Jan 26 2004, MIT
What do Computers
tell us about God?:
Reflections of a Computer Scientist
Hooman Katirai
Dual Masters Candidate
Computer Science /Technology & Policy
Humans can create universes
• Inside a computer
• Like our universe
have
– Creatures
– Laws
• lend insight to
– Relationship between
creator and created
• Case in point
– Game of Life
(Conway ’70)
Game of Life (Conway ’70)
• Universe:
– A Simple Grid
• Creatures:
– Yellow cells
• Empty Space
– Gray cells
The Game of Life’s Universal Laws
1. Birth: dead cell with
3 live neighbors
becomes alive
2. Survival: live cell
with 2-3 live
neighbors stays alive
3. Death: all other
cases, cell dies or
remains dead
(loneliness or overcrowding).
More sophisticated Universes
• Creatures can learn
• Example:
– Creature behavior
governed by
probability matrix
– Probabilities updated with
experience
– Free will simulated by
picking behavior according
to probabilities
• Evolution
– Survival of fittest
Suppose you wanted to
communicate with your creatures
Could you:
– enter their world?
– turn yourself into a
square on the grid?
Solution
• Since you cannot
enter their universe
you must control
something in their
universe
• i.e. to speak to your
creatures you require
an intermediary
i.e. this man cannot be God
Communication via an Intermediary
God
Messenger
Us
Our Universe
• Messengers = {… ,Abraham, Moses, Jesus,
Krishna, Buddha, Mohamed, Bab, Baha’u’llah, … }
•Closest we can get to God but they are not God.
Evidence from Christianity
Christ is an intermediary who carries actions of God on earth:
“I do nothing of myself; but as my
Father hath taught me, I speak these
things.”
-John 8:28 (King James Version)
Further evidence of distinction between Christ & God:
“But of that day and that hour
knoweth no man, no, not the angels
which are in heaven, neither the Son,
but the Father.”
-Mark 13:32
And Islam
• Mohammed is an intermediary that delivers
message of God to man:
“Even as We have sent unto you a
messenger [Mohammed] from among
you, who reciteth unto you Our
revelations and causeth you to grow,
and teacheth you the Scripture and
wisdom …”
-The Qur'an, 2:151
• “Muhammad is but a messenger,
messengers (the like of whom) have
passed away before him.”
-The Qur'an 3:144
And Judaism
• Moses in an intermediary that delivered
God’s message to Humankind:
• “Remember ye the law of Moses My
servant, which I [God] commanded unto
him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes
and ordinances.”
-Prophets
And the Bahá’i Faith
• Confirms idea of human
intermediary
– "since there can be no tie
of direct intercourse to bind
the one true God with His
creation … " God ordains
that "in every age … a
pure and stainless Soul be
made manifest in the
kingdoms of earth and
heaven"
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 232)
If you were to speak to your
creatures ..
• What Language:
• Level of communication:
– English?
– their language?
“All that I have revealed
unto thee … hath been in
accord-ance with thy
capacity and
understanding, not with My
state and the melody of My
voice.”
(Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)
– According to our capacity?
– Or their capacity?
On Miracles
• Should not constitute
a “proof”:
– Except to observers
– Even then there are
often alternate
explanations
Miracles
• Nonetheless, we can see how
– miracles could be easy for creator
• Example: Game of Life
– can create life simply by flipping a
bit from a 0 to a 1 in the grid.
– a power creatures do not have
So, why not have a miracle sideshow to quell all doubts?
Free Will vs. Miracles
• If God performed miracles on demand
– forced to acknowledge him
– lose autonomy to recognize (or reject) creator
• Suppose instantaneous {punishment, correction,
guidance} for ‘wrong’ acts.
Puppet
-controlled
-little or no autonomy
-brute
-loss of self
-no capacity for altruism
vs.
vs.
vs.
vs.
vs.
vs.
Growing being
guided
free will & choice:
noble being
self
capacity for altruism
How might our creatures perceive us?
• “The world of our creator is vast and
composed of infinite number of squares.”
• “Our creator is large, composed of an
infinite number of bits”
• “The creator is the source of all life”
• “The creator is all-powerful.”
• “The creator exists above time. Can see
the future; knows the past.”
• “The creator is omniscient (all-knowing).”
TAKEAWAY: God is unknowable!
Parallels in Bahá’i Writings
On Praise:
“To have accepted any act or praise from Thy
creatures is but an evidence of the wonders of Thy
[God’s] grace and bountiful favors, and a
manifestation of Thy generosity and providence.”
-Baha'u'llah
On Unknowability:
“… souls shall be perturbed as they make mention
of Me [God]. For minds cannot grasp Me nor hearts
contain Me.”
-Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words
But isn’t God All-Powerful?
• Can’t God turn
himself into a human?
• Equivalent question:
– “Couldn’t God turn
himself into a square
in Game of Life?”
Power of the Creator (cont’d)
• What do we mean by
all-powerful?
• In Game of life we are
all-powerful because
• We can:
– change game’s state to
any state
– alter universal laws
• no creature can stand in
our way
Limits of God’s Power
• Though “All-Powerful”
in Game of Life
– Can we turn ourselves
into a square?
• 1 bit needed to
represent square
– Bits required to
represent a human?
– Information loss
Power of God (cont’d)
• If humans can’t be
represented in 1 bit
– Can God?
From the Bahá’i Writings
• “… that invisible yet rational God …
can in no wise incarnate His infinite, His
unknowable, His incorruptible and allembracing Reality in the concrete and
limited frame of a mortal being.”
-(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'llah, p. 112)
Power of God
Takeaway:
• Even power of God
has limits
• All Powerful ≠ Ability
to do anything
– Specifically God
cannot be not God
What if ..
• power withheld from computer
for even a few seconds?
“.. if for one moment
the tide of His mercy
and grace were to be
withheld from the
world, it would
completely perish”
-Bahá'u'llah, Gleanings from the
Writings of Bahá'u'llah, p. 68
Is the universe an abandoned experiment?
• According to Bahá’i Writings:
We are created of love:
“… I knew My love for thee; therefore I
created thee ….” -Baha'u'llah, The Hidden Words
• The loving creator guides us:
“… Were it not for the love of God the
holy books would not have been
revealed. Were it not for the love of
God the divine prophets would not
have been sent to the world … ”
-Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 90
Can we develop a relationship with
an “unknowable God?”
1. Prayer: the creator can
communicate with us via
inspiration
“A servant is drawn unto Me
in prayer until I answer him;
and when I have answered
him, I become the ear
wherewith he heareth....“ Quran 83:28
"For the core of religious faith is that mystical feeling which
unites man with God. This state of spiritual communion can be
brought about and maintained by means of meditation and prayer.”
Baha’i Writings: Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 506
How do we develop a relationship
with an “unknowable God?” (cont’d)
• Reading
– Sacred Scriptures
(messages sent by creator)
• Meditation
– On spiritual teachings
(to understand messages
from creator)
• Striving every day
– to bring behavior more into
accordance with high
standards
• Selfless service
– to humanity
– in carrying on of our trade or
profession.
Summary
• God is unknowable
• You cannot:
– fully comprehend or
– directly interact with God.
•
Communication with God
– requires an intermediary
• Founders of World Religions
– intermediaries (messengers) between humankind & God
– are not God but
• are directed by God
– hard to imagine another way God could communicate with
humankind without loss of our choice to accept (or reject) God.
What do Computers
tell us about God?:
Reflections of a Computer Scientist
Questions / Discussion
feedback:
Final Questions
• What could we possibly offer our creator
that it doesn’t already have?
– Thankfulness