Is Our World a Simulation.

One of the recurrent trends of the past few decades has been the attempt to derive the science of physics from the science of information.  Whereas at one time, the atomic theory prevailed in physics and its various derivatives systematized ultimately in the form of quantum mechanics,  a new understanding sees the universe as ultimately composed of informational bits.  With this understanding comes a novel idea, likely advanced because of the rise of modern computers and the internet, that our world is in fact a simulation.  This notion has been advanced and it has been suggested that a sufficiently advanced future computer program could effectively simulate our world.  This raises further questions as to what is the nature of reality and whether it would ever be possible to recognize that we are in fact in a simulation.  An heroic stance would maintain that perhaps someday we could come to know this, though the possibility of ever achieving this remains difficult to understand. If there exist glitches in the simulation then how would we ever be able to come to locate them and know what they are.  Perhaps our physical death is the ultimate "glitch", and our present reality is different from the reality that we currently understand ourselves to have.

The Blackening of the Future.

In the late nineteenth century two separate viewpoints prevailed.  On one side were those who maintained that Europe had reached an age of degeneration and that technological progress would bring about the ultimate decline and destruction of humanity.  On the alternative side were those who saw a new era of progress about to be unleashed.  Many predicted the rise of airplanes and even of space travel, as well as genetic engineering, and radical life extension.  However, these optimists foresaw various things which never materialized such as the furtherance of the human race on other worlds.  With the modern decline of science we may be witnessing a new era in which the early beliefs become manifest and a gradual decline in human accomplishment and Western civilization.

Culture and Metaphysics.

In his book, von Inwagen considers the difficulty encountered by philosophers in formulating metaphysical problems and their solutions.  The lack of results achieved by philosophy remains a fundamental problem.  One possibillity is that certain cultures lend themselves better to formulating and achieving results in metaphysics.  Obviously the culture of the ancient Greeks was unique in this respect.  Von Inwagen notes that European culture from the middle ages on has been unique in allowing for the development of science and technology on an unprecedented level. He then poses the question as to whether there could exist a certain culture in which the solution of metaphysical questions is made possible.  Such a culture could be a unique possibility for the future.  However, there is some reason for pessimism.  Perhaps the human mind is not developed in a manner so as to enable answers to metaphysical problems.  Arguments to this effect frequently rely on an appeal to Godel's Incompleteness Theorem.

Human Suffering.

For the most part and largely the world of the past involved much more suffering than the present world.  Farmers were once strong and hardy individuals forced to live off of their own physical strength and abilities.  For much of history since the end of the Stone Age, man lived such an existence.  Disease was widespread and man had to endure far more pain on a daily basis without the benefit of modern medicine or the designer pharmaceuticals of today.

In the world of today, only literature from previous eras reflect this level of suffering.  For example, the biblical account of Christ's Passion reveals the suffering of the God-man on the Cross.  In today's world most of classical literature is not read, but when it is read it is frequently censored and banned altogether.  Political correctness  sees any mention of brutality in the past as  barbaric and thus attempts to negate all such mention of suffering as such.  This is a large part of the movement behind censoring the past.  In Huxley's _Brave New World_ all literature which dealt with human suffering was banned altogether.  Superficiality and mindless hedonism has taken its place.  This is further revelation of the fact that we are living in a world which is increasingly becoming exactly like the world that Huxley described.

Archaic Versus Modern - The Language Issue.

One of the reasons why our cognitive processes have altered in time is a result of the language we have used to describe these processes.  This transition in language from "archaic" to "modern" has resulted in a transition in our consciousness which leads to a more materialistic and nihilistic worldview.  In order for us to truly understand who we are, however, it would be necessary to re-establish the archaic understanding of man and uproot the modern understanding.  And to begin to do so would be to examine the language we use to refer to cognition.  Only then once we have made the language transition can we begin to understand how the cognition of pre-modern man differs from our own, but also why our own is far more superficial (and our own today far more superficial than it was even 10 years ago).

One important distinction occurs in the transition from the notion of soul to that of mind.  This occured when Descartes divided the man (note the word "man" here as opposed to the modern "human") into a mind/body dualism whereas before man had been understood as a material being which possessed a soul.  However, while the Platonic and Gnostic understanding maintained that the soul was distinct from the body and composed of etherial stuff, the Christian understanding maintained that the soul was indissolubly linked up with the body and further that the resurrection would be a bodily resurrection.

An important distinction has also occurred in the development of psychology.  In ancient terms, psychology was understood in terms of sin which was supposedly the result of the temptations of Satan or demons.  In the middle ages, this was codified into the notion of Seven Deadly Sins.  In modern times, these notions became therapeutized into psychological neuroses and psychoses, which further developed from the late nineteenth century notions into modern psychological notions of mental illness.

Other distinctions exist in the fact that mental processes were once referred to in terms of subservience and submission which now are explained in terms of anxieties and drives.

These alterations in our language are an indication of the alteration that has taken place in our consciousness and to reclaim the consciousness of pre-modern or indeed even of archaic man it would be necessary to restore his langugage to use.

A Dead World.

Is this what we are witnessing?  A dead world.

Is Science Proving False?

van Inwagen makes an interesting point about the nature of science in his book, referencing the role of cosmology and in particular the Big Bang theory of the origins of the universe.  Inwagen notes that scientists often claim to be able to explain why there is something rather than nothing.  But he states that overbold claims by scientists are problematic, in that as scientists continue to make these claims it could lead to a situation where eventually science is held up to ridicule.  Classically scientists were conservative, but in recent times scientists have become celebrities such as Hawking.  This is problematic for science and also as scientists continue to make overbold prophecies and claims (especially about the nature of the universe of the existence of God), they continually degrade the nature of science.  We have seen a spate of books recently written by famous scientists attacking religion and many of them also arguing for atheism or a version thereof.  These books represent a credibility problem for science, in that it could lead to a situation where science is refuted.  Rather than focusing on discovery, science now engages in metaphysics, but superficially, and therefore it is spelling its own undoing.  This could severely damage science itself and is quite disturbing.

Metaphysics.

In his book _Metaphysics_ (2009), Peter van Inwagen presents several interesting points.  First, he contrasts the medieval understanding of the nature of the world and reality (which amounted to the world revealed by God) with the nineteenth century understanding of the nature of the world and reality (which was a hard materialism seeing the world as composed of nothing but matter and empty space).  The twentieth century seems to have uprooted this nineteenth century understanding and to have made possible a modern synthesis.  One interesting case presented by the author is that the claim is made for example that all educated people deny the existence of immortal souls.  The author shows how this may be false in the sense that at one time all educated people adhered to the theories of Freud or Marx which have since been proven to be fallacious.  Thus, the appeal to authority here need not reflect the reality.  The author maintains that the medieval perspective is essentially correct and contrasts this to monism and dualism.  In the case of monism, the author maintains that one of the claims made by monists is that they have actually experienced a state of consciousness in which it is revealed to them that everything is One.  This claim is made by monists instead of an argument frequently and provides an interesting study in the nature of revelation and consciousness.

The author also considers the question as to "why is there a world at all" or "why is there something rather than nothing".  In answer to this question, the author wonders why this question has occured only to philosophers.  The author maintains that it is only under the influence of philosophical speculation that religion has offered answers to this question at all, in the form of "creation myths" and then gives several examples of "creation myths" including the biblical account in Genesis.

A World Without Christianity?

I am fairly convinced that our elite envision a world without Christianity.  Western Christianity has become severely weakened.  While the dominant form of religion throughout most of the history of the West and well into the nineteenth century, a new form of society has taken its place.  This society however is not based on the scientism as envisioned at one time by positivists and other prophets of decline, but rather a society of immoral hedonism and nihilism.  Even avid promoters of modern atheism rarely offer anything more substantive than a superficial attempt to promote their hedonism and the nihilism that has taken over Western society.  Nevertheless, despite these serious losses for the spiritual basis underpinning society at one time not too long ago, Christian churches continue to exist and hold steadfast in certain areas (and are even growing in South America and China under severe persecution).  The West appears to be lost to us, as predicted from Spengler's decline theories long ago.  What has taken its place is a nihilistic hyper consumerist hell.

The elite, not content with their current rule, have decided to continue to go back into the past and hunt down the few remaining vestiges of true Christianity within their society.  They falsely blame religion and mostly Christianity in particular for past atrocities, rehashing past events and even events in the far distant past such as the Crusades and the Spanish Inqusition (both exagerated and exploited).  What would a world without Christianity be like?  We are largely witnessing its effects and it is a horrible thing to see take place.

Why We Have Become an Idiocracy.

The internet was created as a site for physicists and researchers to post academic papers on.  It has come a long way since then.  Part of the difficulty lies in the existence of user generated content as well as discussion forums.  What it has led to is an idiocracy forming, a long way from the earlier days of strict academic research.  Further, the mass media now promotes stupidity on an unprecendented scale.  Also traditional institutions of learning no longer maintain standards of exactness but have lowered their standards as well.  Traditional teaching forms including such things as film, are now used to spread vile propaganda, violence, hate, drug use, and pornography.  On the internet the biggest mouth wins not the smartes.  So I would say that America in particular but also the world has indeed become an idiocracy on an unprecedented level in history.