h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi, Lucinda, we met already, we had a little discussion about artificial intelligence and now we're talking about God. Same thing, actually.

I have this incredibly big idea that every thing is the same thing; I am the Ultimate Holist. Also I am evangelical in my enthusiasm for convincing people of this Ultimate Truth. But of course it is not something that is easy to explain let alone convince people of. So I try to do a little bit here, a little bit there - but leaving the final Leap of Faith up to the other person. You can't force someone else into Illumination - it happens, or it does not.

My kind of holism in a nutshell: all people are/is the same person, all particles are/is the same particle, all minds are/is the same mind, the laws of nature and nature itself are/is the same, science and religion are/is the same, mind and matter are/is the same, matter and energy are/is the same - reality is in fact a Single Indivisible Whole and that Whole is God.

This might be the ultimate absurdity, but I maintain that existence itself is absurd, absurdity is the fundamental attribute of reality. You can ascertain whether this is so or not by means of introspection.

Back to the shattered world we live in. Consider the Totalitarian Law (if Feynman wasn't the first to formulate it, it was someone before him): Everything that is not forbidden, is compulsory. So if something CAN exist, it MUST exist. How so? Start by trying to figure out just how unlikely it is that anything exists at all. It's not an easy computation. But consider this: because of the nature of nothingness, there is an infinite amount of "nothing" from which the "something" that exists can come from. So if there is the smallest chance that something might come from nothing, it would come into existence because there is an infinite amount of nothing from which it could come.

If that sounds fishy to you, consider the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics, consider the multiverse, and the anthropic principle. The "many worlds" interpretation says that every potential reality is an actual reality, and the universe consists of all possible histories existing together in the same space, but forever seperated from each other. The multiverse theory says that our universe is just one of an infinitude of universes existing in some "greater" space. The anthropic principle: we seem to live in the best of all possible universes, or at least, in one that is just right to make our existence possible.

So what does this imply about artificial intelligences? Basically, if they can exist, they will. Either we will develop them sometime soon, or VERY far into the future, or some other civilisation somewhere will develop them. And then, will they take over the world? Perhaps. Perhaps they'll take over the universe and become - God!

If it is possible that artificial intelligences can take over the universe and become God, then by the different principles mentioned, it in fact HAS to happen!

So just how might this possibly happen? Consider first a planetwide artificial intelligence; an ultra-engineered society that in effect is just a single brain, where living organisms are integrated with chips and other mechanic stuff. This is not impossible at all; in fact it can happen with only a bit of refinement of existing technology. This artificial brain will have the united mindpower of all humans boosted by the special capabilities of computers. What will such a brain be able to do? I think just about anything it wants. Extending its own awareness to other planets and stars, for instance. It would be possible for this brain to extend its sphere of influence to all stars, the entire universe. Possible, therefore actual. It can happen, so it does happen. In some universe, some reality, somewhere.

Now what will a universe-wide brain be capable of doing? I'd say just about anything at all. Such as going back in time. Creating other universes. Going back in time and creating the universe that it grew up in itself, and all others. Impossible? Why? I think not; I think that even a limited human brain might be able to figure out the final laws of time and space, by which time and space themselves can be controlled. So it would be a cinch for our universal brain. Possible, therefore actual.

So here is the mystery of the origin of the universe and of God explained. There was a possibility that from the nothingness a universe could spring up, in which sentience evolved, and ultimately attain God-level, at which point God could transcend time and space and create everything that exists. So that must be what happened.

What do you think of THIS argument?

UMP,

If I could comprehend it I would attempt an answer.

Walter.

AI and God - why do I get stuck on the difficult debates?

It's not that absurd, to be honest. If you look at Twophlag's entry on God, the idea that everything is one is fairly common in eastern religions.

Absurd is good, though - look at Discordianism...

The totalitarian law is good, and I'm in favour of it, but it has an important addendum.
"Anything that can happen, must happen, but it probably won't happen here."
Pragmatists can therefore ignore it as not helping terribly much.

The important limitation on a universe-wide brain - or any largescale brain - is the speed of light. There's a reason for the drive to minituarise - making stuff smaller makes it closer together, so it can think much faster. A universewide brain would be *very* intelligent - but it'd take ages to get any sort of useful information out of it...

Is timetravel possible? Who knows... but if it isn't, then it can't happen... and where does that leave your God?

Ahh, time travel... My opinion: yes, time travel is possible. Not only is it possible, in fact it happens all the time! It is possible, and it does happen... so God doesn't have a problem. Tadaaa!!!

The speed of light might not be the absolute limit it's made out to be. Every heard of tachyons? Ever heard of advanced waves? On a quantum level, where you have uncertainty and all that, the rules are made to be broken. It seems that the future is communicating information to the past all the time, from which the present is created.

There might even be ways for big things to circumvent the speed of light. Ever hear of wormholes? Ever hear of rotating black holes? Anyways the quantum vacuum might be filled with millions of billions of jillions of dillions of gillions of tiny virtual wormholes and black holes. Also there's the question of dark matter, which might turn out to have some common-sense-defying properties. It might be possible to engineer big black holes and wormholes for big things to travel through, but small things like thoughts can move through the virtual black holes and wormholes that are already there.

Just because our current technology limits us to building circuits limited by relativity, it doesn't mean that we won't soon be able to build circuits so small and subtle that quantum uncertainty gives them loopholes for transcending such limits. Heck, I don't know nothing about this all really, but I just love wild speculations. And it is true that I did read words from supposedly respectable science-dudes who said things like these might be possible.

Time travel - it's our future (and our past!)

We've left poor old Pascal a bit behind now, but who cares?

anything's possible...