(February 6, 2016 at 4:04 am)robvalue Wrote: The thing that confuses me a little about deism is whether the "creator" is supposed to be magical, or whatever. The name implies a deity, but I don't know what a deity is. If it's just something that creates realities, then it's a tautology of course.
Does my favourite computer programmer count as a deity? If I believe this is a simulation, programmed by Kevin, am I a deist?
I guess some people would say yes, and some no. If anyone can tell me what the fuck a deity is, and how I tell a deity from a non-deity, that would be peaches and cream.
A computer programmer is not a deity. He's a computer programmer that happens to run a simulation. In the case of Gods, people can't explain how or why a God created the world, or even what a God means. In the simulation theory we can say we're basically talking about more evolved minds than us that are capable of running a incredibly powerful simulation that emulates reality and that given the possibility that we'll be those minds one day in the future it's far more likely that we live in a simulation than not - if it can be possible to run such a simulation, how likely is it that we'll be the first ones to do it in reality number 1?
