You have just become God. What will you do?

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Francis Buck

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« on: June 28, 2014, 07:45:40 pm »
Five minutes from now, you officially become God of the entire universe, anything and everything, all that exists and ever will exist and ever has existed. You have supreme power, and access to supreme knowledge -- but you're still you, at least at first. You don't instantly become omniscient -- you have to consciously access that knowledge. Same for any other power.
 
Upon becoming God, you also have the ability to instantly relinquish your Godhood permanently, returning to your normal state, the world continuing on precisely as it did before you became God. But once you give up the power, it's gone forever. In addition, if you do take this path, you cannot ever forget that you were God. You will always know that you had the opportunity.
 
As God, you will now be able to know the truth of reality -- all of reality, whatever it is. If you choose to do so, you can access any information you want. If it so happens that one particular religion ended up being true (it doesn't matter what religion or philosophy), you automatically supersede whatever deity or deities that religion describes, thus enabling you to alter or erase the current structure entirely, or maybe choose to make a different established religion the "correct one". Of course, you can also fashion a new existential regime all of your own. It's all up to you. You are God, after all.
 
So, do you immediately free yourself of this greatest of burdens and go back to normal life, even with the knowledge that you could have changed something? Would you just change a few things, make your life better in some way, or the lives of friends and loved ones? What about all of other people suffering on the world? If you choose to access all the information in the universe, could you ever "go back" to your old self? Would the monumental knowledge change you too much? What are the ethical ramifications of having the ability to bring peace to the world, to all of existence, but choosing not to do so and instead rejecting your new power? What would true peace even be like? Do you think you can even answer this question honestly? It may be easy to say that you'd reject such a gargantuan responsibility now, but would you really do that if you had the power? Could you resist even tweaking just a few things you don't like?

mrganondorf

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« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2014, 04:50:36 pm »
The obvious answer: give Bakker a timeless writing room so he can publish all he wants without fans waiting.

Also I push the 'prevent genocide' button.

Kellais

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« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2014, 05:38:16 pm »
I am not sure the world would appreciate me becoming good ... i think i would change many things...and depending on which side of the fence you sit, this will not go down well for you :P

But i guess that is true for everytime one person gets the power to play god (or be god). So yeah... ;D

I think the notion that even one person would reject "becoming god" is laughable. Everyone has powerfantasies...everyone!
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Wilshire

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« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2014, 01:16:18 pm »
Limited interaction might be my approach, well after initially fixing things as I see fit... Can't say I've thought about it too much though.

It seems that it would take a mighty hand to "fix" the world as it exists today.

Maybe I'd revamp all the worlds religions and make everyone one big happy family. Seems like a lot of suffering occurs on the back of religion pursuits.
But, then again, I have little faith in humanity. If some point of conflict was removed, it would be replaced by either something new or something that already existed...

I guess the one advantage of being The God is that if people disagree with your methods/plan/vision, they are objectively wrong if you have designed reality as such :P

This question gives me the creeps.
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The Sharmat

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« Reply #4 on: September 03, 2014, 06:46:41 am »
I'd make every remotely sentient creature in the universe immortal and invincible and reconfigure their minds to experience nothing but bliss. Then I'd do the same to myself and retire to my new heaven.

Done.

Madness

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« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2014, 03:18:31 am »
I might be in line with Sharmat but I think FB's problem is linguistic first and foremost.

I would choose to:

Upon becoming God, you also have the ability to instantly relinquish your Godhood permanently, returning to your normal state, the world continuing on precisely as it did before you became God. But once you give up the power, it's gone forever. In addition, if you do take this path, you cannot ever forget that you were God. You will always know that you had the opportunity.

And then as per:

As God, you will now be able to know the truth of reality -- all of reality, whatever it is. If you choose to do so, you can access any information you want. If it so happens that one particular religion ended up being true (it doesn't matter what religion or philosophy), you automatically supersede whatever deity or deities that religion describes, thus enabling you to alter or erase the current structure entirely, or maybe choose to make a different established religion the "correct one". Of course, you can also fashion a new existential regime all of your own. It's all up to you. You are God, after all.

I would be utilitarian in the utmost objective sense you've described and make it so the (multi)universe happens in exactly the same way it always has, except that it unfolds in the statistical-fashion of "as many of the ever possible beings are as 'happy/satisfied' as they could ever going to be."

Then revert. To my old perspective.

Also, I think this question is inherently flawed because we can't possibly imagine (much better than FB has) the "aware" state of such Godhood ;).
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Seökti

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« Reply #6 on: February 04, 2015, 10:11:57 am »
First guess is that my newfound access to omniscience would dictate my actions, if any.  And if I was a merciful God I'd probably apologize to the human race and abdicate the celestial throne although accessing omniscience might change my mind.  It seems unbelievably cruel to interfere with mankind as an omnipotent being at this point in time.  Its a safe bet that omniscience would instill a deep sense of indifference to the universe, as you'd already know everything that's going to happen. 

Guess I'd be pretty much like God is now, or not God at all.

"I went mourning without the sun: I stood up and cried in the congregation."   -Job 30:28

dragharrow

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« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2015, 07:19:33 am »
I'd make every remotely sentient creature in the universe immortal and invincible and reconfigure their minds to experience nothing but bliss. Then I'd do the same to myself and retire to my new heaven.

Done.
Everlasting heroin for everyone? Whats the point?

I'd probably choose humans I thought were interesting and then craft elaborate adventures for them. I love being the dungeon master.

Royce

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« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2015, 01:16:27 pm »
Quote
Everlasting heroin for everyone? Whats the point?

I do not think that heroin is that blissful a drug mind you. I would rather pick MDMA.

Garet Jax

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« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2015, 05:13:49 pm »
MDMA for sure.

But, I would ensure the option of reincarnation if I had that power.  With the option of a heaven or oblivion for those who chose it.

Let everyone have their own Matrix, without all of the plugged in humans "suffering" to make it possible.

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« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2015, 08:31:02 pm »
I would be like Q in Trek, fucking with all the little people. Maybe holding myself some Battle Games between real and fictional characters? Maybe fuse two hitherto unnames people into a Madshire?

Basically I think my newfound omniscient knowledge and omnipotent nature would lead to a lazy Godly apathy - generally allowing my new profound thoughts room to resonate - what is the pleasure of sentient consciousness without the pain to allow appreciation in contrast? What is the meaning of life without the inevitability of death? What is life but not the increasing complexity of energetic chemical systems? Yada yada yada

I don't think I would be a Good God, neither would I be a Bad God - more of a Well Im Infinitely Bored As I have Already Experienced The Sum Of The Infinite But Wont Go Back To Being a Puny Human - kind of God.

Wilshire

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« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2015, 08:34:36 pm »
WIIBaIhAEtSotIBWOGBtBaPH
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Royce

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« Reply #12 on: February 14, 2015, 12:39:00 pm »
I actually think I would wipe out every human being on the planet. Just to see what happens. Time is on my side right? Just wait around a couple of hundred billion years, maybe travel a bit around in my vast and forever expanding playground. Eventually I will check in on old earth again, and see how the planet is doing without its virus with shoes fucking things up. If nothing more novel than humans has arrived, I guess I will create an Adam and Eve once more, start the human experiment over again, too see if humans will do things differently this time around. I might even program them a bit differently this time, it really depends on what my goal is. If I am in a good mood, like five minutes after my orgasm the size of a supernova, spraying billions of new stars into the expanding void, I might take away the need for humans to be deluded. That would have been interesting. A delusion free human race. We cannot even imagine how that would be like, would we?

Madness

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« Reply #13 on: February 22, 2015, 03:23:10 pm »
That's my issue - we aren't likely to be more than a mote in this Omniverse?

Tending to humans is probably some gut-bacteria process within this God-creature-thing?
« Last Edit: February 22, 2015, 03:25:17 pm by Madness »
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« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2015, 10:21:56 am »
One corn of sand on a beach. That is quite small. Really hard to wrap your head around such smallness. Or we could be all of it, living under the spell of separation from the whole. Really hard to wrap your head around such bigness :P