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Could 'God' be an 18 year old computer nerd?

Started by tomday, October 19, 2007, 11:40:15 AM

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tomday

October 19, 2007, 11:40:15 AM Last Edit: January 01, 1970, 01:00:00 AM by tomday
There is a fascinating BBC ‘Horizon’ documentary entitled ‘Time Trip’ that went out in December 2003 (attached extract from transcript taken from  http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/20 ... rans.shtml  )   Whilst the whole program was interesting, I found the account of virtual reality time travel towards the end to be extremely interesting and is well worth reading (transcript starts:  â€œNARRATOR (DILLY BARLOW): You might have thought all this meant the whole idea of time travel ……..)
In a nutshell, it states that the mathematical probability is that  we are all part of  an elaborate computer-generated simulation with very little probability that we actually exist in the way that we assume we do.  If this is the case, it would suggest that we atheists might all be wrong and that there is a creator (therefore God!) but not some ancient grey haired, bearded gentleman sitting on a cloud, but he could well have been an 18 year old computer nerd!  

take the time to read through this part of the transcript as it is great food for thought'

Tom62

#1
October 19, 2007, 12:31:13 PM Last Edit: January 01, 1970, 01:00:00 AM by Tom62
Greetings from the Matrix.
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein

donkeyhoty

#2
October 19, 2007, 11:20:02 PM Last Edit: January 01, 1970, 01:00:00 AM by donkeyhoty
Descartes thinks this is bunk, therefore it is bunk.
"Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."  - Pat Robertson

Mister Joy

#3
October 20, 2007, 01:19:21 AM Last Edit: January 01, 1970, 01:00:00 AM by Mister Joy
The New Scientist magazine did an article of a similar ilk a few years ago but I can't find it on the internet (it was quite a while ago so I guess it's outdated now). It doesn't take into account why anyone would want to create an artificial world like this and then never interfere with it, though. If there was some sort of game involved (ie. a Battle Royal sort of affair) then it'd make more sense. Chaos theorists, perhaps?

pjkeeley

#4
October 20, 2007, 12:56:19 PM Last Edit: January 01, 1970, 01:00:00 AM by pjkeeley
It doesn't really solve the debate between atheism and religion though. All it does is move it up a level. Yes, this reality might be a simulation, but what about in the other reality, the one that created the simulation? Does it have a God or not?

tomday

#5
October 20, 2007, 07:21:55 PM Last Edit: January 01, 1970, 01:00:00 AM by tomday
Quote from: "pjkeeley"It doesn't really solve the debate between atheism and religion though. All it does is move it up a level. Yes, this reality might be a simulation, but what about in the other reality, the one that created the simulation? Does it have a God or not?
I didn't know that the purpose of every contribution to this forum was to solve the debate between atheism and religion - I had assumed that most contributers would, as 'happy atheists', be fairly convinced that there is no contest between the two.  Anyway, to answer the question of does the creator of the simulation have a God or not, I suppose he/she would if he himself/herself were in fact a simulated being, his/her 'God' being his simulator (who knows how many levels of simulation there might be?) but if he/she were a 'real' person then, IN MY OPINION, there is no such thing as 'God', so the answer would be "no".

donkeyhoty

#6
October 20, 2007, 09:23:09 PM Last Edit: January 01, 1970, 01:00:00 AM by donkeyhoty
Has no one seen the movie The Thirteenth Floor?  There are three levels of reality, two simulated, and one real.  (all ruled by the Norse gods... just kidding, the Norse gods only rule our reality.)
"Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."  - Pat Robertson

SteveS

#7
October 21, 2007, 04:07:53 AM Last Edit: January 01, 1970, 01:00:00 AM by SteveS
Hmmm - If I don't actually exist the way I "assume" I do, then how does the 18-year-old computer-geek god exist?  Maybe he doesn't exist the way he assumes he does either.  Maybe he's the result of a complex computer simulation that, astoundingly, ended up producing a simulation of its own?  The creators are trying to discover, as we speak, if they inadvertently influenced the simulation somehow - but only discovered that they are actually only a simulation!  And so on and so on through endless levels of recursion.....

Bah - I'm gonna just keep "assuming" I exist the way IIII I IIIIIII @#*&^$%!*&^@#*&$^!&^$#@(*&^$(#@
000000000000100000000100100000001000000100100000010000010000010100001001010000100


Segmentation violation - core dumped.
Respawning process "SteveS".
Check the error log for additional information.


Bah - I'm gonna just keep "assuming" I exist the way I think I do.

Dai

#8
October 21, 2007, 05:29:42 PM Last Edit: January 01, 1970, 01:00:00 AM by Dai
OMGTHEMATRIXISREAL!

*Pisses himself*

lafilip

#9
October 22, 2007, 04:35:15 PM Last Edit: January 01, 1970, 01:00:00 AM by lafilip
So do I take the red or blue pill?

Thanks for the article it may not be a debate for atheism/religion, but it was in fact amusing!

Davpronk

#10
October 23, 2007, 12:50:33 AM Last Edit: January 01, 1970, 01:00:00 AM by Davpronk
Very interesting post!

Sounds just like the matrix! ;-)

If that would be true, then what created the matrix?
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