bts@unc.UUCP (07/04/83)
This has been an interesting week for religious ads in
my P.O. box. First it was the Scientologists trying to sell
me "Dianetics", now it's Springer-Verlag offering "Superior
Beings: If They Exist, How Would We Know?", by Steven J.
Brams.
The sub-title is "Game-Theoretic Implications of Omnis-
cience, Omnipotence, Immortality, and Incomprehensibility",
which covers rather a lot, if you stop to think about it.
It'll be approximately 192 pages and will sell for $21.95,
$11.95 in paperback. It should be available in July 1983,
so I'm going over to our Math/Physics Library as soon as it
opens tomorrow morning to look for it. Why Math/Physics?
Well, the ad was in their new listing of mathematics books--
between "Problems of Biological Physics", by L.A. Blumenfeld
and "Differential Equations and Their Applications: An
Introduction to Applied Mathematics", (3rd edition, short
version) by Martin Braun.
According to the ad, here's what the book is all about:
The central question posed is: If there existed a supe-
rior being who possessed the supernatural qualities of
omniscience, omnipotence, immortality, and incomprehen-
sibility, how would he/she act differently from us?
Later on:
Are God's superior powers compatible with human free
will? Can they be reconciled with the problem of evil
in the world? In what situations is God's existence
"decidable" in gamelike relationships He might have
with us?
I'm looking forward to reading this book. In case
Math/Physics doesn't have it, I'd appreciate a review from
anyone who reads it before I find a copy.
A key point of this book seems to be its reliance on
game theory. If God is playing games with us, can it be
that mathematics will tell us how to win? In any event, I
hope there will be a follow-up discussion in this newsgroup.
Finally, my U.S.Snail address for this sort of thing is
Bruce T. Smith
P.O. Box 4054
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Nothing ordinary, please...