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[KittyTac]

If there is a God, he's probably some nerd fooling around with a computer simulation and not even knowing that humanity exists due to the simulation's scale.

[Egan_BW]

Then it wouldn't really be a god, would it? Just a guy who owns a server farm running random universe simulations.

[KittyTac]

Then it wouldn't really be a god, would it? Just a guy who owns a server farm running random universe simulations.

Well, if you define "god" as the creator of the universe...

[Egan_BW]

I define "god" as any entity that is truly powerful enough to be called a god. Any other waffle about benevolence or creation are clearly moot if you can call Zeus a god, which he clearly is.

[KittyTac]

Wouldn't the person operating the simulation have the power to modify aspects of it?

[Egan_BW]

Does it count as power if the thing you exert power over isn't even real?
That's not exerting force, or changing the world, it's editing. It doesn't make that thing a god any more than you can be a god of a text document by typing and deleting characters.

[Reelya]

A sufficiently smart God would be able to run the whole universe simulation in their own mind, no need to create anything separate from themselves. Omniscience precludes the need for omnipotence: There's nothing that an omnipotent God could create that an omniscient being couldn't just "imagine" into existence in a fashion indistinguishable from the real thing. In fact, an omniscient being just doing a "what if" of every possible universe it could create could run through completely detailed simulations of all possible universes just by the action of trying to  decide which one it might like to create.

[KittyTac]

Does it count as power if the thing you exert power over isn't even real?
That's not exerting force, or changing the world, it's editing. It doesn't make that thing a god any more than you can be a god of a text document by typing and deleting characters.

By that logic, if the universe is a simulation, there is no god. And what if the universe the server room is in is also a simulation? _{it's simulations all the way down.}

[Egan_BW]

A sufficiently smart God would be able to run the whole universe simulation in their own mind, no need to create anything separate from themselves. Omniscience precludes the need for omnipotence: There's nothing that an omnipotent God could create that an omniscient being couldn't just "imagine" into existence in a fashion indistinguishable from the real thing. In fact, an omniscient being just doing a "what if" of every possible universe it could create could run through completely detailed simulations of all possible universes just by the action of trying to  decide which one it might like to create.

This is just what happens when you start affixing "omni" to things, and probably isn't really news to anyone.

Does it count as power if the thing you exert power over isn't even real?
That's not exerting force, or changing the world, it's editing. It doesn't make that thing a god any more than you can be a god of a text document by typing and deleting characters.

By that logic, if the universe is a simulation, there is no god. And what if the universe the server room is in is also a simulation? _{it's simulations all the way down.}

If our own universe exists in a simulation, it's likely that it's simulations all the way up, and as soon as we make out own it'll be simulations all the way down, too.

[KittyTac]

Does it count as power if the thing you exert power over isn't even real?
That's not exerting force, or changing the world, it's editing. It doesn't make that thing a god any more than you can be a god of a text document by typing and deleting characters.

By that logic, if the universe is a simulation, there is no god. And what if the universe the server room is in is also a simulation? _{it's simulations all the way down.}

If our own universe exists in a simulation, it's likely that it's simulations all the way up, and as soon as we make out own it'll be simulations all the way down, too.

Well, from the POV of a universe infinitely high up on the sequence, it is both simulations all the way up and simulations all the way down. This is just getting silly.

[scriver]

I feel that maybe your defining "god" in the wrong way, then?

Ultimately, all religions are man-made.

Yes? That is irrelevant.

A sufficiently smart God would be able to run the whole universe simulation in their own mind, no need to create anything separate from themselves. Omniscience precludes the need for omnipotence: There's nothing that an omnipotent God could create that an omniscient being couldn't just "imagine" into existence in a fashion indistinguishable from the real thing. In fact, an omniscient being just doing a "what if" of every possible universe it could create could run through completely detailed simulations of all possible universes just by the action of trying to  decide which one it might like to create.

I don't feel all-knowing is the same thing as all-imagining, and even if it was, being able to perfectly imagine the world would not preclude him also creating it.

And speaking if which, what is imaginations if not mental creations anyway?

That sounds like, I don't know, " personal experience" talking. Just saying.


What does ONG stand for?

NGO

New Girl Order.

[Criptfeind]

If our own universe exists in a simulation, it's likely that it's simulations all the way up, and as soon as we make out own it'll be simulations all the way down, too.

Isn't this only a given if there's some sort of infinite processing power(and memory I guess?) process that can be made in the real world? Otherwise each simulation would necessarily have to take up some percentage of the finite amount of processing power available, eventually making a cap on the number of simulated layers possible?

If we do ever make infinite processing power then we're certainly within an infinite layer of simulations. Which would, actually, imo, be terrific news. Since then we just need to make a simulation that matches our world exactly and we'd be able to edit it and those edits would probably appear in our world... Well, we'd have to be careful with that simulation. But it could be cool.

Then again maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about with processing power and stuff

[KittyTac]

Since then we just need to make a simulation that matches our world exactly and we'd be able to edit it and those edits would probably appear in our world...

Why would they? It is a separate simulation. Once you edit it, it's not an exact simulation of our world anymore.

[LordBaal]

This rhyme I'm keeping is destroying me. I'm guessing that with enough nutrition it could be possible.

[scriver]

Probably not, Baal. The body needs rest or it just builds up stress until it breaks down and then you're stuck with PTSD (or possibly PSD? I'm never certain if the Trauma refers to a traumatic experience or trauma from the stress levels).

It's not just a matter of nutrition. The body needs downtime to remove stress hormones.

Also, I'm assuming you mean rhythm, and aren't just stuck with a particularly difficult case of poet's block. Maybe you just write in hyper intensive pentameter?