Can a computer be God?

[Philosophy Explorer]

Makes me wonder.

PhilX

[Noax]

Makes me wonder.

You're asking if I should worship my Mac or if it wants me to?

[Philosophy Explorer]

Makes me wonder.

You're asking if I should worship my Mac or if it wants me to?

If it wants you to. Have you ever seen Colossus: The Forbin Project?

PhilX

[bobevenson]

I remember watching a PBS television broadcast many years ago, where a scientist being interviewed said that life itself was proceeding in the direction of solid state electronics, and that mankind would go the way of the dinosaurs. I fantacized The Solid State Convention, a religion for the space age, based on the idea that the development of solid state electronics was going on throughout the universe, and that at some point when the expanding universe contracted, there would be a convention of these devices communicating with each other and having the omniscience of God. Interesting enough, this concept would eventually provide an indirect connection to Ouzo.

[Philosophy Explorer]

I remember watching a PBS television broadcast many years ago, where a scientist being interviewed said that life itself was proceeding in the direction of solid state electronics, and that mankind would go the way of the dinosaurs. I fantacized The Solid State Convention, a religion for the space age, based on the idea that the development of solid state electronics was going on throughout the universe, and that at some point when the expanding universe contracted, there would be a convention of these devices communicating with each other and having the omniscience of God. Interesting enough, this concept would eventually provide an indirect connection to Ouzo.

Fantasized.

PhilX

[Philosophy Explorer]

Makes me wonder.

You're asking if I should worship my Mac or if it wants me to?

If it wants you to. Have you ever seen Colossus: The Forbid Project?

PhilX

Some of the Star Trek, The Original Series episodes relate to my OP.

PhilX

[Noax]

I remember watching a PBS television broadcast many years ago, where a scientist being interviewed said that life itself was proceeding in the direction of solid state electronics, and that mankind would go the way of the dinosaurs. I fantacized The Solid State Convention, a religion for the space age, based on the idea that the development of solid state electronics was going on throughout the universe, and that at some point when the expanding universe contracted, there would be a convention of these devices communicating with each other and having the omniscience of God. Interesting enough, this concept would eventually provide an indirect connection to Ouzo.

Why does it being solid state make any difference? Why can't mankind be obsoleted by more traditional machines with moving parts? They can communicate with other machines in the universe just as well, but that does not render the fully networked universe omniscient, SS or not.
I know, it is the opinion of some scientist, not you. So I guess I would ask these questions of him.

[bobevenson]

I remember watching a PBS television broadcast many years ago, where a scientist being interviewed said that life itself was proceeding in the direction of solid state electronics, and that mankind would go the way of the dinosaurs. I fantacized The Solid State Convention, a religion for the space age, based on the idea that the development of solid state electronics was going on throughout the universe, and that at some point when the expanding universe contracted, there would be a convention of these devices communicating with each other and having the omniscience of God. Interesting enough, this concept would eventually provide an indirect connection to Ouzo.

Fantasized.

PhilX

Sorry for the typo, but it's all part of my rock 'n' roll fantasy, it's all part of my rock 'n' roll dream, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

[Philosophy Explorer]

I remember watching a PBS television broadcast many years ago, where a scientist being interviewed said that life itself was proceeding in the direction of solid state electronics, and that mankind would go the way of the dinosaurs. I fantacized The Solid State Convention, a religion for the space age, based on the idea that the development of solid state electronics was going on throughout the universe, and that at some point when the expanding universe contracted, there would be a convention of these devices communicating with each other and having the omniscience of God. Interesting enough, this concept would eventually provide an indirect connection to Ouzo.

Why does it being solid state make any difference? Why can't mankind be obsoleted by more traditional machines with moving parts? They can communicate with other machines in the universe just as well, but that does not render the fully networked universe omniscient, SS or not.
I know, it is the opinion of some scientist, not you. So I guess I would ask these questions of him.

When you say more traditional machines, I doubt you mean the ones with vacuum tubes in them. Can you be more specific?

PhilX

[Noax]

When you say more traditional machines, I doubt you mean the ones with vacuum tubes in them. Can you be more specific?

Well the concept concerned devices communicating across the universe, which traditionally was done by pointing a dish in the direction you wanted to communicate. That can be done via solid state now (like the radar on navy ships), but it hardly makes the resulting communication faster or more omniscient.
Devices got fast by being made smaller, not so much by being solid state. Communication across the universe (contracting or not) has nothing to do with the speed of the device and everything to do with the distances involved.

So tell me Phil, how might a computer be any help at all in its god task? What is the distinction between a computer-created universe and the same universe without the computer? More simply, how is 2+2=4 any less true if no device actually performs that arithmetic?

[Philosophy Explorer]

When you say more traditional machines, I doubt you mean the ones with vacuum tubes in them. Can you be more specific?

Well the concept concerned devices communicating across the universe, which traditionally was done by pointing a dish in the direction you wanted to communicate. That can be done via solid state now (like the radar on navy ships), but it hardly makes the resulting communication faster or more omniscient.
Devices got fast by being made smaller, not so much by being solid state. Communication across the universe (contracting or not) has nothing to do with the speed of the device and everything to do with the distances involved.

So tell me Phil, how might a computer be any help at all in its god task? What is the distinction between a computer-created universe and the same universe without the computer? More simply, how is 2+2=4 any less true if no device actually performs that arithmetic?

Certainly a computer can be programmed to promote life by helping people live longer which a machine can understand when it has the basic facts. There are numerous areas a computer can help out with (e.g. a universal quantum computer can do weather forecasting which may help out with global warming or fighting disease, etc., etc., etc.)

Due to exponentiation, a machine may progress to such a level that people may regard it as a God. On top of this, more evidence is coming out the universe may be a hologram which would coincide with the universe being created by God (not a proof, but evidence for it). As far as basic facts such as 2 + 2 = 4, that seems to be a property of the universe; but there are other facts that would elude a simple machine which may take a God to comprehend.

PhilX

[Reflex]

Makes me wonder.

PhilX

Seriously?

[Noax]

I'm having a lot of trouble connecting A to B in any of your examples.

(e.g. a universal quantum computer can do weather forecasting which may help out with global warming or fighting disease, etc., etc., etc.)

How would a good weather forecast help with global warming or disease fighting? We already know the warm weather is coming without a fancy quantum computer to add yet another data point. For that matter, what makes you think the weather sufficiently down the road (say a month) is any kind of thing that can be predicted with a computer even given unlimited power?

Due to exponentiation, a machine may progress to such a level that people may regard it as a God.

Why should anybody regard a created thing as a god? I don't ask if they would. History is full of examples. Yes, many people would regard it as such. I'm asking why they should. OK, it might surpass any of us, or even all of us combined, but that just makes it able to out-think us. God is not defined as anything that is your intellectual superior. I don't see the deer treating us like gods. Are we so stupid that the deer will have to show us the appropriate response to a superior intellect? Perhaps don't answer that, because yes, some people will behave more stupidly than deer, which pound for pound are one of the stupidest brained-creatures on the planet. (Side note: We're nowhere near the other end of that spectrum)

On top of this, more evidence is coming out the universe may be a hologram which would coincide with the universe being created by God

Again, how would the hologram thing be evidence for creation by a god? I just don't see any connection.

As far as basic facts such as 2 + 2 = 4, that seems to be a property of the universe

Cool! I wondered if anybody took a stance like this. Outside this universe, 2+2 is something else, or meaningless? The universe is more fundamental than mathematics. OK, we do not think alike.

[Philosophy Explorer]

Noax said:

"How would a good weather forecast help with global warming or disease fighting? We already know the warm weather is coming without a fancy quantum computer to add yet another data point. For that matter, what makes you think the weather sufficiently down the road (say a month) is any kind of thing that can be predicted with a computer even given unlimited power?"

On your last point, I raised the very same question about how valid global warming forecasting is at its current stage. Maybe in the future. I'm fond of saying when it comes to forecasting the path of a hurricane, all I see is spaghetti on my TV screen (representing all the paths the different models forecast for the hurricane). So if the scientists can't say where the hurricane will go, then how can they say exactly what's causing the global warming and what will happen next?

We know the warm weather is coming this year, but do we know what to do about it or whether we should? Once the computer reaches that stage, we'll be ready for those next steps - time will tell.

I'll get to your other points tomorrow.

PhilX

[Arising_uk]

I remember watching a PBS television broadcast many years ago, where a scientist being interviewed said that life itself was proceeding in the direction of solid state electronics, and that mankind would go the way of the dinosaurs. ...

No need for solid state electronics for mankind to go the way of the dinosaurs?