The Problem of Evil (was Re: [extropy-chat] Re: John Wright Finds God)

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- Adrian Tymes <wingcat at pacbell.net> wrote:
> > Ah, but birds, catholic women, and transhumanits
> have
> > to work within the limits of the world they find
> > themselves in.  God is presumed to be the one who
> > created, and can edit, those limits.
> 
> Firstly, I have severe doubts about any simulation
> operators capacity
> to edit the universe. What we know about quantum
> computation at present
> precludes any hacking in mid process unless the hack
> is part of the
> original program, in which case it isn't a hack.

Omnipotence isn't a bug, it's a feature.  It includes
the foresight and design ability to preclude the
possibility of such things as evil.  That they exist
is proof that, if the universe was deliberately
designed, evil was intentionally part of it.  Which
precludes certain classes of God (like a God that
wants only goodness to exist), although it does allow
for other types of God.  (One common practical problem
being one of bait-and-switch: religionists try to get
one to admit to the possibility of the latter type of
God, then twist that into an admission of the former
type of God - and therefore an admission of the
religion's supreme moral authority, since they claim
to be implementing the directives of a God that wants
only goodness - even though it was not, and the
conclusion would rest on an untested assumption of the
church's real and effective loyalties even if the
admission was of the former type.)