Is God a cryptocurrency miner?

[Delusioned]

Reality has all the hallmarks of being digital. Indeed it could be argued that the most likely origin for reality is some type of computer simulation. But the overarching question, as with any creation narrative, is why. Why create a digital simulation of reality? There have of course been many suggestions as to why an advanced civilization might create a digital reality, but if history is any guide, then one of the greatest driving forces behind the development of any technology, is greed. And in the case of cryptocurrency, it’s the driving force behind ever more sophisticated computer programs. Which might lead one to ask, is our reality the inevitable outcome of a race toward ever more sophisticated computer simulations, driven by cryptocurrency miners in an advanced civilization?

Does God have our best interests in mind, or his own?

 

[RandomAlias]

Do you think God needs wealth? The One who created everything has no need of anything. The One who knows everything has no need for cryptography.

Your post reminds me of a passage from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams.

A race of hyperintelligent pan-dimensional beings once built themselves a gigantic supercomputer called Deep Thought to calculate once and for all the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. For seven and a half million years, Deep Thought computed and calculated, and in the end announced that the answer was in fact Forty-two – and so another, even bigger, computer had to be built to find out what the actual question was.

And this computer, which was called the Earth, was so large that it was frequently mistaken for a planet – especially by the strange ape-like beings who roamed its surface, totally unaware that they were simply part of a gigantic computer program.

And this is very odd, because without that fairly simple and obvious piece of knowledge, nothing that ever happened on the Earth could possibly make the slightest bit of sense.

In that story, the hyperintelligent beings are not pursuing wealth, but rather wisdom. That proves how truly smart they were. They knew that cryptocurrency is not where it’s at.

 

[Delusioned]

Do you think God needs wealth? The One who created everything has no need of anything.

Technically, we’re not talking about the God who created everything. We’re talking about the “God” who created us. They’re not necessarily the same thing. And yes, that “God” could be motivated by greed. Which might explain why the world looks, and acts, as imperfectly as it does.

Thus the question remains, is God a cryptocurrency miner? There are a number of reasons why a technologically advanced civilization might create a simulated reality. From archeological research, to simple entertainment, or merely an anomalous byproduct of some totally unrelated program. A simple ghost in the machine if you will.

But taking our own civilization as our only known example, massive amounts of computer power are currently being deployed in the hopes of mining cryptocurrency. And that process is by it’s very nature, driven to get more and more sophisticated over time. The algorithms that need to be solved must become more complex. So in our civilization, if anyone is motivated to create a computer simulation sophisticated enough to produce us, it’s cryptocurrency miners.

 

[RandomAlias]

Since this is the Philosophy forum, we would do well to consider what money, including cryptocurrency, is. Money is worth nothing in itself. It only has value insofar as people agree that it has value, and then its value is only equivalent to what one may exchange for it. Mining cryptocurrency is not productivity. It does not generate anything with inherent value. Advanced civilizations may well be beyond money,and therefore have no use for cryptocurrency or its mining

 

[Lee1]

Reality has all the hallmarks of being digital.

We may be able to imperfectly model some aspects of our universe or reality using math and digits but like a mirror image it cannot replace the original.

We make a huge mistake in thinking that the model is reality and reality the model. Our reality is just a tiny part of existence and may appear to our limited senses to be all there is, but it’s not.

Jesus Himself told us some of the ways in which we are blind in this respect.

 

[Delusioned]

Advanced civilizations may well be beyond money,and therefore have no use for cryptocurrency or its mining

This may very well be true. To a sufficiently advanced civilization our reality may be nothing more than a glitch in the system. Or it could be that free will represents a sophisticated form of data encryption, one that’s inherently difficult to crack.

But currently our advancements in computer programming are being driven by two things. Artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrency mining. Put the two together, and perhaps you end up with us.

 

[Delusioned]

We may be able to imperfectly model some aspects of our universe or reality using math and digits but like a mirror image it cannot replace the original.

And how are we to know whether we’re the original or not? Quantum physics, and the seemingly digital nature of reality would seem to suggest that we’re not.

We make a huge mistake in thinking that the model is reality and reality the model. Our reality is just a tiny part of existence and may appear to our limited senses to be all there is, but it’s not.

Again, this may well be true. But how do we know whether we’re the reality, or the model?

 

[Lee1]

But how do we know whether we’re the reality, or the model?

I think Our Lord would’ve mentioned it.

 

[Delusioned]

I think Our Lord would’ve mentioned it.

And thus we have faith. not a bad thing, in and of itself. But is it merely another part of the model? Intentional or otherwise. How do you know what reality really is?

 

[Lee1]

I only know what my senses allow me to know.

This digital thing I find very unsatisfying. Reality is not modelled by computers or math in full. It may be able to give a good approximation of some limited aspect of our universe, such as a sophisticated model,of the weather systems for example, but even the latter is incomplete and prone to error. How less then are other even more complex areas of the universe around us modelled. It’s an illusion in my opinion. We flatter ourselves in thinking we have successfully discovered the secrets of life with maths and digits.

Think of the lives of the saints, the supernatural events which occurred around them on occasion, these cannot be modelled. The apparitions of Our Lady, the miracles of Our Lord , the resurrection.

Can a black hole be modelled, a real black hole if modelled so that you couldn’t tell the difference between it and the real thing …would suck the computer, you and the office block into who knows where!

Math may describe and digits may approximate but atoms and molecules on a screen are not the real thing.

 

[Delusioned]

I only know what my senses allow me to know.

And this is true whether you’re the reality, or the model.

Math may describe and digits may approximate but atoms and molecules on a screen are not the real thing.

It may turn out that digits in a machine are all that you are. If so, then this is reality. This is real. Does life’s value really diminish because of the nature of its source? Or is life, no matter its origins, the essence and measure of what it means to be real. If I am self-aware, then I am real.

 

[Finn]

Does reality really have all the hallmarks of being digital? What are they?

The simulated universe theory seems a bit like Gnosticism 2.0.

 

[Lee1]

Yes, Descartes I think therefore I am.

But I don’t think mechanistic metaphors are helpful. We are not in a machine, you and I know what a machine is and it’s not what we’re in. If we say that our reality is within a biological unit with a metaphysical nature residing in a physical material universe and that is a machine? No, I don’t think so. It’s not that simple in my opinion. We shouldn’t let our imaginations lead us to believe we have discovered our essence in that way.

Personally I think God will prevent us from knowing the deepest secrets of reality to prevent us from totally destroying existence. If you were even an alien from an advanced race looking at our planet and behaviour worldwide would you give us such knowledge? It would be a nightmare and disaster.

 

[Lee1]

Does life’s value really diminish because of the nature of its source

Actually I’ve noticed that whenever scientists tell us something we didn’t know the knowing of it does seem to diminish that things value.

I remember another related thing too, before digital photography skill was involved far more in capturing life than now, so much so that I gave up my hobby. At one time a beautiful picture of a rare species was amazing, a thing of wonder, not so much now.

I like the secrets of the universe and I’d like to keep them as secrets. I want to look at the night sky and be in awe, wonder how a gekko sticks to a wall, be surprised and fascinated by the autumn leaves. Ok, but you get my point.

 

[Delusioned]

I remember another related thing too, before digital photography skill was involved far more in capturing life than now, so much so that I gave up my hobby. At one time a beautiful picture of a rare species was amazing, a thing of wonder, not so much now.

It’s odd, because I noticed the same thing about photography. But not just when digital photography and the internet came along, but rather when I learned about how to compose a photograph. Because I began to analyze photographs rather than judge them for their underlying beauty or aesthetics. You can only see so many digitally enhanced sunset photos before all but the best of them become passe.

For me personally, I don’t think that I want to live forever. I want the adventure of living, and discovering, and yes, even dying. Life is what I want, not eternal life.

 

[RandomAlias]

But currently our advancements in computer programming are being driven by two things. Artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrency mining.

This is an astoundingly narrow view of current advancements in computer programming.

 

[Delusioned]

This is an astoundingly narrow view of current advancements in computer programming.

Indeed, AI and cryptocurrency mining aren’t the end all and be all of computer programming, but as for the economic resources being allocated to them, they far and away exceed all other applications. As a shareholder in a number of technology companies, I can assure you that they’re the drivers of technology’s future.

Personally, I think cryptocurrency is in for a very bumpy ride. But eventually some form of cryptocurrency will likely win out.

 

[Lee1]

For me personally, I don’t think that I want to live forever. I want the adventure of living, and discovering, and yes, even dying. Life is what I want, not eternal life.

I understand.

For me God through the Catholic faith offers eternal life with a capital L, Life. Because rather than simply exist forever I believe we will become co creators and we will experience a far richer spiritual life than our mortal life here. God is SO alive and we will experience something of that later I believe. We are promised this by Jesus, why would it be untrue, what would Jesus have gained by telling us something untrue? He was to mortally die so He wouldn’t have gained by it. I believe He told only Truth and I look forward to the Life to come and the beatific vision.
God bless.