John Prytz
6th April 2010, 05:50 PM
Right! Now that I have your attention; now that you’re recovering from your heart attacks over the thread title, let me make clear that I do not believe that ‘GOD’ created the Universe, rather that ‘god’ created the universe – ‘god’ in this context meaning the Arthur C. Clarke context that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” (or the supernatural). In other words, a ‘sufficiently advanced technology’ created our Universe. Translated, an extraterrestrial(s) did the hard yakka.
There are two possible scenarios by which this might be possible. Scenario One: This is a variation on physicist’s Lee Smolin’s idea that Black Holes can create other baby universes. Any universe that has the sort of physics that can produce Black Holes will be the sorts of universe that will be most efficient at ‘reproduction’ of new universes – a natural selection process. Darwinian selection applied to the cosmos as a whole. Now, imagine a really advanced extraterrestrial civilization that had the ability to manipulate Black Holes and thus create universes. What if our Universe was such a universe? Would we not somehow come to believe that that extraterrestrial civilization was ‘godlike’?
Scenario Two: Somewhere out there, there is this extraterrestrial Ph.D. student who is doing a doctoral thesis titled “Planet Earth and Associated Universe: A Computer Generated Simulation”. Translated, our existence is, we are nothing but, our Universe is, a computer generated simulation! Why should that idea be so strange? I mean, here on Planet Earth, there exist thousands upon thousands of computer generated software simulations packages. There are those created for training purposes – for astronauts, for pilots, or for medical doctors. There are those simulations used in scientific work, such as astronomy and cosmology – given these sets of conditions, will these (computer generated simulations) explain what we currently observe? Then of course there are simulations for fun – video games. Now, the question is, if thousands upon thousands of these simulations exist, what are the odds that we exist in a one-off really real Universe and are not part and parcel of being one of any of a thousand-plus simulated universes created by some other being(s) – extraterrestrial computer geeks perhaps? If that is the case, would we not call such a creator a ‘god’? Now if that is the case, let’s hope that he/she/it doesn’t hit the delete key! Of course if they did hit the delete key, or if your software program terminated, it might shift gears and continue on as a ‘Heaven’ software package, or a ‘Hell’ software package or a ‘spirit world’ package! One other point to note, computer simulations do not have to reflect accurately the laws of physics (as many a cartoon and video game demonstrates). So, just about anything goes, including miracles!
I hope you agree that its fun speculating and crossing over into “The Twilight Zone”! At least I hope it’s just “The Twilight Zone”!
There are two possible scenarios by which this might be possible. Scenario One: This is a variation on physicist’s Lee Smolin’s idea that Black Holes can create other baby universes. Any universe that has the sort of physics that can produce Black Holes will be the sorts of universe that will be most efficient at ‘reproduction’ of new universes – a natural selection process. Darwinian selection applied to the cosmos as a whole. Now, imagine a really advanced extraterrestrial civilization that had the ability to manipulate Black Holes and thus create universes. What if our Universe was such a universe? Would we not somehow come to believe that that extraterrestrial civilization was ‘godlike’?
Scenario Two: Somewhere out there, there is this extraterrestrial Ph.D. student who is doing a doctoral thesis titled “Planet Earth and Associated Universe: A Computer Generated Simulation”. Translated, our existence is, we are nothing but, our Universe is, a computer generated simulation! Why should that idea be so strange? I mean, here on Planet Earth, there exist thousands upon thousands of computer generated software simulations packages. There are those created for training purposes – for astronauts, for pilots, or for medical doctors. There are those simulations used in scientific work, such as astronomy and cosmology – given these sets of conditions, will these (computer generated simulations) explain what we currently observe? Then of course there are simulations for fun – video games. Now, the question is, if thousands upon thousands of these simulations exist, what are the odds that we exist in a one-off really real Universe and are not part and parcel of being one of any of a thousand-plus simulated universes created by some other being(s) – extraterrestrial computer geeks perhaps? If that is the case, would we not call such a creator a ‘god’? Now if that is the case, let’s hope that he/she/it doesn’t hit the delete key! Of course if they did hit the delete key, or if your software program terminated, it might shift gears and continue on as a ‘Heaven’ software package, or a ‘Hell’ software package or a ‘spirit world’ package! One other point to note, computer simulations do not have to reflect accurately the laws of physics (as many a cartoon and video game demonstrates). So, just about anything goes, including miracles!
I hope you agree that its fun speculating and crossing over into “The Twilight Zone”! At least I hope it’s just “The Twilight Zone”!