Apr 30
Time Travel
Knowledge of God is the mind’s greatest good; its greatest virtue is to know God.
Assumption:
1: The universe is absolute (infinite) and therefore equal to one.
2: The larger the sample size, the more it approximates reality.
3: Physics is deterministic, meaning everything has a cause, except for the prime mover or the absolute.
4: From (A1) and (A3), we can infer that everything relates to each other and, therefore, is relative.
Hypothesis:
It is possible to predict the future.
Explanation:
We have been observing the world around us since Prometheus. Our consciousness is the urge to explain and mimic the world around us. It is an algorithmic process that makes us interested so that we investigate. How we try to explain the world and gather information is not mutually exclusive because it can be reproduced. Causes and their effects can be simulated; therefore, it is possible to approximate future events with enough computing power and correct assumptions. Through reflection on our lives, we freed ourselves from our beast-like existence.
We can predict future cosmological events based on our known data about the observable universe. We can predict future anthropological events based on our known data about humans. There are around 7.9 billion humans worldwide, and it is possible to collect data from the human population. Therefore our prediction can be nearly 100% accurate since it is possible to collect all the data from the population. With the data, we can do experiments and change the course of history. When we can predict the future, we can act upon it and, at one point, rule the world. However, there is a paradox because when one can predict the future and uses that data for their benefit, it means that the future is not deterministic; after all, one can influence it. E.g., when one knows what is going to happen, one can prevent it from happening. So, is predicting the future really knowing it, and is predicting the future itself not deterministic?
We are building databases of DNA. These databases can be used to simulate the world. For example, we can simulate biological progress in a virtual environment. With the knowledge gathered by simulating, we can modify our human form for the better. Imagine a human that is more athletic, intelligent and does not age. We have no choice but to walk this path because if we do not do it, someone else will do it, and then we are at a significant disadvantage. We want to keep our dominant position since that is most beneficial for us.
As time goes by, our knowledge about the world increases exponentially. At first, our simulations will be roughly approximated. However, the more efficient computers are, the more understanding it gives us about causes on an abstract level. So that further extrapolations become more accurate. At one point, the accumulation of knowledge of a hundred years will be done in a few seconds.
Discussion:
Our reason is the slave of our passions. We, as humans, will never be able to understand the world around us. Does it matter to explore the stars and beyond? Would it not be a more noble pursuit to overcome our human form? It is our human form that holds us back from understanding the truth. Since we are made to follow dogma, if the truth is our goal, then truth will set us free.
What is the difference between knowing the future and time travel? Especially when we are not objective in the first place. We all know magicians who can trick us. Image a very talented magician that constructs a scheme that makes it feel like we live in the future, based on the information our researchers have gathered. Then what would be the subjective difference?
If we knew everything that would happen, what is the purpose of life? Is it not our inquisitiveness that makes life interesting. And the fact that future events are not predictable. What if we would not die of old age? There would not be any purpose to doing anything but eat cake. It is the fact that we are conscious that our life is temporal which makes us active. Death replaces the old and makes space for the new. It is because of death that there is life.
It has many implications for how we treat each other, from person to person and nation to nation. He who controls the youth controls the future. When we have the power to modify behaviour an masse, then we have the power to control the world. Think about a benign alien civilisation visiting our earth. They share their culture with us, and our children become obsessed with them. Their culture dilutes our culture; how would we feel about that? We probably would not like to see our traditions becoming obscure, even though the aliens are benign. Moreover, is it possible to imagine how we would feel about a more hostile alien civilisation with a superior culture?
Why would we colonise space when we know how to create life elsewhere that we can use as tools? When we look at the wealthiest humans on earth, they all became rich using others efficiently. It does not mean that they enslaved others, it means that they had an idea that could create value for everyone. Because the other works out of his self-interest. At a certain moment, we have gathered enough knowledge to create forms of life that will work for our ends out of their self-interest. However, it is more likely that we are the ones that are getting used.
We are at the final frontier. The next nation will be the last because it will be able to control the whole of human civilisation. The last nation can rule the world through behavioural modifying systems and medicine, making us more prone to certain beliefs. All the chips are on the table, and we are flirting with real trouble.
Conclusion:
The explanation is that it is our ability, which stems from curiosity, to create, which constitutes our consciousness. It is unnecessary to have all the information to make accurate predictions. Through the consistent accumulation of knowledge, our understanding will be more accurate. Technological advancements, or advancements in learning, might not be beneficial for humans. We are animals and led by our passions; only if humans can be overcome then pure understanding can prosper.
