"... but these arguments, presented in such a setting, would seem like frivolous and idle exercises in irrelevance or blasphemy." -
Jorge Luis Borges
How did I miss this one ?
Previously I used the multiverse to provide an argument for the existence of God, recently Don Page turned it around and used the existence of God as an argument for the existence of the multiverse (addressing the problem of suffering as well). The great circle is closed ...
Brilliant!
4 comments:
For Leibniz, only an all-knowing being can appreciate the significance of the full evolution of the wave function (using the modern jargon), therefore God exists. For Page, there's no need to appreciate its significance, therefore God exists!
I thought he followed the Leibniz argument (God appreciates the unitary Schroedinger evolution, therefore the multiverse) - but I agree that some traces of doubt are still there (when Page argues that He could reduce human suffering by collapsing the wave function).
The 'problem of evil' raises its ugly head again (but see my own argument).
But I think Page's collapse argument is incomplete, because if He would collapse the wave function the He would ease the suffering of the "real" beings at the expense of the suffering of the *possible beings*. In other words, He would still be fully aware of all the *possible suffering*, i.e. the suffering of *possible beings*.
So I think God appreciates the many worlds, because He balances the suffering of the "real" beings with the joy of the *possible beings*.
I meant 'appreciate' in the sense that for Leibniz only God could understand all its consequences, moral and physical, so as to pick the best of all possible worlds. But Page's God doesn't need to do that! He just presses the button and disappears.
>> Page's God doesn't need to do that! He just presses the button and disappears.
I see - but this makes perfect sense, for only an omnipotent God can disappear and still be omnipresent.
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