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The
Physics of Immortality.
"
. . . [A] human being is a finite state machine, and
nothing
but a finite state machine."1a*
CRICK
"I claim that a 'living being' is
any entity which codes information . . . with the information
coded being preserved by natural selection. Thus 'life'
is a form of information processing, and the human mind
– and the human soul – is a very complex computer
program."1b
[See Edward Ayoub's critique below]
"How do we know we ourselves are
not merely a simulation inside a gigantic
computer?"1c
"God alone bears responsibility for
these evils [natural evils], in contrast to moral evils,
such as the Holocaust (in which the Nazis murdered six million
Jews), for which human beings share moral responsibility with God.
Notice that even in the case of moral evil God bears
ultimate responsibility, because He sustains evil humans in
existence."1d*
"The idea of God as a
collection of words – or, in my terminology, an abstract
computer program – which lives and guides the universe
can be found in a traditional Pigmy hymn . . . "1e
" . . . [T]he claim that morality is the
central concern of religion is nonsense. Throughout human history,
the central concern of religion has been human self-interest.
In the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, all morality has been
obtained from declarative sentences of the form 'Thou
shalt not kill – because you’ll go to Hell if you do!'"1f*
GNOSTICS
CRICK
"All disputed issues are
disputes over matters of fact. . . THOU SHALT NOT IMPOSE YOUR
THEORIES ON OTHERS BY FORCE."1g*
EDWARD AYOUB'S BRIEF CRITIQUE OF
TIPLER'S PHILOSOPHY
- Tipler's ideas
-- human beings are "machines," the soul is a "computer
program," God is an Omega Point -- are the product of phantasmal
cybernetic wizardry masquerading as science.
- Man is not a machine
or information preserved by "natural
selection." Rather, man survives despite the Darwinistic
fitness of falsity, ignorance, and stupidity. Truth is not
Darwinistic bits of information.
Truth is being beyond
space and time -- beyond physics, evolution, and cybernetics.
- The
fact that electrons, nucleons, molecules,
genetic matter, etc., obey the laws of quantum mechanics
does not imply that the human soul does. The soul is
neither matter nor a 4-letter genetic code.
- The central concern of religions is
not "human self-interest" -- or eternal life based on
"cheap altruism."a Religions are concerned with
man's freedom to choose what is good and right -- over
evil and falsity. The Decalog would not be
necessary
where it not for the existence of transgressors --
deceivers, thieves, killers, etc. Moses understood that
without the Ten Commandments the Darwinistic fitness
of transgressors would endanger the very survival of the Jewish
people. Jesus (whose body, according to Tipler, "rotted
in some grave"b)
overthrew the tables of the moneychangers in the temple in
Jerusalem, not because of His concern for the self-interest of
thieves, but as a divine rebellion against the evils of
usury.
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Frank
J. Tipler. The Physics of
Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of
the Dead.
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*
Italics in the original.
1 Frank J. Tipler
(b. 1947). The
Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection
of the Dead. Frank J. Tipler, 1994. New York, NY:
Doubleday, a division of Bentam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group.,
1995.
a The Ultimate Limits of Space Travel, at 31.
b Physics Near the Final State: The Classical Omega
Point Theory, at 124.
c The Omega Point and the Physical Universe Necessarily
Exist, at 207.
d What Happens After the Resurrection: Heaven, Hell,
and Purgatory, at 260.
e Comparison of the Heaven Predicted by Modern Physics
With the Afterlife Hoped For by the Great World Religions, at 279.
f Conclusion: Theology as a Branch of Physics, at 330.
g Conclusion: Theology as a Branch of Physics, at 331.
a
What Happens After the Resurrection: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory,
"Once resurrected, cheap altruism will probably keep [the
individuals of the far future] alive forever," at 246.
b
The Omega Point Theory and Christianity, "I do not think
Jesus really rose from the dead. I think his body rotted in some
grave," at 310.
MK-BOOKS-TIPLER-20000910
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