God Is the Machine

Wired ^ | December 2002 | Kevin Kelly

[Terriergal]

What the heck is "perfect logic"? Yeah... I definitely see the flaw in that. Logic is just... logic.

I guess it would be better just to stick with the "his thoughts are higher than our thoughts and his ways are above our ways" what since it's been around for several thousand years!

How about "humans don't consistently exercise logic, whereas God does."

[Terriergal]

Logic isn't hard.

OH, but it is, for many people. Logic and its by-product, consistency, makes each of us look at our own faults and people really hate that. Being illogical and irrational is far more comfortable.

[Terriergal]

You are predestined before you were born..Is micro managing knowing how many hairs will be on your hair brush tomorrow?

Nope!

Like I said, predestination for me is an academic study, of little practical value.... unless one wants to start using it as an excuse not to "Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary use words." St. Francis of Assisi .

[Dr. Eckleburg]

predestination for me is...of little practical value.

Seems to me, to acknowledge God's complete sovereignty is both pragmatic and comforting.

[mdmathis6]

My gracious the universe is digital....what will the analog sound loving audiophiles(who hate digital sound) think and do now....?Demand that God make a vacuum tube version of the universe?(reality with a warmer bass sound!)

[RnMomof7]

Let me tell you why it is a bit more than academic study..

1) It was what Paul believed and taught

2)It is what Peter believed and taught

3 It is what Jesus taught

4) It is VERY humbling to know that it is not about you

5) It exhaults God ...and that really is reason 1

One does not need to believe it to be saved..but truth is always truth..and Jesus is the truth

Have a blessed Sunday

[RnMomof7]

Hey Dr. E I was just thinking about you yesterday..you have been VERY quiet as of late

[Abcdefg]

When we record digital, we must use an analog media. It seems to me that transistors are turned on and off, but must go thru a short transition that is neither one nor zero but a rising or falling voltage or current level.
Magnetic media: it is doughtful that we ever fully saturate the tape. Is every magnetic particle on the tape fully aligned? What about the transitions between the ones and zeros?
It seems the available media is what prevents us from achieving true digital and why we use analog to imitate it.
Even vacuum tubes can be saturated fully on or off, but can we get around the rise and fall times that are in the realm of analog?

[Abcdefg]

Uh oh, brain fart. "Even vacuum tubes can be saturated fully on or off" should have been "can be turned on or off like a transistor".

[stuartcr]

What exactly is the Socratic method, I'm not familiar with this?

[stuartcr]

I demand no proof of God from anyone. My belief in God is impossible to prove, and cannot be substantiated.

[stuartcr]

Please see #50. You believe that logic is not bound by science or the universe? What is logic bound by? Are you privy to some kind of logic that is beyond human comprehension? You're the first person to state that. Why do you think I would rather not accept that God is beyond our logic? I have no problem with the fact that God cannot be described/defined logically. How is math broken?

[stuartcr]

I also do not understand what you mean by choosing God? God is, there is no choice involved.

[nobdysfool]

In the beginning there was the computer.
And God said,
c:\>Let there be light
Enter user id.
Enter password.
c:\>Omniscient
Password incorrect. Try again.
c:\>Omnipotent
Password incorrect. Try again.
c:\>Technocrat
And God logged on at 12:01:00 AM, Sunday, March 1.
c:\>Let there be light
Unrecognizable command. Try again.
c:\>Create light
Done
c:\>Run heaven and earth
And God created Day and Night. And God saw there were 0 errors.
And God logged off at 12:02:00 AM, Sunday, March 1.
And God logged on at 12:01:00 AM, Monday, March 2.
c:\>Let there be firmament in the midst of water and light
Unrecognizable command. Try again.
c:\>Create firmament
Done.
c:\>Run firmament
And God divided the waters. And God saw there were 0 errors.
And God logged off at 12:02:00 AM, Monday, March 2.
And God logged on at 12:01:00 AM, Tuesday, March 3.
c:\>Let the waters under heaven be gathered together unto one place and
let the dry land appear and...
Too many characters in specification string. Try again.
c:\>Create dry_land
Done.
c:\>Run firmament
And God divided the waters. And God saw there were 0 errors.
And God logged off at 12:02:00 AM, Tuesday, March 3.
And God logged on at 12:01:00 AM, Wednesday, March 4.
c:\>Create lights in the firmament to divide the day from the night
Unspecified type. Try again.
c:\>Create sun_moon_stars
Done
c:\>Run sun_moon_stars
And God divided the waters. And God saw there were 0 errors.
And God logged off at 12:02:00 AM, Wednesday, March 4.
And God logged on at 12:01:00 AM, Thursday, March 5.
c:\>Create fish
Done
c:\>Create fowl
Done
c:\>Run fish, fowl
And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that
creepeth wherewith the waters swarmed after its kind and every winged fowl
after its kind. And God saw there were 0 errors.
And God logged on at 12:01:00 AM, Friday, March 6.
c:\>Create cattle
Done
c:\>Create creepy_things
Done
c:\>Now let us make man in our image
Unspecified type. Try again.
c:\>Create man
Done
c:\>Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and
have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and
over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth
Too many command operands. Try again.
c:\>Run multiplication
Execution terminated. 6 errors.
c:\>Insert breath
Done
c:\>Run multiplication
Execution terminated. 5 errors.
c:\>Move man to Garden of Eden
File Garden of Eden does not exist.
c:\>Create Garden.edn
Done
c:\>Move man to Garden.edn
Done
c:\>Run multiplication
Execution terminated. 4 errors.
c:\>Copy woman from man
Done
c:\>Run multiplication
Execution terminated. 2 errors.
c:\>Create desire
Done
c:\>Run multiplication
And God saw man and woman being fruitful and multiplying in Garden.edn
Warning: No time limit on this run. 1 errors.
c:\>Create freewill
Done
c:\>Run freewill
And God saw man and woman being fruitful and multiplying in Garden.edn
Warning: No time limit on this run. 1 errors.
c:\>Undo desire
Desire cannot be undone once freewill is created.
c:\>Destroy freewill
Freewill is an inaccessible file and cannot be destroyed.
Enter replacement, cancel, or ask for help.
c:\>Help
Desire cannot be undone once freewill is created.
Freewill is an inaccessible file and cannot be destroyed.
Enter replacement, cancel, or ask for help.
c:\>Create tree_of_knowledge
And God saw man and woman being fruitful and multiplying in Garden.edn
Warning: No time limit on this run. 1 errors.
c:\>Create good, evil
Done
c:\>Activate evil
And God saw he had created shame.
Warning system error in sector E95. Man and woman not in Garden.edn.
1 errors.
c:\>Scan Garden.edn for man, woman
Search failed.
c:\>Delete shame
Shame cannot be deleted once evil has been activated.
c:\>Destroy freewill
Freewill is an inaccessible file and cannot be destroyed.
Enter replacement, cancel, or ask for help.
c:\>Stop
Unrecognizable command. Try again
c:\>Break
c:\>Break
c:\>Break
ATTENTION ALL USERS *** ATTENTION ALL USERS:
COMPUTER GOING DOWN FOR REGULAR DAY OF
MAINTENANCE AND REST IN FIVE MINUTES. PLEASE LOG OFF.
c:\>Create new world
You have exceeded your allocated file space. You must destroy old files
before new ones can be created.
c:\>Destroy earth
Destroy earth: Please confirm.
c:\>Destroy earth confirmed
COMPUTER DOWN *** COMPUTER DOWN.
SERVICES WILL RESUME SUNDAY, MARCH 8 AT 6:00 AM.
YOU MUST SIGN OFF NOW.

And God logged off at 11:59:59 PM, Friday, March 6.

[nobdysfool]

Bump! I got a laugh out of this, but then again, I'm a computer tech....

[RnMomof7]

I will copy for engineer son..thanks

[Matchett-PI]

"....I'm not a [Biblical Christian]!" "...hopefully we are slowly being reformatted ..."

Who are the "we" to which you refer?

[Matchett-PI]

"I demand no proof of God from anyone. My belief in God is impossible to prove, and cannot be substantiated."

Do you believe that others (beside yourself) have minds? Explain how you know they aren't robots.

"What exactly is the Socratic method, I'm not familiar with this?"

It's a method of questioning people, which elicits answers from them that reveals their hidden ignorance about what are essentially foregone conclusions / presuppositions any rational human being knows he has a right to hold. LOL

[stuartcr]

I can explain nothing about other people, I'm trying to learn, that's why I ask questions. Thanks, I'll try to remember the Socratic thing, as I'm not very well read on philosophy.

[BRO68]

The man who invented the computer
Was from a place called MIT.
He punched out cards and tapes by the yards
Humming "Nearer My God to Thee."

Bob Gibson & Bob Camp circa 1961