative) sensation, a split second of realization or recognition.
Author-god.
As said above, a god is not entirely free to influence the proceedings of time, as the computations follow unalterable rules and this will spawn a host unavoidable consequences to interjected events, of which some might not entirely agree with God's intentions.
Thus the task of an author-god, who has the goal to make an interesting universe-object (perhaps to be read again, to share with other gods like writers share their books?) is to find the best compromise between values and to chose on of the infinite number of possible futures.
How elegant would it be to tip the flow of events in your favor by the slightest influence! Indeed, an author-god that fits my imagination of greatness would try to interfere as little as possible, with as subtle means as possible - of course the interest lies in how things develop on their own, not to constantly let your influence be felt (for such purposes I'm sure there are other tools available to a god).
It is easy to think of a God as perfect, but that is also a philosophically challenging enterprise, never mind quite uninteresting ultimately... If we think of author-god to be merely a creature in a higher dimensional universe with a super-mortal intelligence, then we preserve the great probability that our author-god is indeed not perfect. Thus, even if author-god has an intellect of unimaginable greatness, having to choose from an infinite amount of futures to find the best mix of incomparable values must be a very taxing task, even for it.
What interests an author-god? Is it a just creature, with the best intentions? Or perhaps cruel and sadistic instead? I like to believe the author-god has a profound understanding of poetry and drama: comedies and tragedies sometimes too absurd, sometimes too subtle, for us to understand or appreciate. No one can guess at the motives of author-god, but it is clear that whatever its motives are, such will be the essence of life: a cruel author will aim to create a cruel life, and so it will be. Is life cruel? Some might say that, I have believed that for quite some time, but now life merely seems absurd and filled with poetic and dramatic extremities. Perhaps there are multiple author-gods, working in collaboration; perhaps now there has come a new author-god to take interest in my condition, making me see its work so that I may appreciate the absurd things it has in store for me.
It is clear that the investigation of life will give a big insight into the intentions of the author-god, but it should be noted that there is not such a thing as a scientific examination of life. Such activities will always be philosophical in nature, and thus the two will be able to influence each other: the idea of a cruel life will inspire a cruel god; the idea of a poetic god will inspire a poetic outlook on life.
Afterword.
This is entirely a work of conjecture, and many things supposed or questioned here we will never know a definite truth to. Many of those things might also be (upon further inspection) (self-)contradictory. The entire idea may be totally unbelievable in itself. But it is an interesting idea nonetheless, and when pondered and entertained it might make life a little brighter where it otherwise seemed gloomy and boring.
So I like to ask you, what kind of author-god do you envision? Which conclusions would you draw from an idea like this?
The most beautiful thing I could think of was that every moment is eternal, it leaves a trace in time leading back all the way to the beginnings of time, and any moment may become present again for countless times, whenever god's consciousness passes over it to read the story that is our universe.
The following is an explanation of what I think god would be like if one were to exist, based on everything I know of the world, and of my life.
Author-god
Universe-object.
Let's look at a 2-D universe, starting with a big-bang like our universe is supposed to have started,
fig. 1
fig. 2
fig. 3
This object is timeless. Like a videotape or a book, it will just sit there in its parent universe and be static.
Enter the God concept.
Like we can write computer programs, or algorithms, so a God would have been able to set our universal constants and starting conditions before setting the computation in motion that would compile the universe-object.
Fig. 4. Rule 30 by Stephen Wolfram is an algorithm (cellular automatum) that calculates row (i) from row (i-1) using a certain rule based on whether the preceding cell was black, and how many of its neighbors were black, and then choosing whether to color the new cell in row (i) black or to leave it blank. In this human made 'universe', the rows can be seen as the time dimension, the columns as the single spacial dimension, and rule 30 as the totality of physics. The first cell is made black before the program is run. Rule 30 is such that it impossible for humans to predict what patterns will form in the right half of the figure without actually running the rule using the same initial condition.
Source: http://www.meditopia.org/chap5.htm
It is important to note here that once the initial conditions are set, the universe-object will be formed without godly intervention, in so that t=1 will lead to t=2 purely through a logical computation. Yet, it should remain possible for god to have certain handlebars through which to interject its influence on pivotal moments, should wish be so.
The butterfly effect.
The smallest influence can drastically alter the eventual outcome of history. An imperceptible change of force in the atmosphere might change the weather a few weeks later from heavy rain to sunny weather, a second of delay might make you miss a bus, putting you in a different situation you otherwise would have been in, exposing you to different stimuli, which may germinate into different thoughts years later, different actions - every influence is connected to every other within the network within reach. Our lives evolve in the way they do because of countless coincidences.
Precognition.
In Patrick Rothfuss' book The Wise Man's Fear, a cthaeh is a malicious creature that knows every possible future, and thus knows exactly what words to say to you to make the worst possible future reality.
When we think of a god, we imagine such a god to have knowledge akin to the cthaeh. Whether this knowledge is indeed perfect remains to be questioned but at least any knowledge of the intricate results of minor changes will far exceed that of any mortal being.
It also fits a god to have a much broader scope of interest, to be able to simultaneously enjoy the epic fate of clashing galaxies as well as the delicacy of a mere human (or animal, or even vegetative) sensation, a split second of realization or recognition.
Author-god.
As said above, a god is not entirely free to influence the proceedings of time, as the computations follow unalterable rules and this will spawn a host unavoidable consequences to interjected events, of which some might not entirely agree with God's intentions.
Thus the task of an author-god, who has the goal to make an interesting universe-object (perhaps to be read again, to share with other gods like writers share their books?) is to find the best compromise between values and to chose on of the infinite number of possible futures.
How elegant would it be to tip the flow of events in your favor by the slightest influence! Indeed, an author-god that fits my imagination of greatness would try to interfere as little as possible, with as subtle means as possible - of course the interest lies in how things develop on their own, not to constantly let your influence be felt (for such purposes I'm sure there are other tools available to a god).
It is easy to think of a God as perfect, but that is also a philosophically challenging enterprise, never mind quite uninteresting ultimately... If we think of author-god to be merely a creature in a higher dimensional universe with a super-mortal intelligence, then we preserve the great probability that our author-god is indeed not perfect. Thus, even if author-god has an intellect of unimaginable greatness, having to choose from an infinite amount of futures to find the best mix of incomparable values must be a very taxing task, even for it.
What interests an author-god? Is it a just creature, with the best intentions? Or perhaps cruel and sadistic instead? I like to believe the author-god has a profound understanding of poetry and drama: comedies and tragedies sometimes too absurd, sometimes too subtle, for us to understand or appreciate. No one can guess at the motives of author-god, but it is clear that whatever its motives are, such will be the essence of life: a cruel author will aim to create a cruel life, and so it will be. Is life cruel? Some might say that, I have believed that for quite some time, but now life merely seems absurd and filled with poetic and dramatic extremities. Perhaps there are multiple author-gods, working in collaboration; perhaps now there has come a new author-god to take interest in my condition, making me see its work so that I may appreciate the absurd things it has in store for me.
It is clear that the investigation of life will give a big insight into the intentions of the author-god, but it should be noted that there is not such a thing as a scientific examination of life. Such activities will always be philosophical in nature, and thus the two will be able to influence each other: the idea of a cruel life will inspire a cruel god; the idea of a poetic god will inspire a poetic outlook on life.
Afterword.
This is entirely a work of conjecture, and many things supposed or questioned here we will never know a definite truth to. Many of those things might also be (upon further inspection) (self-)contradictory. The entire idea may be totally unbelievable in itself. But it is an interesting idea nonetheless, and when pondered and entertained it might make life a little brighter where it otherwise seemed gloomy and boring.
So I like to ask you, what kind of author-god do you envision? Which conclusions would you draw from an idea like this?
The most beautiful thing I could think of was that every moment is eternal, it leaves a trace in time leading back all the way to the beginnings of time, and any moment may become present again for countless times, whenever god's consciousness passes over it to read the story that is our universe.