I think this post is right on. I think we are IN this universe with a brain to match it, with 3-d, separation of time and space appropriate to non-relativistic speeds, and so on strongly coded in.
In terms of any powerful god, she either “lives” in a much larger universe than ours, which kicks the can down the road (is there an omnipotent god who created that universe?) or she essentially comprises the entire universe. What other way to have an entity which “knows” how every particle moves at every instant other than having that entity be the universe? The most powerful, most accurate “simulation” of any system is the system itself. Obviously, the system itself can’t get a wrong answer from a bad approximation somewhere, every other simulation can. I’m talking of simulations because omniscience presumably means the model god carries in her mind is complete and completely accurate. The model in god’s mind is as big and complex and at least as fast as the system itself.
But be that as it may, the only way you can play the linguistic trick of saying square circles are not real so god can still be omnipotent without being able to make them, you have, it seems to me, created a higher level physics which constrains all the universes that might be created. But where can the higher level physics come from? Is it just there, in which case our god is not the creator of the UNIVERSE universe, just of a very constrained universe that follows a bunch of atheistically determined rules. The can is kicked down the road.
So if you are interested in a god-the-creator which has had no cans kicked down the road, I don’t see how you can rule out ANYTHING. Things we can’t concieve of are not ruled out, certainly things we can sorta concieve of like square circles and married bachelors can’t be ruled out.
How could this god create a square circle? Of course, I don’t know. But I’d imagine that when you saw the square circle you would know it, even if you couldn’t reconcile it with everything else you see and know about circles and squares. Indeed a square circle is trivial enough, god merely has to trigger your brain beyond the traditional sensory pathways limitation.
I think this post is right on. I think we are IN this universe with a brain to match it, with 3-d, separation of time and space appropriate to non-relativistic speeds, and so on strongly coded in.
In terms of any powerful god, she either “lives” in a much larger universe than ours, which kicks the can down the road (is there an omnipotent god who created that universe?) or she essentially comprises the entire universe. What other way to have an entity which “knows” how every particle moves at every instant other than having that entity be the universe? The most powerful, most accurate “simulation” of any system is the system itself. Obviously, the system itself can’t get a wrong answer from a bad approximation somewhere, every other simulation can. I’m talking of simulations because omniscience presumably means the model god carries in her mind is complete and completely accurate. The model in god’s mind is as big and complex and at least as fast as the system itself.
But be that as it may, the only way you can play the linguistic trick of saying square circles are not real so god can still be omnipotent without being able to make them, you have, it seems to me, created a higher level physics which constrains all the universes that might be created. But where can the higher level physics come from? Is it just there, in which case our god is not the creator of the UNIVERSE universe, just of a very constrained universe that follows a bunch of atheistically determined rules. The can is kicked down the road.
So if you are interested in a god-the-creator which has had no cans kicked down the road, I don’t see how you can rule out ANYTHING. Things we can’t concieve of are not ruled out, certainly things we can sorta concieve of like square circles and married bachelors can’t be ruled out.
How could this god create a square circle? Of course, I don’t know. But I’d imagine that when you saw the square circle you would know it, even if you couldn’t reconcile it with everything else you see and know about circles and squares. Indeed a square circle is trivial enough, god merely has to trigger your brain beyond the traditional sensory pathways limitation.