How old is the universe?

[Asmodean]

God is everywhere, yet nowhere.
Above and below, I hope you know.
In the inner core of the earth and in the great void of space beyond the furthest galaxy.
He knows your every movement and every thought.
If you believe this, you have been bought.

Yes, and my question is, "by which mechanism does god know when I contemplate whether to wank off now or later?"

Does he interact through gravity? Electromagnetism? Nuclear forces? Some/all of the above and then some? How does that translate to knowing thoughts?

A different avenue of inquiry; if god is everywhere and everything, then are not my dirty thoughts in fact his dirty thoughts and why won't a jury buy that excuse?! 

EDIT: just to sharpen the point a little;

While you may not know precisely how something interacts with a system, you can still know to what degree and measure the results of such interactions. If you cannot do that either, then wherein lies the interaction? So, how would I go about figuring out if and how well god knows my... What was the example I used..? Ah! Masturbatory schedule. Fitting enough.

[zorkan]

God interacts by divine telepathy, which means no phone bills.

More to the point, how do you know what god is thinking?
We only know so much from his word, the bible.
We have his commandments and his golden plates by special delivery.
We know he doesn't like gays.
He reserves heaven for the good guys who worship him, with separate rooms for different faiths.
I mean, how could you possibly live for all eternity with a catholic if you were a protestant?

[Asmodean]

God interacts by divine telepathy, which means no phone bills.

That's a non-answer. "telepathy" is itself a process that requires an explanation.

More to the point, how do you know what god is thinking?

I never claimed to. I try not to put words in people's - even the imaginary ones' - mouth if I can avoid it.

I mean, how could you possibly live for all eternity with a catholic if you were a protestant?

First, explain how you would live for all eternity, period. Let us assume for the sake of it that it is perfectly possible. What's you after a googolplex years, or, said differently, in the very first instant of your eternity? Utterly insane? Catatonic? Far worse, probably.

[zorkan]

I said divine telepathy which is different from human telepathy.
God can hear and speak any language in order to communicate, even a dead language like Latin and made-up ones like Esperanto.
God exists both inside and outside of time and place.
Pray to god and your request might be answered, or it might not.
He is the greatest character in all of fiction in all of the universe.

[Asmodean]

I said divine telepathy which is different from human telepathy.

...And I asked for an explanation of "telepathy," regardless of qualifiers. What is the process? What are the results? How are the results connected to the process? does it operate through electromagnetism? Weird membrane physics? Slightly less-weird field physics? Which fields? What are the predictions of its behaviour in given situations? What are the means for measuring said predictions?

...What does it demonstrably do? (The answer is probably as simple as it "fills" a gap in a person's understanding and/or answers a perceived logical impossibility with "magic.")

God can hear and speak any language in order to communicate, even a dead language like Latin and made-up ones like Esperanto.
God exists both inside and outside of time and place.

...So he interacts through sound, then? Waves propagating through matter? But if he is outside time and place, what are the means by which he interacts with time and place in order to generate sound waves?

He is the greatest character in all of fiction in all of the universe.

Yeah, he's not even that. "Because magic" is a poor answer even in high fantasy. The "best" worlds and settings are subject to their own natural laws, where magic is a demonstrable feature - even if unexplained.

[zorkan]

God moves in mysterious ways.
If you don't like divine telepathy then how about mysterious waves.
He created all with a magic wand.
Don't ask. It was magic.

[Asmodean]

God moves in mysterious ways.
If you don't like divine telepathy then how about mysterious waves.
He created all with a magic wand.
Don't ask. It was magic.

...And the train goes 'round and 'round.

I've been in tens-of-hours long conversations with people trying to invoke more-or-often-less impressive terminology when asked to define a process, only to fall back on changing the terminology.

I tend to ask them to think of that whole process as "Bob." Now, if Bob were a human, there are things that would make him tick, tick him off and other biting-arachnid-related metaphors. So, Bob the Divine Whatnots. How does it work? And if you don't know, how do you know that it is indeed Bob that does the working? Or that any working at all is being done?

I think the most honest answer I ever got was that "it could have been Bob."

Yeah... Could it though? How do you know that there even is a Bob then?

[zorkan]

One answer to what god is, or ain't.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-consciousness-pervade-the-universe/

Bob's your uncle.
(meaning in the UK - "and there it is", or "and there you have it", or "it's done".)

[Asmodean]

I'm familiar with uncle Bob.

He [the author, not Bob] has a pretty narrow, but at the same time too broad a definition of what consciousness is. Overall, it's a somewhat-disappointing read.

"Maybe at some point the lights get switched off..." Declare your variables, muh dude... Declare your variables. [The author, not you]

[Recusant]

And shortly after, right up into the air-- levitation via hand-waving.

. . . it's at least coherent to suppose that this continuum of consciousness carries on into inorganic matter, with fundamental particles having unimaginably simple forms of experience.

Say what? "Coherent" is doing a hell of a lot of work here. It's the "deep wisdom" of the Emerald Tablet yet again.

[zorkan]

But you ain't seen nothing yet.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/if-ai-becomes-conscious-heres-how-we-can-tell/

Universe could be aged according to its level of consciousness.

[Asmodean]

What is consciousness when applied to the Universe?

Are you speaking of the sort of consciousness they applied to the AI? Because it works there, but by what mechanisms does a Universe have subjective experiences?

If I have mine, that does not equate to the Universe sharing those too - I am a tiny subsystem within it, with no practical influence on or from most of it.

Does the Universe consider itself a Universe? Does it purposefully react to stimuli? Does it want stuff? Does it learn, plan and so forth?

Say what? "Coherent" is doing a hell of a lot of work here. It's the "deep wisdom" of the Emerald Tablet yet again.

Yeah... An attempt at pseudoprofundity, as I call it. I think the TL:DR of it can be summed up as follows; "I have no idea what consciousness is. Let me now speculate as to why the Universe must have one."

[zorkan]

By its own consciousness AI could influence the universe.

https://csferrie.medium.com/do-we-create-the-very-reality-that-we-observe-1162d1fab93b

[Asmodean]

Yes, the ability to purposefully influence its surroundings is a sign of consciousness.

...On the part of the entity doing the influencing, not the one being influenced.

[zorkan]

...On the part of the entity doing the influencing, not the one being influenced.

How do you know that?