#virtual

frithnanth@pluspora.com

An approach to the topic of virtual worlds and pocket universes, with a eye on the history of religions, philosophy, science fiction, neuroscience, and films.
Yet this article in the end is about physics.
#physics #religion #philosophy #neuroscience #scifi #film #virtual #reality #universe

If our reality is a video game, does that solve the problem of evil?

From a theological standpoint, natural disasters and pandemics inevitably raise the profile of the long-standing and much-debated "problem of evil." Here is philosopher Galen Strawson's take on the problem:

"We can, for example, know with certainty that the Christian God does not exist as standardly defined: a being who is omniscient, omnipotent and wholly benevolent. The proof lies in the world, which is full of extraordinary suffering…belief in such a God, however rare, is profoundly immoral. It shows contempt for the reality of human suffering, or indeed any intense suffering."

But suppose the person who was directly responsible for creating the world wasn't God but some far lesser, far more fallible being. Someone more akin to an ordinary human engineer or scientist—or even a movie director or video-game designer. Let us further suppose that the diseases and disasters that can be found in the world are all the result of design choices, freely made by this non-divine designer of worlds.

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-reality-video-game-problem-evil.html