HN Explorer

Elon Musk was right. We are becoming Gods that create Gods using code

5 points by causalmachine ↗ HN
Elon Musk was right.

We are becoming Gods that create Gods using code,

(link: https://github.com/JordanMicahBennett/God)

...BUT we probably WON'T be the INFINITE, OMNISCIENT kind.

15 comments

[ 5.2 ms ] story [ 43.9 ms ] thread
ZeroFries
Perhaps God-like beings are the inevitable end-state of our universe, and are now reaching back through time in order to minimize the suffering needed to reach said state, influencing the trajectory of the universe in whatever ways they can (whilst under consistency constraints). See retro-causality.
AnimalMuppet
And perhaps this is a bunch of mystic BS. If you're going to believe in God, believe in God. If you're going to be an atheist, be an atheist. Don't tell yourself just-so stories to try to give yourself the feeling that something "divine-like" is maybe there.
dhruvkar
Why not?

Absolutely believing in god and absolutely NOT believing in god are just as arbitrary as believing something in the middle. 'Just-so' stories aren't inherently inferior.

Believe what you want.

AnimalMuppet
No, believe what you think the evidence says. (And if you believe that the evidence is inconclusive, then be an agnostic.)
dhruvkar
"Belief" implies agreeing with or without evidence, otherwise it would be fact - no need for belief.

Even if it wasn't so, the evidence IS inconclusive.

I think our hacker, left-brain bias leads to dismissing anything that isn't cold fact, as invalid. I BELIEVE validity rises from people's experiences, so a little benefit-of-doubt goes a long way to respecting people's experiences.

ZeroFries
The two stories you mention: "There is a God", "There isn't a God" do not seem to capture reality adequately. I believe in something more akin to "Brahman". The story I told above was just a fun what-if story, and I don't claim I have any insight into it's truth, or how you could even go about proving it.
meric
You are conscious, because your mind is conscious, and your mind is a part of you.

The universe is conscious, because you are conscious, you are a part of the universe.

Brahman is also conscious, because universe is conscious, and the universe is a part of Brahman.

I'm not Hindu, but this is pretty conclusive proof.

AnimalMuppet
Well, I don't look at it that way.

To put it in object-oriented terms: I am my mind and my body. Think of inheritance here: I am my mind, and I am my body. Because my mind is conscious, it's fine to say that I am conscious.

But the universe is more like a container (a set, say). It isn't its contents, it merely has them. So while I am part of the universe, and I am conscious, that doesn't mean that the universe is conscious. Instead, it contains consciousness.

> Brahman is also conscious, because universe is conscious, and the universe is a part of Brahman.

Objection, your honor. Assumes facts not in evidence.

And: I'm not Hindu either, but I'm not sure, within Hinduism, whether Brahman is conscious.

meric
Ahh. One day you will realise from my point of view all of you is inseparable from the universe - your mind is just atoms like a plant. Are we saying the atoms in your mind are coloured and in a separate space time to the rest of the universe? From when do the food you eat to when you digest them, do they separate from the universe into you? Unless you mean atoms aren't part of the universe, and then neither is energy because atom is just energy in a specific form. In that case I think you meant to use the word "space", not universe? Because the definition of universe is "The Universe is all of time and space and its contents".

So the only explanation I can understand where you can be separate from the universe is, if you weren't a content of this universe and I'm speaking to a super-natural being.

Otherwise, if you aren't supernatural, then all of you is a part of the universe, and that makes the universe at least as conscious as you are.'

The only reach from universe to Brahman, is whether there are multiple universes, or is this the only one.

In my opinion, all positions besides Pantheism or Panentheism are illogical.

ZeroFries
Within your projection of reality, the sum total of all your qualia and awareness at any point in time, you call part of it "me", or "my body", and the rest of it "not me". But, this distinction is just a feeling, or more qualia, within the projection. In reality, you contain the projection.
causalmachine
Nonsense.

I haven't any belief, and therein I have not any belief in God or gods. (As specified in my github url, entitled "God")

However, I maintain that mankind shall perhaps attain God-like PROPERTIES.

We are simulating more and more detailed universes (Sample illustris).

If computing power increases, mankind shall probably simulate universes detailed enough to contain intelligence.

Alternatively, mankind has already generated brain based artificial intelligence platforms that exceed humans on several different tasks (eventually, such shall probably exceed human on all tasks simultaneously - general artificial intelligence)

At this point, (whence we shall probably still be a mortal species) mankind becomes God-bound, as mankind would have then created universes with sentient beings and or separate general artificial intelligence programs.

Ergo, mankind shall become Gods, just not the omnipotent, omniscient, infinite kind specified in religion.

causalmachine
Suffering appears as a quintessential natural function, that is minimized as time diverges...
causalmachine
For I am "causalmachine".

The original story regards Elon's "biological boot loader lamentation", which is likely.

To clarify, I haven't any belief, and therein I have not any belief in God or gods. (As specified in my github url, entitled "God")

However, I maintain that mankind shall perhaps attain God-like PROPERTIES.

We are simulating more and more detailed universes (Sample illustris).

If computing power increases, mankind shall probably simulate universes detailed enough to contain intelligence.

Alternatively, mankind has already generated brain based artificial intelligence platforms that exceed humans on several different tasks (eventually, such shall probably exceed human on all tasks simultaneously - general artificial intelligence)

At this point, (whence we shall probably still be a mortal species) mankind becomes God-bound, as mankind would have then created universes with sentient beings and or separate general artificial intelligence programs.

Ergo, mankind shall become Gods, just not the omnipotent, omniscient, infinite kind specified in religion.