a reply to:
Maverick7
As we know one of the problems of religious dogma is how do we see the concept of a god. Is "God" all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present?
In Islam, God is definitely all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present. We believe that our temporary lives in this "simulation" are meant to test our
character. Those who "pass" go to the real dimension/Heaven, while those who "fail" go to the trash dimension/Hell.
At any rate the problem of being the 'god of the simulation' is how much do you interfere in the simulation?
God does interact with this simulation. But He also allows us enough freedom to forge our own paths. Or to be blunt, He often gives us enough rope to
pull ourselves up or to hang ourselves. It's up to us to decide which one we'll do.
Another problem is would you rather be in the simulation where there is a vast array of options for interesting things, or would you rather be the
creator and 'just observe'. Ultimately, given enough time, that could be boring.
1. If I were the almighty deity, I wouldn't allow any of you the freedom to screw up! I'd program the entire simulation to my liking and keep it that
way. And any defective characters would get deleted, just like how I delete defective song lyrics when writing a track. Muahahahaa!
2. However, as a provider/protector I can understand the feeling of nurturing a young life and watching it choose to lovingly follow in my footsteps.
So I'd imagine that a deity like that would enjoy watching its creations choose to embrace Him/Her of their own free will. It would probably be the
ultimate "Awww!" feeling, if that makes any sense (like when a puppy or kitten wants you to pet them or happily follows you around).
3. You say it can get boring, but who says that this simulation is the only simulation out there? What makes you think God isn't preoccupied with
something else? This Universe could be like a single grain of sand on a beach to God, or it could be like a single video game in an arcade room lol.
God could've created trillions of other lifeforms and "universes" by now and could currently be in the middle of creating yet another suped up version
of Angels. I just don't believe an "all mighty Creator" would simply stop creating. For all we know, God could've semi-recently created newer and more
advanced lifeforms in our own galaxy. After all, the second line in the very first Surah in the Qur'an calls God a name that translates into "The Lord
of the
Worlds" (
HERE).
Finally, on what conditions would you interfere and would you have conditions to end the simulation?
Well, at first I'd definitely be an overbearing deity. So I'd probably interact with my creations quite frequently. Actually, wait a second. I'd just
program my creations to follow my commands automatically & without deviance, so I'd only need to intervene on the rare occasion when there was a
defect in the coding.
Also, I guess it would depend on my end goals for my creations. I do a lot of urban gardening now, which requires feeding, nurturing, pruning, pulling
up, and annihilating various lifeforms all the time. Some plants require a lot of maintenance, while others are basically "set it and forget it".
Sometimes I'll allow insects and larvae to take over specific plants, and other times I'll remove them the second I see the first one. So that's
probably how I'd be with any worlds I created. The ones with rambunctious lifeforms would probably get more interventions or just get "pulled up",
while the more placid ones would likely get more hands off attention/observation.