An analogy of the absurdity of reality without God

[Maniel]

Hi there, I wonder of this is the right place to be posting this?

Here it goes anyway. I've been trying for some time to make an easy to understand and explainable analogy in regards to the title of this post "The absurdity of reality without God".

I would love some feedback on what could strengthen it even more or if you could point out some weaknesses. Does it even make any sense?

Could the improbability and total absurdity of a computer spontaneously writing it's own code into a functioning digital world, be equalized with our reality?

It goes like this:

Chapter 2
In ages long ago, there was an old dusty computer. Long forgotten in the corner of a dark basement belonging to someone’s mother. Once the perfect environment for endless hours of dwellings in vast digital worlds of wonder, the artistic creations of programmers’ imagination.

Behold! There is a time for gaming and a time, to do other things. Thus, the computer was wiped, everything deleted. It was shut down. All memory of that old thing soon faded away…

Until that miraculous day. The day of wonder and awe never to be forgotten. A shining light came from the computer. Endless digits of 1’s and 0’s filled the screen to the propelling sound of cooling fan’s turning swiftly and the smell of old dust filling the room. In the beginning, everything seemingly a true mess. Riddles of chaos was in the computer code.

The next day, while little rays of light were shining through the holes of a curtain, something new happened. The code was changing, what seemed like little arrangements of patterns. 01101001 01000001 01101101 was repeated down the screen. In a flash “Let there be light!” appeared in letters on the screen. Suddenly the speakers of the computer were alive, sending beautiful symphonies of music into the room. Colors filled the screen; the numbers were no more. On day three there was a transformation. Dancing to the sound of music the colors made shapes. The World was formed, the code of life. Made in the image of our own, great digital forests as far as eyes can see, the wind blowing and leaves flying by. Endless oceans of crystal blue, with the sun twinkling on the surface floor.

More days went by while something new appeared on each day. Then, on the sixth day I decided to visit my mom. I asked “Mother, do you still have that old computer of mine?” “Yes, my dear!”, she replied. And so I went, walking down the stairs wondering about that smell, and the sound and colors filling the room. Slowly I walked in wonder towards my old dusty computer.

I stared into the screen of the computer. “Who are you?”, the man on the screen asked.

Perplexed in thought I asked myself the question, “Who am I?”


Can also be read here: https://shepherdscrolls.com/2020/03/19/the-ai-man-chapter-2/

So there you have it, thank you for reading and I hope very much to hear from you.

Sincerely, Mathias

 

[Yttrium]

Could the improbability and total absurdity of a computer spontaneously writing it's own code into a functioning digital world, be equalized with our reality?

Um... it seems to me like an analogy of something like... God creating the universe without intending to create life, and life accidentally pops up thanks to the information piled up.

I'm not sure that's what you had in mind.

 

[Maniel]

You have a fair point. I tried to make subtle hints towards God, which may have failed. Leaving a bit of holes and mystery for the sake of some sort of suspension and untold truths.

I guess it's a mix of telling the narrative often told by the secular world, that everything happened by accident and random and then by showing how absurd it must be that a left computer should be able to write a code spontaneously by itself, that has life and conscious beings inside it.

Perhaps I should write this more clear into the story itself, as it is thoughts I had in the back of my mind, making it self-evident to me personally.

 

[Strathos]

that everything happened by accident and random

Does anyone actually say this though?

 

[Maniel]

Does anyone actually say this though?

It might be my own stereotypical view of replies from persons who are atheists. It would probably be more precise to quote them on saying that they don't know. If not God, the only explanation does seem to be on accidents and chance though.

 

[Gene2memE]

f not God, the only explanation does seem to be on accidents and chance though.

Depends of what you're talking about.

There's a strong case to be made that to have a 'something' (ie, reality), the basic physical interactions of the universe can't be too dissimilar from what they are. Some of the margins are much wider than others, but you can only tweak with an narrow range otherwise you have nothing, rather than something.

If you're talking about humans, then yes there's a large element of accident and chance in the mix. Our knowledge of the history of earth shows that self aware humans have been around for an absolute maximum of 3 million years, and more likely less than 1 million. So, self actualising individuals with the capacity for questions such as "Who am I" have been around for less than 0.07% of the history of earth.

Our knowledge of evolution shows that humans are not inevitable, and there has been much chance and random events that have produced us. Intelligent, social bipeds are really rare in the fossil record, and there's no reason to assume that if we replayed the "game" (so to speak) of life, that humans would be a result.

 

[pitabread]

If not God, the only explanation does seem to be on accidents and chance though.

God isn't an explanation though, because it doesn't actually explain anything. In this context, 'God' is being used a placeholder for lack of knowledge.

 

[Maniel]

God isn't an explanation though, because it doesn't actually explain anything. In this context, 'God' is being used a placeholder for lack of knowledge.

As good as explanation as a painting is the evidence of a painter? Or a book of a writer, because it takes intelligence. God in this context seem to me as quite clear!

 

[Maniel]

Depends of what you're talking about.

There's a strong case to be made that to have a 'something' (ie, reality), the basic physical interactions of the universe can't be too dissimilar from what they are. Some of the margins are much wider than others, but you can only tweak with an narrow range otherwise you have nothing, rather than something.

If you're talking about humans, then yes there's a large element of accident and chance in the mix. Our knowledge of the history of earth shows that self aware humans have been around for an absolute maximum of 3 million years, and more likely less than 1 million. So, self actualising individuals with the capacity for questions such as "Who am I" have been around for less than 0.07% of the history of earth.

Our knowledge of evolution shows that humans are not inevitable, and there has been much chance and random events that have produced us. Intelligent, social bipeds are really rare in the fossil record, and there's no reason to assume that if we replayed the "game" (so to speak) of life, that humans would be a result.

You're right. Without God reality wouldn't be possible. Life would be unexplainable and absurd. So in a hypothetical sense it would be an accident and chance, though in reality that would be impossible and incoherent

 

[pitabread]

As good as explanation as a painting is the evidence of a painter? Or a book of a writer, because it takes intelligence. God in this context seem to me as quite clear!

The reason you know a painter made a painting or a writer wrote a book is based on preexisting knowledge of those objects coupled with pattern recognition.

The same cannot be said about the universe as a whole.

 

[Gene2memE]

You're right. Without God reality wouldn't be possible.

That's not remotely what I argued.

Life would be unexplainable and absurd.

Life is certainly explainable (if not comprehensively so), and whether its absurd or not depends on your choices. Unless you're talking about life in the sense of 'living things', in which case neither of your descriptors is applicable.

So in a hypothetical sense it would be an accident and chance, though in reality that would be impossible and incoherent

First you have to demonstrate your premise (some God exists) is valid and sound. Then you have to demonstrate that if God does exist, any reality that did not come about by a God would be impossible and incoherent.

 

[Yttrium]

I guess it's a mix of telling the narrative often told by the secular world, that everything happened by accident and random and then by showing how absurd it must be that a left computer should be able to write a code spontaneously by itself, that has life and conscious beings inside it.

Well, keep in mind when reworking things that things happening naturally wouldn't be all that random. Atoms and molecules only combine together in certain ways, after all. With energy and time, it's not difficult for complex molecules to form.

Even if you showed that it would be absurd for things to come about without the intervention of a supreme being, it wouldn't affect any current scientific theories at all. I've often thought: wouldn't it be cool if someone had designed the basic forms of matter and and rules of the universe so that they would inevitably produce stars, planets, life, and then intelligent life.

 

[Subduction Zone]

It appears that the OP is opposing evolution more than anything else. And of course all of his arguments are failed ones that we have seen far too often.

 

[The IbanezerScrooge]

As an atheist I find the title of the OP really ironic. I am an atheist precisely because I found that reality as we know it with a god, especially the Christian version, to be a really absurd and warped scenario. Given what is believed about god, who and what it is, reality as it actually is makes no sense whatsoever to me. Then when you remove that god variable everything is resolved. It all makes perfect sense.

As far as your story... meh. Seemed a bit silly and completely unrealistic. I think you're trying to take a jab at abiogenesis and evolution, but you're story seems more analogous to the creation story of things poofing into existence fully formed. That's not what we're finding and certainly not what abiogenesis and evolutionary hypotheses and theories suggest.

 

[Shemjaza]

Seems to be the classic special pleading of dealing with something without a clear cause by asserting that it was caused by an entity... that doesn't have a cause.

 

[Bungle_Bear]

I like it. God is created by humans and tells a story according to what humans designed. That's pretty accurate.

 

[SkyWriting]

Hi there, I wonder of this is the right place to be posting this?

Here it goes anyway. I've been trying for some time to make an easy to understand and explainable analogy in regards to the title of this post "The absurdity of reality without God".

Storytelling 101: The 6 Elements of Every Complete Narrative

• Setting. The setting is the time and location in which your story takes place. ...
• Characters. A story usually includes a number of characters, each with a different role or purpose. ...
• Plot. The plot is the sequence of events that connect the audience to the protagonist and their ultimate goal. ...
• Conflict. ...
• Theme. ...
• Narrative Arc.

Storytelling 101: The 6 Elements of Every Complete Narrative ...

 

[SkyWriting]

As good as explanation as a painting is the evidence of a painter? Or a book of a writer, because it takes intelligence. God in this context seem to me as quite clear!

These five elements are the building blocks of story, and they are:

• Action. What are your characters doing?
• Dialogue. What are they saying?
• Description. What are they seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling?
• Inner Monologue. ...
• Exposition / Narrative. ...
• Which storytelling element do you like using the most?

5 Elements of Storytelling - The Write Practice

 

[VirOptimus]

Hi there, I wonder of this is the right place to be posting this?

Here it goes anyway. I've been trying for some time to make an easy to understand and explainable analogy in regards to the title of this post "The absurdity of reality without God".

I would love some feedback on what could strengthen it even more or if you could point out some weaknesses. Does it even make any sense?

Could the improbability and total absurdity of a computer spontaneously writing it's own code into a functioning digital world, be equalized with our reality?

It goes like this:

Chapter 2
In ages long ago, there was an old dusty computer. Long forgotten in the corner of a dark basement belonging to someone’s mother. Once the perfect environment for endless hours of dwellings in vast digital worlds of wonder, the artistic creations of programmers’ imagination.

Behold! There is a time for gaming and a time, to do other things. Thus, the computer was wiped, everything deleted. It was shut down. All memory of that old thing soon faded away…

Until that miraculous day. The day of wonder and awe never to be forgotten. A shining light came from the computer. Endless digits of 1’s and 0’s filled the screen to the propelling sound of cooling fan’s turning swiftly and the smell of old dust filling the room. In the beginning, everything seemingly a true mess. Riddles of chaos was in the computer code.

The next day, while little rays of light were shining through the holes of a curtain, something new happened. The code was changing, what seemed like little arrangements of patterns. 01101001 01000001 01101101 was repeated down the screen. In a flash “Let there be light!” appeared in letters on the screen. Suddenly the speakers of the computer were alive, sending beautiful symphonies of music into the room. Colors filled the screen; the numbers were no more. On day three there was a transformation. Dancing to the sound of music the colors made shapes. The World was formed, the code of life. Made in the image of our own, great digital forests as far as eyes can see, the wind blowing and leaves flying by. Endless oceans of crystal blue, with the sun twinkling on the surface floor.

More days went by while something new appeared on each day. Then, on the sixth day I decided to visit my mom. I asked “Mother, do you still have that old computer of mine?” “Yes, my dear!”, she replied. And so I went, walking down the stairs wondering about that smell, and the sound and colors filling the room. Slowly I walked in wonder towards my old dusty computer.

I stared into the screen of the computer. “Who are you?”, the man on the screen asked.

Perplexed in thought I asked myself the question, “Who am I?”


Can also be read here: https://shepherdscrolls.com/2020/03/19/the-ai-man-chapter-2/

So there you have it, thank you for reading and I hope very much to hear from you.

Sincerely, Mathias

nope, its crappy preaching. Unoriginal too.

 

[Ken-1122]

As good as explanation as a painting is the evidence of a painter? Or a book of a writer, because it takes intelligence.

Paintings and books are not just the result of intelligence, but the result of HUMAN intelligence

God in this context seem to me as quite clear!

While I would agree human intelligence is responsible for God claims, I doubt that is where you were getting at