[ExI] Atheism

[The Avantguardian]

Two or more brains can form something like a shared consciousness but only under special conditions. The brains have to be in phase with one another. Two brains that are out phase can cancel each other's efforts. So long as there is conflict above a certain threshold, the whole of the universe cannot be conscious. But it can be omniscient because it is unitary under quantum mechanics. The universe is naught but flux and vibration until it collides with a conscious mind. The universe cannot be conscious and in superposition both.

Stuart LaForge


On Sunday, April 19, 2020, 06:42:46 PM PDT, Will Steinberg via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote: 

Said conclusions are why I switched.  I think it's illogical to believe that two hemispheres of a brain can form a consciousness, but not two brains.

To look at it another way, does one consider their brain themself?  What about brain cells necessary for computation but not making the computations themselves?  What about further reaches of the nervous system that exchange information with the brain?  What about the rest of the body, like your arm?  What about a controllable prosthetic arm?  What about a hammer you hold in it?  What about a diary you store memories in?  What about your online presence?  What about another brain you have given and exchanged information with?  What about your house and all the ways you have modified it to suit you?  What about everything you cause?  What about everything that causes you?  

I don't think there is a rational end to this slippery slope.  Ergo, God.

In my opinion, simulation arguments are also equivalent to theism.  I consider simulationists to have very similar viewpoints to my own--perhaps they are even stricter theists, because I don't believe in divine intervention unless we are in a simulation.

Even if we are in a simulation, our masters are probably in one too, no?  The idea of a God allows for infinitely recurring simulations.

On Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 20:39 Stathis Papaioannou via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> On Mon, 20 Apr 2020 at 09:51, Will Steinberg via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>> What are y'all?
>> 
>> I am somewhere in the Deist/Pantheist/Panentheist realm, stemming from my beliefs on consciousness.  I always assume you're mostly atheists but maybe not?  I know Stathis is something trippy too.  Just wondering
> 
> Atheist. However, weird conclusions come from the assumption that consciousness is not tied to a biological substrate and can result from computation.
>> 
> -- 
> Stathis Papaioannou
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