virus: Re:A memetic revelation

D.H.Rosdeitcher (76473.3041@compuserve.com)
Wed, 3 Sep 1997 22:33:27 -0400


Richard wrote:
>As they say in The Forum...
>Life is empty and meaningless.
>And the fact that it's empty and meaningless is empty and meaningless.

>Attaching a value to the fact that all our meaning is made up is making
the
>same mistake as when we don't realize that all our meaning is made up.

>That said, life is meaningless only on one level.

>The other day I had a revelation. My first?

>The revelation was that God exists.

>It is perfectly possible, scientifically, for God to exist.

>Just as memes exist, though not based in physical reality, they are an
>emergent property of the human nervous system.

>God is an emergent property of the billions of minds on the planet.

>The Spirit is a tangible force that is created, not creator, of the human
>mind. This force exists and causes things that no individual or group is
>consciously causing, just as the human mind causes things unbeknownst to
>the underlying cells of the body.

>Complexity theory tells us that the nature of an emergent phenomenon is
>unpredictable from and unrelated to the mechanics of its underpinnings.

I see how complexity theory can lead to a sense of meaning. But,the
implications of complexity theory are that we should get religiously
devoted to a greater entity which we cannot control. I don't say that's
bad, but how is that different than devoting yourself to Jesus like the
fundamentalist Christians?

>So the fact that all our memes are empty and meaningless does nothing to
>negate the possibility of a meaningful God, an emergent property of memes.

Hasn't it happened before that something like the Forum which seems like
the greatest thing turns out to be like a cult? What seems different to
you about the complex system theory than other spiritual paths?

David R.