Coded Logic

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Posts by Coded Logic

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  70

  Are we in a computer simulation?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znmk2viuqba.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/simulation_hypothesis.

  consequences of living in a simulation[edit]some scholars speculate that the creators of our hypothetical simulation may have limited computing power; if so, after a certain point, the creators would have to deploy some sort of strategy to prevent simulations from themselves indefinitely creating high-fidelity simulations in unbounded regress.

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  Coded Logic

  If a computer works out that a conscious being would do a certain thing and simulates them doing so, versus a material being undergoing the same process and performing the same act, is there a meaningful distinction between the two?

  -SBF

  Indeed, there is a huge distinction between the two. Conscious beings have a subjective first person experience. Non-conscious process' do not. As far as we know, simulations are a non-conscious process'. Until such a time as we have good reasons to think simulations are capable of consciousness - we can't say it's "possible" we're in a simulation. Because, if there is one thing - and only one thing we know - it's that we are conscious.

  Consciousness is the prerequisite. And until that issue is addressed people aren't justified in claiming that the Simulation Hypothesis is "possible".

  There are 3 scenarios at which we can look:

  1.) We live in a physical universe and simulations are not capable of producing consciousness - in which case the Simulation Hypothesis is not possible

  2.) We live in a physical universe and simulations are capable of producing consciousness - in which case it would be difficult to know whether we're in a simulation or in a physical universe.

  3.) We live in a simulation - in which case it necessarily follows that simulations are capable of producing consciousness. Like scenario 2, it would be difficult to distinguish the simulated world from a physical world.

  In all three scenarios a physical world would appear to be "real world". The only thing that could move us away from that position would be evidence that simulations can produce consciousness..
• 
  47

  Is the Bible God's word? Help please.....

  by Freeandclear in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so real quick, i know this comes up now and then and i've looked over some of the posts from the past but here's the thing.. when i was a jw i drank all the cool aid, i was 100% and so i have all my own arguments (from the jw's) for why the bible is inspired.

  i no longer believe this but i'd really like to read something that is pretty much 100% academic on this subject.

  i want to read what scholars have to say about the authenticity of the bible and it's claim at being the inspired word of god.

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  Coded Logic

  The first question we have to ask is which Bible?

  
  

  There are eight separate established canons for the Bible. Each of them containing varying books and content. They have many different stories and radically different theology that they teach. Between the years 382 AD and 1647 AD seven of them were canonized. They are:

  
  

  • The Roman Catholic Bible (73 books)
  • The Ethiopian Orthodox Bible (81 books)
  • The Eastern Orthodox Bible (85 books)
  • The Syriac Bible (68 books)
  • The Armenian Bible (82 books)
  • The Church of England Bible (the King James Version falls here with 80 books)
  • The Slavonic Bible (75 books)

  
  

  (And, just to make the point clear, these are NOT different translations. They are different canons that all have differing content from each other)

  
  

  The eighth Bible wasn't established until 1825 by the British and Foreign Bible Society and is known as the . . .

  
  

  • The Protestant Bible (The New World Translation falls here with 66 books)

  
  

  Like all the established canons there are several problems with the Protestant Bible. However, the biggest one is - if it's the "true" version of the Bible than it means that everyone else has/had the "wrong" Bible for thousands of years. If this is the "real" Bible then the Bible was NOT preserved through the ages for everyone because anyone who lived before 1825 didn't have access to it. They all had the "wrong" Bible.

  
  

  
  

  As you can see, there is great deal of disagreement about which books of the Bible should be, and should't be, allowed into canon (John Calvin and his good friend Michael Sevetus disagreed on Biblical canon so fiercely that John eventually had his friend burned alive at the stake over the dispute in 1553 AD). For the Old Testament there are two main sources from which the eight separate cannons draw on - the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. In contest among the differing biblical canons are the books of:

  
  

  Esdras

  Tobit

  Judith

  Maccabess

  Solomon

  Ecclesiasticus

  Baruch

  Prayer of Mannasseh

  Psalms

  Additions to Esther

  Letter of Jeremiah

  Additions to Daniel (Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, and Bell and the Dragon)

  
  

  But it gets worse. In the early 1900s the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. A little background here, the dead sea scrolls were written in the year 100 BC and only contain the Old Testament. The manuscripts are fragments from 972 texts, not entire books, so we can only compare small portions of the Old Testament with modern versions.

  Some hoped that, since the Dead Sea Scrolls pre-dated all versions of the Bible, it would finally determine which one was correct. But it did the opposite. It only confused the issue more because the Dead Sea Scrolls contained books not found in any of the established canons including the books:

  
  

  Enoch

  Jubilees

  Wisdom of Sirach

  Apocryphon of Daniel

  Book of War

  Additions to Psalms

  
  

  A study of the modern Bible shows that there is a lot missing out of it. Just a to give you three examples you can look up yourself. In Joshua 10:13 it says, "Accordingly the sun kept motionless, and the moon did stand still, until the nations could take vengeance on its enemies. Is it not written in the Book of Jashar? And the sun kept standing still in the middle of the heavens and did not hasten to set for about a whole day."

  And also 2 Samuel 1:18, "And to say the sons of Judah should be taught the bow. Look! It is written in the Book of Jashar."

  Of course the Book of Jashar is yet another book of the Bible not found in any of the canons yet it was clearly part of the original Israelite doctrine. The question is, why isn't it in the Bible?

  
  

  A second example of content removed from the Bible can be found at Mathew 2:23 which says, ". . . and they came and dwelt in a city named Nazareth, that there might be fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene." "

  Of course the problem here is that no where in the Old Testament did it ever say that Jesus, or anyone else for that matter, would be born in Nazareth. Were is the matching component to this prophecy? Are parts of the Bible missing?

  
  

  One last example here is Mathew 27:9 which says "Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying: "And they took the thirty silver pieces, the price upon the man that was priced, the one on whom some of the sons of Israel set a price." "

  And the same problem exists here - Jeremiah never said anything about thirty pieces of silver. So which book got it right? Mathew or Jeremiah? Or are they both wrong?

  
  

  And the New Testament is not exempt from conflict either. Books that were NOT allowed into the New Testament Canon for hundreds of years are:

  
  

  Hebrews

  James

  1 & 2 Peter

  2 & 3 John

  Jude

  Revelation (considered heretical)

  
  

  If they didn't think they were valid back then, why do we think they are valid now?

  Books that were once part of the New Testament Canon but are no longer in the Protestant Bible are:

  
  

  Shepard of Hermas

  Epistle of Baranabas

  1 & 2 Clement

  Epistle to the Laodiceans

  Apocalypse of Peter

  
  

  Once again, if they were part of the Bible back then why aren't they part of the Bible now?

  
  

  The earliest complete version of the New Testament is the Codex Sinaiticus (400 AD). Before this we have fragments of parchments from the 2nd century. More than 5,800 Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts and 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages including Syriac, Slavic, Ethiopic and Armenian. There are approximately 300,000 textual variants among them. They vary widely in context and some fragments directly contradict other fragments. And some fragments directly contradict the Codex Sinaiticus.

  
  

  There is no way to determine which, if any, are accurate.
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  70

  Are we in a computer simulation?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znmk2viuqba.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/simulation_hypothesis.

  consequences of living in a simulation[edit]some scholars speculate that the creators of our hypothetical simulation may have limited computing power; if so, after a certain point, the creators would have to deploy some sort of strategy to prevent simulations from themselves indefinitely creating high-fidelity simulations in unbounded regress.

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  Coded Logic

  But what are the reasons for suspecting it will not be possible?

  Because simulations do not have the properties of the things which they are simulating. They are a mathematical representation. Not an actual manifestation.
• 
  70

  Are we in a computer simulation?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znmk2viuqba.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/simulation_hypothesis.

  consequences of living in a simulation[edit]some scholars speculate that the creators of our hypothetical simulation may have limited computing power; if so, after a certain point, the creators would have to deploy some sort of strategy to prevent simulations from themselves indefinitely creating high-fidelity simulations in unbounded regress.

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  Coded Logic

  Assuming for a moment that we are in a simulation - then it follows we should be able to show that simulations can produce consciousness. Once we do that - we can say it's "possible" we're in a simulation.

  But, until such a time as that's shown to be the case, we neither know if it's possible or impossible.
• 
  70

  Are we in a computer simulation?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znmk2viuqba.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/simulation_hypothesis.

  consequences of living in a simulation[edit]some scholars speculate that the creators of our hypothetical simulation may have limited computing power; if so, after a certain point, the creators would have to deploy some sort of strategy to prevent simulations from themselves indefinitely creating high-fidelity simulations in unbounded regress.

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  Coded Logic

  No, it is not question begging. ALL the evidence points to the fact that we are physical creatures in a physical world.

  Some have claimed that a simulated world would be perceptually identical to a physical world. I am curious how anyone could determine this without first showing that simulated worlds are capable of producing first person subjective experience (consciousness) that could perceive a simulated world.
• 
  70

  Are we in a computer simulation?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znmk2viuqba.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/simulation_hypothesis.

  consequences of living in a simulation[edit]some scholars speculate that the creators of our hypothetical simulation may have limited computing power; if so, after a certain point, the creators would have to deploy some sort of strategy to prevent simulations from themselves indefinitely creating high-fidelity simulations in unbounded regress.

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  Coded Logic

  Yes, there is very strong evidence that consciousness comes from physical brains. How do you not know this?
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  38

  JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES WANT IT BOTH WAYS

  by Perry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when individuals leave the organization for conscience reasons, it is evidence that god is shepherding and protecting the flock by doing a sifting work.

  when people leave another christian religion it is evidence that the religion is morally corrupt and unable or unwilling to provide spiritually for their members.

  when a christian from another denomination lies, he is acting according to his own disposition being from the father of the lie.

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  Coded Logic

  Great post Perry! Really hits the nail on the head of the double standards the JWs have.

  
  
• 
  70

  Are we in a computer simulation?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znmk2viuqba.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/simulation_hypothesis.

  consequences of living in a simulation[edit]some scholars speculate that the creators of our hypothetical simulation may have limited computing power; if so, after a certain point, the creators would have to deploy some sort of strategy to prevent simulations from themselves indefinitely creating high-fidelity simulations in unbounded regress.

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  Coded Logic

  Is there any evidence to suggest that a simulation of a brain could create consciousness? If not - the point is moot.
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  20

  Satan Wants to Be Like God and Have Mankind Worship Him.....Yeah Right....

  by xjwsrock in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i heard this tired line re-ran again at this year's convention.

  satan supposedly wanted to be like god and be worshiped - you know, the whole pride thing.

  they really made a big deal about how his "thoughts" led to his sin in the garden of eden and how we need to control our thoughts to avoid the same result.

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  Coded Logic

  Do you know how much fame and glory a leader of the spirit world could have in today's society of 24 hour news? He could have billions of people tuned in to see him, listen to him, and watch whatever he does.

  Are you sure he's not . . .

  .
  
  
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  19

  Building an Ark

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  "make for yourself an ark from resinous wood.

  you will make compartments in the ark and cover it with tar inside and outside.

  " - genesis 6:14. because, you know, that's how you build a giant boat - just wood and tar.

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  Coded Logic

  Outlaw, I'm so glad they included the dinosaurs. Gotta make sure it's scientifically accurate!