I was having a discussion a while ago, and was chastised a little bit for discussing and thinking about things that smacked of the spiritual.

Basically I was putting forwards the possibility of our universe "being created" to "serve a purpose", but in the same way that a computer program is created to serve a purpose. Perhaps as a simulation or maybe to solve a problem (a la Hitchhiker's Guide). This isn't a new idea by any stretch, but I like to think about it and wonder if it could be. I'm not saying I subscribe to this, I have no clue (nor does anyone else really) how or *gasp why the universe was created, but it's fun and intellectually useful ponder.

There is a whole list of stuff I like to look into, but I'm try to do it as critically as I possibly can. ESP is silly, Lockness monster a little less so (but still very silly), UFO's even less so (they're totally here dude).

How many people here are down? Do you share my pain?

(oh and come at me with ESP being hardcore emotive face reading and then maybe we can see...)

8/7/2008 1:12:38 PM

ok.....

8/7/2008 1:39:12 PM

are you thinking along the lines of...

- Common anthropic logic, where our universe creates black holes and a variety of objects, so the universe itself was probably created by a black hole in another universe... and obviously it would have purpose (anthropic value) in that it must create other similar universes - which are, naturally, casually unconnected and thus sort of spooky spiritual connection.

- Alien creator life who direct such evolution. Meaning that we are also alien creator life to some other life, and we must facilitate the creation of other universes to be even greener and have lots of babies.

- We're possibly a very specific branch of advanced intelligent life driven universe anthropic evolution, as in, we're some special design to allow for madcrazy galactic cores, heavy elements, or something.


I mean, there's a lot way to go from we just *POP*ed here in the big bang, to a destiny of Dyson spheres popping out "42!!1 zomg"

8/7/2008 1:45:49 PM

we're just a small civilization on a thistle being carried around by an elephant

8/7/2008 1:47:31 PM

^

that's exactly the kind of thing I'm railing AGAINST

just because you want to think about things a little off the standard line doesn't mean you have to go all intellectually retarded

[Edited on August 7, 2008 at 1:48 PM. Reason : .]

8/7/2008 1:48:41 PM

i find this thread interesting

i just wanted to go ahead and be a dick first

8/7/2008 1:57:27 PM

Short answer:

The universe was obviously created to "serve a purpose" of some type in some way.

But no one's going to cry if we blow ourselves up.

8/7/2008 2:13:23 PM

not really the question asked

8/7/2008 2:16:16 PM

answer: no

8/7/2008 2:21:09 PM

Quote :

"The universe was obviously created to "serve a purpose" of some type in some way."

obviously?

nothing is obvious about whether or not our universe even has a purpose

[Edited on August 7, 2008 at 3:37 PM. Reason : .]

8/7/2008 3:31:43 PM

Some here will never admit purpose in the universe's creation. To do so would admit design.

8/7/2008 4:01:22 PM

Purpose is perceived by us. If there were no sentient entities in the universe, would things have "purpose?"

[Edited on August 7, 2008 at 4:09 PM. Reason : cant speel good ]

8/7/2008 4:03:30 PM

IMHO, the fact that we're even discussing the topic is enough to say that there is a "purpose".

Now, for what purpose? I could care less.

The building does not say to the builder, "Why did you build me?" And the builder does not say to the building, "How should I use you?". The builder is free to decide the building's purpose without it's consent.

8/7/2008 4:08:26 PM

^^ A thing must be perceived to exist? Purpose of design in the universe needs no perception of it to have occurred.

If no one sees or hears a tree fall in the forest, does that mean it did not fall?

^ Except that the purpose of most buildings is readily apparent. And even when not, can be determined with little effort. The purpose of the universe--and all the things contained herein--is quite another thing.

If some of you are now claiming to know the meaning of life, I love to hear it.

[Edited on August 7, 2008 at 4:13 PM. Reason : .]

8/7/2008 4:08:39 PM

i should of know making this thread was pointless

*sadness

8/7/2008 4:47:02 PM

Quote :

"Some here will never admit purpose in the universe's creation. To do so would admit design."

Oh yeeeah, like all the biological components to living things. There's absolutely no explanation for the fact that it serves a purpose other than that it was designed.

preforms a function -> was designed

always.

8/7/2008 5:02:27 PM

Quote :

"A thing must be perceived to exist? Purpose of design in the universe needs no perception of it to have occurred."

It is inherent that a subjective state be perceived. Objective states need not be perceived, as they are independent of perception. You imply that purpose is objective, which it cannot be.

8/7/2008 5:18:53 PM

Sorry we killed your thread nastoute. I too like to think of mindblowing sh!t, like that maybe our "universe" was created by another "universe" to examine the probability of life arising from chaos. I use universe in the sense of our known universe, since it is theorized by The Cosmological Horizon that if our known universe was the size of a quarter, the actual universe would be the size of earth. So it is possible (although not probable) that our universe is an experiment.

As for those that ponder the meaning of life, all you have to do is google it.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=what+is+the+answer+to+life%2C+the+universe%2C+and+everything

8/8/2008 8:32:46 AM

there has to be ANOTHER topic that people are interested in as well

perhaps a whole slew of them

I'll give you an example

THIS DUDE



Robert M. Schoch, he's been on the TEE-VEE

he's the man

he's a real geologist and believes in all kinds of crazy stuff about the pyramids and the sphinx (think Daniel Jackson's theories at the beginning of stargate)

ok, so... there are these "structures" in japan called the "Yonaguni monuments", and people think they are the remains of a 10,000 years old civilization (not really believable)

so, the local scientist who wanted to make this the next HUGE archaeological find carts crazy scientist guy Robert M. Schoch to the ruins to try to get another "OMG, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING" backer

but... Robert M. Schoch is a real scientist and has REAL reasons for believing the things he does in egypt and finds all kinds of reasons to debunk the "Yonaguni monuments" (they're really natural formations that "look" artificial, nature does that kind of thing sometimes)

he's a great example of this, he's not afraid to believe a little bit in the crazy if the evidence seems to point that way and has no fear "thinking outside the box"

but when something is definitely WRONG, he points it out clear, as a good scientist should

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonaguni_monument#Seabed_structures

8/8/2008 8:50:18 AM

don't they have bones of workers from the Sphinx and Pyramids that they can carbon date?

8/9/2008 3:22:00 PM

bttt

8/14/2008 2:05:03 PM

bttt

9/19/2008 1:45:09 PM

This thread made me sad.

I had a good response or two, but nastoute kept trying to shoot me down for no good reason. And then proceed to complain about how the thread was killed.

But this post will be ignored too so...

ladidadilaalalalalalalaa

9/19/2008 1:51:34 PM

right, because you were dead focused on the single example I gave instead of the general topic

but perhaps I need to go with the general trend instead of attempting to steer in a direction in which people are simply not interested

9/19/2008 2:02:29 PM

I think something humanity will discover something important about its past sometime in the next decade or so that will change everything we know about the world. I have no idea what yet, but if you look around on the internet long enough with an open mind you can find all sorts of things that can't be explained.

9/21/2008 3:08:26 PM

Quote :

"IMHO, the fact that we're even discussing the topic is enough to say that there is a "purpose"."

No, it's enough to say that we want there to be a purpose and not much else.

9/21/2008 3:34:04 PM

I can almost forgive people for thinking that the universe was created by something. Praying to that same entity to cure your erectile dysfunction, however, is retarded.

We are a tiny part of the universe, we weren't always here, nor will we always be.

The universe will go on without us. It doesn't care about us. There is no purpose for us other than what we create for ourselves.

I'm sorry. Welcome to reality.

Btw, nastoute: Douglas Adams was a huge atheist.

9/21/2008 6:01:46 PM

This is a pretty interesting read that's related to this thread, written by Scott Adams:
http://nowscape.com/godsdebris.pdf

It's somewhat short (but a little long).

9/21/2008 7:21:41 PM

^

Is that the one with the guy delivering the package? If so, it's worth the read.

9/21/2008 7:53:13 PM

^ yes it's that one, and yes it's a good read.

9/21/2008 8:03:38 PM

Quote :

"Basically I was putting forwards the possibility of our universe "being created" to "serve a purpose","

I read this and immediately go towards anthropic arguments.

But maybe that's just me.

9/23/2008 10:51:26 PM

^ I bet we find the answer though within the next 100 years. I hope I live long enough.

9/24/2008 1:03:18 AM