lwall (01/27/83)
"This god cannot be explained or described within the realm of our system (universe) - One must step into the system (universe) in which god resides, to prove the existence of god." On the other hand, perhaps the Generally Omnipotent Device (GOD for short) must step into the system (universe) in which MAN resides, to prove the existence of MAN. Of late I have been working in simulation, and I've been impressed how much the world is like a Discrete System Simulation, what with the way quantum mechanics works and all. If I were a GOD in charge of a simulation such as our universe, and had let the simulation go on until some semblance of intelligence had developed (we're *all* an AI project, you see!), and decided that I would like to converse with this new intelligence, I would either have take that fledgeling intelligence out of its world (which it might not be able to bear), or I would have to WRITE MYSELF INTO THE SIMULATION, and meet the intelligence on its terms. Understand that I would not interested in turning these intelligences into "mindless robots", as they say, so I would absolutely REFUSE to prove myself to anyone who wouldn't want to talk to me anyway, since I don't want to talk to them either. I want those who find me attractive to come to me of their own accord, not because they were forced. No, I'd work it much more like a newsgroup. I would advertise over the net that I was interested in forming a net.spirit, and eventually net.spirit would be subscribed to by enough people that I would call a FAITHNIX convention in order to prove to anyone interested that I was for real, and not an AI project. In other words, I would incarnate myself for a while. But remember that I am the Generally Omnipotent Device--I am running the simulation, and can run it any speed I like. That means I can send mail simultaneously to any and all sites that are interested in conversing with me, unlike poor humans who can only converse with at most several people at once. And I should like to have good conversations with as many people as are willing to be good conversationalists, so while I was incarnated I would recruit volunteers to recruit more conversationalists. And I would try to explain where I was coming from (literally), and to clear away centuries of misconceptions as to my nature. Vindictive indeed! Humph. I would use every metaphor and story I could get my hands on to demonstrate to them who I was, and I would finish the demonstration by letting them kill me, and then showing them that even death had no power over me. But here's the rub. I like my conversationalists so much that I promise to perpetuate their mental patterns forever just so I can continue to talk to them. That's kind of a mouthful to say, so they make up a word for it: soul. Of course, now they'll get all confused, and try to figure out where the soul resides, in the physical world or the "spirit" world. Of course it's a meaningless question. The soul is just a promise I intend to keep. And I will keep the promise for everyone, not just the ones who want to talk to me right now. Who knows, perhaps the others will get lonely someday and want to create a simulation so they'll have someone to talk to. But they won't be able to find out how it's done without asking me, and I absolutely will not force them to come--it would destroy them more than they are already destroying themselves. In the end, there will only be two classes of people, those who say to me, "Your will be done," and those to whom I say "Your will be done." To sum up: we can't prove God the Father, but perhaps God the Son has already proven himself. "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!" Yes, DO think about it, by all means. Larry Wall ...!decvax!trw-unix!sdcvax!lwall
daleh (01/29/83)
"To sum up: we can't prove God the Father, but perhaps God the Son has already proven himself" Fine. We have entered the realm of belief, I will not argue with what you believe and I would appreciate no arguments from you on what I may happen to believe. Dale Henrichs tektronix!daleh