My mind is now blown. I'm a totally irreligious sci-fi freak. So the possibility that we're living in
The Matrix--while not something I seriously consider--
is a notion I can fantasize and speculate about. As an agnostic, I'm open to just about any fanciful idea about the nature of the universe. Open, but not easily convinced. If there
is such a thing as a creator, I've always imagined that it was something like a computer programmer or an inventor. Why, oh why does the creator need to be omniscient, all-powerful, infinite, 100% pure love/vengeance, with a pathological need to be worshipped? That's why if I had to pick a religion--
had to--it would probably be deism. God made it all, and then either just observes, or moved on to other things.
 |
| I suppose it could be worse. . . |
But back to that Matrix idea. Suppose we're all Sims in a very elaborate "Universe: featuring Earth" program? Things fit in my brain just fine, until I remember the old
SimCity game. I could play it for hours, building and growing my town. Then I'd get bored, and throw earthquakes, tornadoes and
Godzilla at them. Suppose
our programmer is more creative than that? Suppose in our simulation,
Joseph Smith was right? The ludicrousness of the Mormon religion doesn't matter, if it's
programmed in!!!
[Excerpt]
Should We Be Mormons in the Matrix?
Many people have noticed that there seem to be no new arguments for the truth of any of the world’s religions. I recently stumbled upon one, however, and it has given me a moment’s pause.
The Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom has argued that our entire cosmos could be running as a simulation on a supercomputer of the future. This, needless to say, is a bizarre claim, but it can be defended with a few surprisingly plausible assumptions. . .
Read more at: Sam Harris
There may be more to Sam's choice of Mormonism as an example than merely an appeal to ridicule: http://lincoln.metacannon.net/2011/04/sam-harris-asks-should-we-be-mormons-in.html
ReplyDeleteMaybe. But look at it this way: You may be a Mormon, and NOT find your own religion inherantly ridiculous. But ARE there religions that you DO find ridiculous? Plug it into Sam's article, and you have the same outcome.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, when I call Mormonism "ludicrous" it is not with the deliberate attempt to ridicule. I simply find all religions to be preposterous.
But it is also true that my agnosticism/atheism is afforded mostly zero respect by religious people, in my experience. And Mormonism in particular has been openly hostile as it relates to my sexuality. I find little reason to be "respectful" toward religions or the religious. Believe me when I tell you that I have reason not to be.
Hi James. I sympathize. There is much that is not admirable in religion (including my own). However, there is no major religion that I consider simply ridiculous. Rather, it is dogmatism and superstition, religious and otherwise, that troubles me.
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't think I'd consider a religion SIMPLY ridiculous. It is only one of the adjectives I would use. Preposterous is perhaps a better word.
ReplyDeleteThere is no religion I've heard of outside of a loose "force of good/force of bad" or "something created everything, and then moved on" kind of thing that isn't layered with countless impossible-to-believe "truths." I prefer to operate under the premise that everything has a logical, natural, scientifically explainable origin.