I tried, Unknown, I really did. I wanted badly to be a theist for a long time, and I really tried to think along the path you’re suggesting. But we’ve learned so much about the myriad ways that intelligence isn’t fundamental—can’t be fundamental. It’s too complex, has too many degrees of freedom. You want to postulate a perfect essence of intelligence? Fine—whose? What will it want, and not want? What strategies of rationality will it execute? Intelligence is a product of structure, and structure comes from an ordering of lower levels. As fundamental as it seems from the inside, I don’t think there’s any way to put back the clock and view intelligence as an irreducible entity the way you seem to want to.
Sentience is certainly not fundamental in the way you describe it, so I agree with your points. I would however, argue that from my perspective as an “agnostic theist” when you look at the infinite or at least the “not appearing to be finite” universe, one cannot rule out the possibility of some greater sentient being (which we might perceive as a god). In fact if one accepts that the universe is infinite, the wouldn’t some “greater” being have to exist? That being said, I really cannot fathom infinite. But I guess I just don’t know....
You are quite right in that we can’t perfectly rule out the possibility of some god, but we also have absolutely no reason to believe it. Se also Eliezers infinite set atheism.
I tried, Unknown, I really did. I wanted badly to be a theist for a long time, and I really tried to think along the path you’re suggesting. But we’ve learned so much about the myriad ways that intelligence isn’t fundamental—can’t be fundamental. It’s too complex, has too many degrees of freedom. You want to postulate a perfect essence of intelligence? Fine—whose? What will it want, and not want? What strategies of rationality will it execute? Intelligence is a product of structure, and structure comes from an ordering of lower levels. As fundamental as it seems from the inside, I don’t think there’s any way to put back the clock and view intelligence as an irreducible entity the way you seem to want to.
Sentience is certainly not fundamental in the way you describe it, so I agree with your points. I would however, argue that from my perspective as an “agnostic theist” when you look at the infinite or at least the “not appearing to be finite” universe, one cannot rule out the possibility of some greater sentient being (which we might perceive as a god). In fact if one accepts that the universe is infinite, the wouldn’t some “greater” being have to exist? That being said, I really cannot fathom infinite. But I guess I just don’t know....
You are quite right in that we can’t perfectly rule out the possibility of some god, but we also have absolutely no reason to believe it. Se also Eliezers infinite set atheism.