[ExI] A Simulation Argument

[scerir]

Ian Goddard
> We've never seen or known of a 'God' who 
> created a real universe. [...]

Nothing to do with the supposed simulations,
but interesting nevertheless. A friend 
pointed out, to me, this incredible speech 
of Pius XII.
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12EXIST.HTM


Rome, 1951 .....

'In fact, it would seem that present-day science,
with one sweeping step back across millions of
centuries, has succeeded in bearing witness to
that primordial "Fiat lux" uttered at the moment
when, along with matter, there burst forth from
nothing a sea of light and radiation, while the
particles of chemical elements split and formed
into millions of galaxies.
...
As late as 1911, the celebrated physicist
Svante Arhenius declared that "the opinion
that something can come from nothing is 
at variance with the present-day state of science, 
according to which matter is immutable." 
(Die Vorstellung vom Weltgebaude im Wandel der Zeiten, 
1911, pag.362). In this same vein we find 
the statement of Plato: "Matter exists. 
Nothing can come from nothing, hence matter 
is eternal. We cannot admit the creation of matter."
(Ultramontane Weltanschauung und Moderne Lebenskunde, 
1907, pag.55).
... 
On the other hand, how different and much 
more faithful a reflection of limitless visions 
is the language of an outstanding modern scientist, 
Sir Edmund Whittaker, member of the Pontifical 
Academy of Science, when he speaks of the above-mentioned 
inquiries into the age of the world: "These
different calculations point to the conclusion 
that there was a time, some nine or ten billion years ago, 
prior to which the cosmos, if it existed, existed 
in a form totally different from anything we know, 
and this form constitutes the very last limit of science. 
We refer to it perhaps not improperly as creation. 
It provides a unifying background, suggested by
geological evidence, for that explanation of 
the world according to which every organism existing 
on the earth had a beginning in time. Were this
conclusion to be confirmed by future research, 
it might well be considered as the most outstanding 
discovery of our times, since it represents a
fundamental change in the scientific conception 
of the universe, similar to the one brought about 
four centuries ago by Copernicus." (Space and Spirit,
1946, pag. 118- 119).'