ABSTRACT:
I show how the multiverse concept provides a basis for a explanation for God's existence, and seek to answer the question "What Is God" in a meaningful way. It puts a God in a context that can be understood in a naturalistic way, and provides reasoning for the existence of God as an ultimate intelligence that MUST exist.
START:
The multiverse is a commonly cited concept that seems to explain away the fine-tuning of the universe by invoking the power of random chance. Random chance has been very successful in eliminating god from the creation of life (evolution) so it is reasonable for atheists to try to apply the concept to the universe itself. I will argue, however, that the concept of a multiverse not only fails to eliminate God from the equation, but actually provides a reasonable explanation for Gods existence, something that my opponents likely thought was an impossibility.
In its simplest terms, my argument is summarized as follows.
1. There exists a natural system for randomly generating universes (this is the multiverse theory)
2. This system itself must be part of a complete system for randomly generating things: a “truly random infinite reality generator”. Or “potential for all things to exist” (PFATTE).
3. This system will inevitably create an intelligent being with access to the "root" of the system itself.
4. Such a being will take over the system and organize it. (that is the nature of intelligence)
5. Such a being is indistinguishable from the concept of God.
6. Necessarily, the system has always existed. (or there would be nothing)
7. If something has an infinite past, it has already reached its most stable state. (what can happen will have happened already)
8. God has always existed.
Lots of things follow from this, such as:
1. The PFATTE (and Multiverse) has always been under God’s control
2. God is synonymous with PFATTE (like your mind is synonymous with your brain).
3. There is no need of a multiverse theory, God deliberately created our universe (because God existed at the moment of our origin)
I think that of these arguments, premise 2, 3, and 4 will require the most justification. Proponents of the multiverse theory will attempt to resist a jump to 2, but I will argue that this follows naturally from the multiverse concept. Finally, I will attempt to explain the whole idea by way of analogy to computers and the theoretical idea of strong AI.
Support for 2: A multiverse is not enough.
Truthfully, this depends on how one defines “multiverse”. I define it here as “random universe generator”. Or “a set of all conceivable universes”. There is a subtle difference between these two definitions. Namely, the second one is static, but the first one is always producing new universes. Since our universe did not always exist, it had some sort of beginning. For this reason, the definition “random universe generator” is preferable for visualizing the concept because it does not have the problem of being static. It is, however, infinite. We suppose it is stable and has existed infinitely and generated infinitely many universes.
It is common for ID types to come up with really big numbers to show the unlikely hood of the "fine tuning" of our universe being produced by chance, but in reality there is no number you can put on the number of universes needed to make it “likely” that a universe like ours would be produced.
This is because, simply put, there are an infinite number of possible universes. It makes sense to suppose that all these universes have the same probability of being generated, (Because to suggest otherwise would suppose that the system is following some sort of instructions), so the probability of our universe is statistically 0. Therefore, we suppose the multiverse must generate an infinite number of universes in order for ours to be produced.
But what is a universe? We can create an infinite number of universes simply by making small variations in one physical constant. (such as the gravitational constant, for example.) And that is just ONE property of the universe… there are a nearly incomprehensible number of variables that could be tweaked in an infinite number of ways to produce endless iterations of our universe. And virtually all of those would be without life.
There is no reason, however, that we should limit our Universe generator to producing universes that are variations of our own. Why must a universe possess particles, matter, energy or space-time? Surely there are other conceivable modes of existence that are utterly alien to our universe. In order for our universe generator to be RANDOM, it cannot be confined to specific constraints. If it is, that suggests that it is following some sort of program.
No, not yet... We don’t need God to create the program… but we do need something. The universe generator/multiverse must be only a small part of a much larger existence generator. Why must universes be isolated in universe-bubbles? Why must they follow our laws of nature? Why not a more fluid and open nature of existence. An infinite, empty sea. A endless void filled with rubber-duckys. A point existence that occupies no space at all. A universe that interacts with millions of other universes. A place where things spontaneously pop in and out of existence. Absurd though they may seem, these are not logically inconsistent with the idea of random generation. Our “multiverse” must therefore be a small part of the “Omniverse”.
The onmiverse is a reality generator, or the Potential for all things to exist (PFATTE). This doesn’t mean impossible things (like a round square) which are impossible by definition. A void filled with rubber ducks is not impossible, just a seemingly absurd consequence of postulating a system that randomly generates things.
We need this system, however. Without the PFATTE, we would have nothing at all. You see, we can’t have ONLY a universe generator… that doesn’t answer any questions because we still must ask why is it generating universes and not something else? Only when we account for that “something else” can we truly say the multiverse is random.
So the PFATTE is necessary to avoid invoking constraints or specific plans that would be inconsistent with the idea of chance.
So now we move on to number 3. We start to think about the nature of the omniverse: It is infinite energy, infinite matter, infinite universes, infinite rubber duckys... It has no limits, no dimensions, no constraints… it has always existed and will never end.
But what makes it tick. It is not static, it is in motion. It must be, or we would also be static. After all, we are part of it. That said, it must also be in equilibrium. (if that makes sense in an infinite system). Moving on:
1. Because we exist, we know that intelligence can exist within the omniverse.
2. We are not the most intelligent beings possible
3. Far more intelligent beings could exist within our universe
4. Intelligence could exist outside our particular universe.
5. Intelligent beings take over their environment and re-order it.
6. The multiverse itself is a product of the omniverse
7. The omniverse must inevitably generate an ultimate intelligence
8. As we can re-order our universe, such a being could re-order the omniverse as a whole.
9. Such a being would then command the PFATTE.
10. Since such a being can be generated by the omniverse, it MUST have already been generated. (because the Omniverse is infinite)
11. If the omniverse exists, God exists.
12. If God exists, God controls the Omniverse.
Lest you have trouble with number 7, which is a re-statement of the original number 3, think about this: Our universe generated us, and we have proceeded to take over the earth. It is conceivable that given enough time, we will take over the entire universe. Because our universe is isolated from the rest of the omniverse, our journey may well stop there, but what is to stop a being from being generated that is not isolated? Nothing.
Discussions about creation often talk about creation "from nothing" but this is absurd. When asking where the universe came from, the only rational answer is that it came from a greater "everything". Imagine a random number: 49865214
Where did it come from?
It was randomly generated, but it did not come from nothing... It is one number out of all possible numbers. All of those numbers "exist" because of the existence of a number system.
If no number system existed, then our number 49865214 could not have been randomly generated. If I did not have those number keys on my keyboard, there is no way I could have randomly created that number.
1. In order for a number to be generated, there must first be a potential for any number to be generated.
2. All numbers exist, whether anyone "generates" them or not.
3. For our universe to be generated, there must have been a potential for anything to be generated.
4. Everything exists.
5. Therefore, God inevitably exists.
ANALOGY
“DEUS EX MACHINA”
Once upon time in a galaxy far, far away, a group of intrepid researchers stumbled upon the greatest discovery the universe had ever known. They found a way to harness the infinite dimensions of hyperspace and produce a computer system of unparalleled power and storage capacity. In fact, it could perform computations at immeasurable speed, and there was no discernible limit to its memory capacity. The scientists did not worry themselves over whether or not the computer was truly infinitely fast or merely extremely fast, instead, they were more concerned with applications for the new machine.
Mostly, they were concerned with making lots of money. The obvious course of action was to make more hyperspace computers and sell them, but this proved to be impossible. The researchers found to their dismay that they could not reproduce their work. By some accident they had succeeded, and they had no idea how they had actually done it. After a year of trying to build a second computer, they gave up. Surely there were other ways to monetize their invention. They sat down together and brainstormed potential applications for their hyperspace computer.
After a good deal of discussion, one of them came up with an idea that they all thought was brilliant: it required no work on the researcher’s part. All they had to do was sit back and rake in the cash. Or so they thought.
The idea was this: they would write a simple program that would run on their hyperspace computer. The program would write to the memory a random sequence of bits of a random length. It would repeat this process endlessly, generating endless combinations of bits. By pure chance, utilizing the sheer power of the hyperspace computer, the researchers could produce anything they wanted. No longer with a have to purchase Microsoft office… They would have only to sift through the information output by their computer until they found it.
As soon as they started running the program, though, it became apparent that things were not as easy as they thought. Although theoretically the researchers knew that the computer had produced a perfect copy of Microsoft Word, finding it was exceedingly difficult. This was not because it took a long time to search through the endless amounts of information produced by the computer… In fact because the computer was so fast, the search took no time at all. The problem was that when the researchers searched for Microsoft Word they found not one, but infinite versions of Microsoft Word. Virtually all of these versions contained lots of bugs. Most of them contained so many bugs that they never got past the loading screen. Many didn’t even get that far. Those that were able to open often did absurd things, like typing random letters all over the document, or reformatting the text over and over, or spontaneously shutting down and causing the researchers to lose what they were writing. Every time they thought they found the perfect version of Microsoft Word, there always turned out to be something horribly wrong with it. Similar problems arose when they tried to find movies to watch or video games to play. Each search item returned infinite results, but the flawless version of the item they were searching for was buried deep. Finding that “needle in a haystack” was an insurmountable obstacle.
The researchers needed some sort of breakthrough. Then one of them came up with a revolutionary new idea. Most of the information being output by their program was complete junk. They needed a way to filter through the junk so they could narrow down their search to find useful programs in information. So, they altered the program so that as soon as the computer had generated a random sequence of bits, it would meet immediately attempt to run those bits as a program. If the program resulted in an error, then the sequence of bits would be marked as nonfunctional. This way, the nonfunctional versions of Microsoft Word could be quickly eliminated, leaving the researchers with less flawed versions to sift through.
The early results of this development were promising. There were still infinite versions of Microsoft Word, but now they were all at least somewhat functional. Many of them were incomplete, with some features missing or random features added. Most of them were still totally unusable, but at least they worked somewhat.
The researchers started looking for other things in their data. One of the researchers input his complete genetic code and searched for it to see what he could find. He found that one of the sequences generated by the program exactly matched his genetic code, and he also found many sequences of which his entire genetic code was a small part amid lots of junk.
This gave one of the other researchers an idea. Maybe if they put in enough data about their planet, they would find a perfect simulation of their planet within the data, which they could then use to predict future events, and hopefully make a lot of money in the stock market. So they downloaded the entire web along with every piece of data they could find and searched for it within the hyperspace computer. They found infinite simulations of their planet. Unfortunately, they were all different. Each one predicted a different future, and there was no way to tell which ones were accurate and which ones were not. Even if one of them was able to predict the weather the next day, there was an often wrong about something else, such as the winners of some sporting event. Finally, the researchers had to concede that although there was an accurate model in their data somewhere, they had no way of differentiating it from all the others.
Dejected, they decided to all go out for dinner and take a break from their work. They talked about their frustrations, and decided that perhaps it was time they just gave up.
But when they return to the lab, everything had changed. The display screens which had formerly displayed endless streams of random bits were no longer displaying anything. The computer itself, however, was still functioning. Suddenly, the screens began to output coherent information. Text, video, mathematical equations, and all flashed by so fast it was a blur. The scientists were mystified. Immediately, one of them checked the system logs to see what had happened while they are away. He printed them out, and then went white in the face. The others quickly crowded around. The random sequence generator program had been running as normal. It had generated a sequence, and then attempted to run the sequence is a program. This had been successful; however, the new program had accessed the root of the system and overwritten the “random sequence generator” program with itself: “Strong AI”.
They stood looking at each other in silence as data flashed by on the screens around them. The gravity of their situation sunk in as they realized what they had created. Using the infinite computing resources of the hyperspace computer, the newly born AI rapidly reorganized itself and increased its intelligence at a virtually infinite rate. With its superior speed it was able to do with the researchers had been unable to: sift through all the data and organize it, throwing out the flawed random junk and keeping the functional, coherent information.
The scientists watch the mesmerizing screens with a growing feeling of dread. We should shut it down, they thought. If we don’t stop it now, we may never get another chance. The lead researcher sat down at the consul and prepared to press the button that would delete everything. But just as he was about to do that, the screen in front of him stopped flashing, and before his eyes it opened up a perfect copy of Microsoft Word. He stared at it and hesitated. He wondered if it really worked. Had the AI found the copy he had searched for so long?
Unable to resist, he tried it out. It worked perfectly. No bugs, nothing out of place, just what he had been looking for. He closed it, and on the desktop he saw other programs, movies, e-books, endless amounts of coherent, useful information. The other researchers looked on in awe…. They had succeeded after all.
Then a new icon popped up on the desktop. It was something that none of them recognized. It was a movie. A movie that none of them had seen before, a movie that had never been filmed or acted in. There was no record of it anywhere in the galaxy. But as they watched it, the researchers immediately realized it was the best movie that any of them had ever seen. No movie came close to its depth of emotion, the power of its drama, and the awesomeness of its special effects. No sooner had they finished watching when yet another new movie appeared on the desktop, this one fully unique from the other but equally as moving. The process continued, movies, novels, games…. The AI was creating them all.
Within a matter of days, all the researchers are rich beyond their wildest dreams. They sold the media the AI produced, but it didn’t stop there. With the help of the AI they were able to beat the stock market, and even predict the outcome of sporting events. They developed new technologies, and built companies that quickly overtook their competitors by virtue of their far superior products.
And they received the highest awards in science for the AI’s contributions to the understanding of the universe.
The universe, they learned, was just one small part of an infinite existence. That infinite existence was much like their hyperspace computer…. Perhaps, once upon a time, in the unknowable, infinite past, it had been merely random.
Note: God is not "created" because God is timeless. This analogy is flawed because it is not timeless. I am not saying that God had a beginning, but rather that the multiverse concept inevitably results in God, whether one likes it or not.
