From: Max More (maxmore@primenet.com)
Date: Fri Nov 15 1996 - 12:08:20 MST
At 07:13 AM 11/14/96 UT, you wrote:
>
>All I was doing with my original God post was bringing up the *possibility*
>that we won't be the first ones to do this. I don't think it's unreasonable
>to believe that if it's possible for us to create and influence the
>development of universes, that perhaps someone else is already doing this and
>our universe is one of the ones they created.
Other Extropians have raised the same possibility, so it's not fair to
suggest that all Extropians are "dogmatic atheists" in the sense of
absolutely rejecting the possibility that "god" -- in some usages of the
word -- may have created our universe. Hans Moravec has written about this
possibility, and others of us have discussed it.
You go from saying that it's a *possibility* to saying that it's probable. I
disagree with this. As I noted before, the hypothesis does *not* explain
anything. It adds to the number of things to be explained. It's simply a
speculation. The only value I can see in it, apart from simple intellectual
fun, is that suggested by Hans Moravec in the interview I did with him in
the November issue of Rage: it offers one way to escape the end of our
universe. He says that a very long term, low-probability project is to try
to discover ways of communicating with the makers of the universe. (BTW, why
do you talk of "God" rather than "gods". Surely the creation of a universe
is at least as likely to be a team effort.)
>I can't see any way to put this *possibility* out of my mind. And don't
>anybody give me the standard athiestic arguments; I am very familiar with them
>already. *Think* about what I have written, and respond out of intelligence,
>not out of dogmatic habit.
>If we become capable of creating universes similar to our own, it seems
>possible and likely that another conscious being created our universe.
^^^^^
Which position are you actually taking, David? Is it merely possible -- a
pure speculation with no evidence to support a positive belief, as you seem
to originally suggest -- or likely? If the latter, I don't see that you've
given a good argument.
Max
Max More, Ph.D.
more@extropy.org
http://www.primenet.com/~maxmore
President, Extropy Institute, Editor, Extropy
info-exi@extropy.org, http://www.extropy.org
(310) 398-0375
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