Gila Guerilla
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- May 24, 2009
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Examining the "God" of Syed, part 6
A possible defence
One might also try to defend the concept of "God" and supposed "free will" as presented by Syed, in the 'K' kills 'V' scenario, by saying that since 'K' is a human, and for some reason, "God" maybe doesn't know anything which happens as a result of an instance of individual supposed "free will", (in this case, by 'K'). But one must be careful of the consequences of this conjecture.
To illustrate what I mean, I ask the reader to NOT think of anything to do with elephants for 30 seconds. Before you begin, should you decide to try, then be determined to avoid all thoughts of the animal, or its name, (elephant). OK, try now . . . then read on.
Now look at you right hand, and move it a tiny amount. Now just check out what you do for say 1 minute, (no instructions on what to do except observe).
The act of not thinking about elephants is an act of supposed "free will". You probably failed, because to make sure that you were not thinking about elephants, you had to think about elephants. This says something about how "free" our "will" happens to be.
Now try and think of an orange coloured railway locomotive. If you can do it, then it looks like an act of supposed "free will", and I don't doubt that Syed would agree that the thought of an orange loco. was not an accident, but something "freely" done. So some thoughts would fit Syed's idea of freewill, and some don't. In that case, "God" will have a very patchy fore-knowledge of what is going on in a person's mind.
It's not that "God" has no fore-knowledge, it's that "he" knows in advance of things that are not in there by supposed "free will", (unwanted elephants and associated thoughts), and unaware in advance of things in there by supposed "free will", (orange locos).
Surely, one's waking moments are a never ending stream of acts of "free will"- you look out of the window, you cross your legs, speak out loud, move one finger; (not as a reflex), you throw a ball, you ride a bike, you walk, you lie down, you roll over on the bed, you get up, you eat, and so on . . .
Almost every one of these acts leaves an impression on the world. Say you throw a ball. The ball moves, many air molecules move, blood pumps through your blood vessels. The defence that any of the results of an act of "free will", by any person, cannot be known in advance by "God" means that "God" has huge gaps in "his" fore-knowledge, while at the same time - according to Syed "God" having knowledge of everything about every corner of the universe, now, in the past, and into the future, (as long as we have a universe).
The wafting of a patch of air molecules, by the wafting of a ball or hand, for instance might seem like a minor occurrence. But we would do well to take account of the butterfly effect, (the butterfly effect is the concept that small causes can have large effects; see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect).
Thus, for every person on the planet, doing acts of "free will" all day long, and having effects on the world, all of this is not foreknown by "God". Multiply all that by all of the decades, centuries and millennia. That's a lot of lack of knowledge about the future on "God's" part.
A possible defence
One might also try to defend the concept of "God" and supposed "free will" as presented by Syed, in the 'K' kills 'V' scenario, by saying that since 'K' is a human, and for some reason, "God" maybe doesn't know anything which happens as a result of an instance of individual supposed "free will", (in this case, by 'K'). But one must be careful of the consequences of this conjecture.
To illustrate what I mean, I ask the reader to NOT think of anything to do with elephants for 30 seconds. Before you begin, should you decide to try, then be determined to avoid all thoughts of the animal, or its name, (elephant). OK, try now . . . then read on.
Now look at you right hand, and move it a tiny amount. Now just check out what you do for say 1 minute, (no instructions on what to do except observe).
The act of not thinking about elephants is an act of supposed "free will". You probably failed, because to make sure that you were not thinking about elephants, you had to think about elephants. This says something about how "free" our "will" happens to be.
Now try and think of an orange coloured railway locomotive. If you can do it, then it looks like an act of supposed "free will", and I don't doubt that Syed would agree that the thought of an orange loco. was not an accident, but something "freely" done. So some thoughts would fit Syed's idea of freewill, and some don't. In that case, "God" will have a very patchy fore-knowledge of what is going on in a person's mind.
It's not that "God" has no fore-knowledge, it's that "he" knows in advance of things that are not in there by supposed "free will", (unwanted elephants and associated thoughts), and unaware in advance of things in there by supposed "free will", (orange locos).
Surely, one's waking moments are a never ending stream of acts of "free will"- you look out of the window, you cross your legs, speak out loud, move one finger; (not as a reflex), you throw a ball, you ride a bike, you walk, you lie down, you roll over on the bed, you get up, you eat, and so on . . .
Almost every one of these acts leaves an impression on the world. Say you throw a ball. The ball moves, many air molecules move, blood pumps through your blood vessels. The defence that any of the results of an act of "free will", by any person, cannot be known in advance by "God" means that "God" has huge gaps in "his" fore-knowledge, while at the same time - according to Syed "God" having knowledge of everything about every corner of the universe, now, in the past, and into the future, (as long as we have a universe).
The wafting of a patch of air molecules, by the wafting of a ball or hand, for instance might seem like a minor occurrence. But we would do well to take account of the butterfly effect, (the butterfly effect is the concept that small causes can have large effects; see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect).
Thus, for every person on the planet, doing acts of "free will" all day long, and having effects on the world, all of this is not foreknown by "God". Multiply all that by all of the decades, centuries and millennia. That's a lot of lack of knowledge about the future on "God's" part.