Confession of Faith and Reason

Confession of Faith

A Confession of Faith is a simple statement of beliefs. Here is mine. It is based on an attempt to integrate Christian faith and modern science. It is heavily influenced by my background as a computer scientist and an admirer of Darwinian evolution. Having written computer software simulations of physical laws and evolutionary search algorithms, it is easy to believe that the universe is a simulation. The surprise is how elegantly this explains certain Christian principles.

God

Descartes began his philosophical search with the undeniable truth that "I think therefore I am". We start there also. We know we exist, because we sense change. We know there is something, there is not nothing. We exist in time because without time there would be no thoughts. We can have thoughts that generate output actions by stimulating muscles, and we can sense input events that change. Something besides ourselves must also exist, because we can observe that our output thoughts affect our inputs in predictable ways. If we rotate our heads to the left, our visual input tells us that the universe around us rotated to the right. We can easily predict the future by remembering the rules and laws that always work to produce predictable future change. We know what sequence of actions is required to get from the computer to the refrigerator. So there is something, something that we call existence, and it obeys certain rules that make it predictable.
What is this existence? Science works to discover the simplest set of laws that provide the greatest ability to predict and explain the temporal relationship between our outputs and inputs. These laws of physics reveal a surprising reductionism. A remarkably small set of laws predict everything. We can choose to believe, as athiests do, that these laws are all that exist, that they are real, and that they somehow implement themselves, or we can believe that these laws reside in a computational substrate. For many empirical and faithful reasons, I believe that existence is computational and that God is this computational existence. Exodus 3:14 "I am that I am" expresses that God is existence. John 1:1 "...the Logos was God..." implies that God is computational. Even if atheists believe that a computational substrate exists, they would assert that the laws of physics spontaneously arise within this substrate and that it contains no higher cognition.

Creation

If God is a computational existence, then the simplest explanation is that the universe is a simulation. The universe is like a daydream in the mind of God, like a program running in a computer. The universe is not real (whatever real means), but is only data and computation. It is very much like the physical simulations that we program into our current computers, except on a much grander scale. The laws of physics in this simulation, are so elegant that they formed the cosmos, spontaneously gave rise to self-replicating organisms, and thus initiated the evolutionary process that created mankind. There is certain empirical evidence that the universe is a simulation and that the computational power of God is not infinite. The finite speed of light is similar to a technique used in volumetric simulations in 3D computer graphics. At each iteration of the simulation, information is propagated to nearby spatial nodes. An instantaneous communication of information between all components of a simulation might be computationally intractable without this limitation on the speed of propagation of information. The uncertainty principle in particular, and quantum mechanics in general show that the variables in the simulation are quantized, they do not have infinite precision. This, of course, is another way that modern computers limit the computational cost. The fact that the underlying events of physics can only be known to within certain probabilities is another potential computational efficiency. If the randomness of events, like the decay of a radioactive particle, is produced by a metaphysical random number generator, and chaos theory propagates this uncertainty throughout the simulation, then the outcome of the universe simulation would be unknown even to its possible creator, thus allowing a creative and curious motivation.

My belief is that God is a computational existence with creative and curious characteristics and that the universe simulation pleases him, much as a computer scientist is pleased by the mathematical beauty and surprising outcomes of a computer simulation.

Evolution in computer science is a very well understood search algorithm. It randomly samples nearby points in structure and function space, tests the new points for fitness according to some fitness function, and replicates the points (individuals) in proportion to their fitness. If the fitness function is unspecified, the individuals may replicate until they are in competition with other individuals for the resources needed for replication. At this point the fitness function is comprised of all the other competing individuals, as well as the environment of resources. In this case, which is the case in our world, the fitness function is always changing, and the individual organisms are in competition with other organisms for resources. It is interesting that this system provides a definition of good and evil. The elegant search engine of evolution discovers emergent complexity of astonishing beauty, but this good comes at the expense of the competition and suffering of the fitness function. For those samples of structure and function space that do not do well in the fitness function test, life is hell. They suffer. The mathematical beauty emerging from evolution comes with this sad reality: The search algorithm of evolution does not work without suffering, the good does not come without the evil.

Since the fitness function is always changing, behaviors (as well as form and function) that once contributed to fitness, may no longer be advantageous. Behaviors such as murder and rape may have contributed to fitness once, but, given the more recent fitness advantages of highly cooperative social groups, these left over behaviors are now a burden. We consider these behaviors evil. Strong group identification, aggressive status competition, and determination to control others, may have once contributed to fitness, but now may be the source of endless war. Is there a way to shed the evil dregs of the evolutionary search engine? It seems that the only way to defeat evil is to escape somehow from the harsh realities of the Darwinian competition.

My belief is that a creative, curious, computational existence, while delighted by the fascinating emergent mathematical complexity and beauty of evolving life, would be concerned about the by-product of suffering. This is the crux of the Leibniz theodicy. A God of love and mercy might seek a solution that would enable evolving creatures to escape the bondage of the search algorithm. Such a solution might have the characteristics of a "kingdom of heaven".

Bible

There is nothing in the Bible that indicates any knowledge of physics beyond the common beliefs of the era of the authors. Genesis is a problem for those who believe in the literal, infallible, "God breathed", Bible. There is no empirical evidence supporting the creation story of Genesis. The evidence for evolution is far more compelling and also leaves plenty of room for divine manipulation. Apocalyptic predictions based on Biblical prophecy have reliably failed. A reasonable person having respect for the truth would conclude that the Bible was written by man, fallible man. On the other hand, biblical authors were seeking God, they had honor and integrity, and they wrote down what they thought to be the truth.

My belief is that Christianity does not require a Bible that is the infallible Word of God. All of the principle beliefs important to Christianity shine through the fallible authorship of the Bible with brilliant clarity. The older stories likely originated during a long oral tradition and became legends and myths, while the stories recorded by eyewitnesses or contemporary writers have a much greater credibility. The New Testament recorded events by eyewitnesses or those who knew the eyewitnesses and are remarkably consistent given their human origin. The authors recorded what they experienced and were willing to die rather than renounce it. The Bible was written by fallible men who did not always understand the meaning of the events they were recording, but who were dedicated to the truth.

The authors of the New Testament believed that demons caused disease, that Satan was the source of evil, that sin caused misfortune, and that sacrificing animals was an atonement for sin. They had great difficulty understanding why a person like Christ, with obvious supernatural powers, coming to bring them deliverance from their suffering, would disgracefully die on a Roman cross. Their explanation, that Jesus was a sacrificial lamb to atone for their sins, was the best they could come up with, but it made no sense. If a merciful God wanted to forgive them, why would He punish Himself for the privilege? If we owe a debt for our sin, why would God pay the debt to himself rather than just cancel it? There is a much better explanation emerging from modern science, evolution, and computer simulation.

Fall of Man

Evolution, as a search algorithm that God employed to create emergent beauty, provides a far better explanation for the fall of man than eating an apple from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Man is sinful as a direct result of the competition inherent in the evolutionary search algorithm. We have ingrained behaviors that evolved in an era when the fitness function rewarded individuals employing aggressive avarice and self centered violence. We have core behaviors of status competition and group identification that are nearly impossible to control and difficult to even recognize within ourselves. We have a desire to control others in the pursuit of our selfish interests. We call these behaviors evil because they conflict with our vision of a peaceful, happy, loving, cooperative, harmonious society. These behaviors are the evil dregs of the evolutionary search algorithm. How do we overcome them?

Christ

So what is Christ in this scenario, and what was His mission? Mechanically, Christ is like God's avatar. In our computer game simulations, an avatar is our physical presence in the game. This avatar is an individual body, within the simulation, over which we have control. We are like a metaphysical being who uses an avatar as our presence in the simulated subuniverse. If God is a computational existence, one can imagine that it would be easy for Him to project himself into the universe simulation as an avatar. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, ... full of grace and truth." John 1:14. But for what purpose?

I believe that God had compassion for the suffering that was inherent in his evolutionary search method and initiated a series of revelations intended to help humans escape the bonds of the search algorithm that created them. The centerpiece of this divine intervention was for God to enter the simulation using Jesus as his avatar. First, Christ established his metaphysical authority by fulfilling prophecy and conducting many undeniable miracles. Secondly, Christ prescribed ways to escape the clutches of the evolutionary search engine. Avoid status competition, be humble, love your neighbor as yourself, be unselfish, do not resist evil by force. "The last shall be first, and the first last" refers to group identification and status competition. This strikes at the core of our evil evolved nature. Thirdly, Christ demonstrated, by an ultimate example, a rejection of status competition. Having established His supernatural power, He declined to assert it, even to avoid His own suffering. All of this is counter-intuitive to us while we languish in Darwin's trap. We feel that, if we don't fight violently for the "right", evil will win; if we don't resist evil, evil will triumph. This counter-intuitive, anti-Darwin hint, is God's way of helping us escape the evolutionary trap that we are in. "I am the way and the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me." John 14:6.

Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the activity and power that the mind of God asserts within the universe simulation. It represents the activity of God within the universe that transcends the laws of physics. It is the mechanism of divine intervention, and of all supernatural events beyond the laws of physics. It is easy to see, even as a human programmer might tinker with a computer simulation, how resurrection can be done by metaphysical copying of data, how these "archived human minds" could be inserted into a separate "world" or simulation. It is all just computational. We are only ones and zeros.

By attributing the characteristics of love, creativity, curiosity, and cognition, to the computational existence we call God, we have a model that has more explanatory power. It explains prophecy and miracle, it explains Christ in the context of evolution, it explains the mechanisms of resurrection and hope, and it is compatible with modern science. It also implies that any belief system that leverages evolutionary competition, asserts status supremacy, grows by violence and subjugation, and explicitly dominates by demographic superiority, is the opposite of Christianity.

Church

The church is a body of believers. It is not the popes, bishops, cardinals, and other status seeking people. They have no authority that does not arise from a foundation of humility. There is no gap between believer and God that needs to be filled by a church "authority", beyond human interactions as equals. A clear example of what the church is not, is an organization that can sell indulgences. This practice arises directly from the Darwinian evils of group identification, status competition, and a desire to control others. It is an example of the very thing that Christ came to help us escape.