God's Debris

A delivery man arrives at a house with a package.  No one answers when he knocks.  Not wanting to come back, he checks the door.  Open!  He enters and finds a wizened old man sitting near a fire.  The man, claiming to be The Avatar, declares that he has been expecting him.  A debate soon follows as to whether the delivery man delivered the package or the package delivered the delivery man.  The entire book is a conversation - mostly a lecture - in front of the fire place.  A variety of philosophical questions are addressed where the old man explains how the universe works.

 

Considering the title, it is not surprising that God figures heavily.  After extracting a description of God from the delivery man, the old man offers some clear conclusions.  First, if God is omniscient, how can there be free will?  If God knows every decision that will be made beforehand, then all was predestined.  Therefore, if God is omniscient, why bother with creation?  He knows all the answers before he begins.  What is the one thing an omniscient, omnipotent being might not know?  The old man suggests that such a being might not know if he can destroy himself.  Thus, the Big Bang was God's attempt to destroy himself and all of creation is God's debris.  Interesting thought.  But with God out of action, do we have free will?  No.  Every decision is a result of inputs and there is only an illusion of free will.  But doesn't that mean no one is truly responsible for their actions?  The old man explains that it is useful to an orderly society to act as though they do.  Huh?  Isn't it all foreordained?

 

The old man does not limit himself to such philosophical questions but ventures into physics, biology, and statistics.  He lays a foundation by noting how a quantum physics has shown particles appear from empty space.  He then proposes that all matter phases in and out of existence and where it returns is based on probability.  God dust is more likely to appear near other God dust, which is why we have gravity.  The purpose of existence is to reconstruct God, thus evolution is always in the direction of more complex and advanced creatures.

 

Each chapter offers random musings on some aspect of the world.  Several things that the old man has to say is repeated in the other Scott Adams book that I read.  One notable thing was that everyone is living in a personal delusion and that the truth is unknowable.  The human mind evolved to survive, not objectively determine truth.  The best one can hope for is that your delusion - be it religion, science, philosophy, etc. - provides the opportunity to procreate.  But going back to that free will thing, why discuss any of this?  We don't have free will, it is all predetermined.  Understanding changes nothing though it might provide a more palatable delusion.

 

The book is meant as a thought experiment and Adams did warn that some of what the Avatar said was demonstrably wrong.  Adams also states that his belief system is not covered in this fictional story.  Therefore, this is not Adams' philosophy offered in a fictional story.  In the end, the delivery man has achieved a higher state of awareness, the highest that a human mind can achieve.

 

Mediocre but happily brief.