Differences in individual memory.

What do I think? I think it really doesn't matter when we began, the fact is we are here now in our current situations. As to time it is a creation of man. God is not bound by time, nor (as some would argue) did he create it directly. Life exists, it is. I've studied philosophy and theology, and have come to the conclusion reality is in the mind.

What do I think?

First off, you're suggesting that God is the great deciever.

I'm not saying this can't be true. But how dishonest must a "God" become before it qualifies as being a demon?

This was a common theme that Christians used to try to claim that maybe God planted the evidence for evolution to test our FAITH!

They eventually backed off from that approach when it was pointed out that God would basically be LYING to us by planting such misleading evidence of the past.

In short, if some programmer planted untrue memories in your brain, then he/she/it has filled you full of LIES.

Is that how you wish to believe in your creator? The great deciever?

I think there are a lot of posssible scenarios if we allow that our creator has no moral values at all.

Also, if you're entire past is a false memory then you are not the least bit responsible for anything you have ever done!

Could it be true? Sure. Anything is possible, but what would be the point to it? Why create a being with a made up past?

Do you have a REASON why some creator would find this useful?

I think that would be a good place to start if you want to propose this as a possiblity. What would be the point to it?

Why would a creator want to do this.

In a court of law you'd at least be expected to establish MOTIVATION.

If you could give us a reason why some creator would want to do this maybe you could have a case to argue.

Otherwise, what's your BASIS for even coming up with such an idea?

Who would benefit from this scenario?

I'm in no way suggesting our creator would be the one to do this, not at all. In answer to your other questions I have one suggestion. What if earth was a penal colony, and your 'wardens' did this to us to erase our criminal personaliy and our pasts. Not to mention (given that this assumes a space fareing race) denies us the ability to leave earth. You asked for movtavation: how about simply disposing of there crimainals? this would also answer your qustion about who would benifit from this scenario. My thought would be that this could be a advanced cultures way of disposing of its hard core criminals in a humane way. No creator involvement at all.

"Dear sir, poor sir, brave sir: You are an experiment by the Creator of the Universe. You are the only creature in the entire Universe who has free will. You are the only one who has to figure out what to do next--and why. Everybody else is a robot, a machine.
"Some persons seem to like you, and others seem to hate you, and you must wonder why. They are simply liking machines and hating machines.
"You are pooped and demoralized. Why wouldn't you be? Of course it's exhausting, having to reason every time in a universe which wasn't meant to be reasonable.
"You are surrounded by loving machines, hating machines, greedy machines, unselfish machines, brave machines, cowardly machines, truthful machines, lying machines, funny machines, solemn machines. Their only purpose is to stir you up in every conceivable way, so the Creator of the Universe can watch your reactions. They can no more feel or reason than grandfather clocks.
"The Creator of the Universe would now like to apologize not only for the capricious, jostling companionship he provided during the test, but for the trashy, stinking condition of the planet itself. The Creator programmed robots to abuse it for millions of years, so it would be a poisonous, festering cheese when you got here. Also, He made sure it would be desperately crowded by programming robots, regardless of their living conditions, to crave sexual intercourse and adore infants more than almost anything.
"He also programmed robots to write books and magazines and newspapers for you, and television and radio shows, and stage shows, and films. They wrote songs for you. The Creator of the Universe had them invent hundreds of religions, so you would have plenty to choose among. He had them kill each other by the millions, for this purpose only: that you be amazed. They had commited every possible atrocity and every possible kindness unfeelingly, automatically, inevitably, to get a reaction from Y-O-U."
This last word was set in extra-large type and had a line all to itself, so it looked like this:
Y - O - U
"Every time you went into the library, the Creator of the Universe held His breath. With such a higgledy-piggledy cultural smorgasbord before you, what would you, with your free will, choose?
"Your parents were fighting machines and self-pitying machines. Your mother was programmed to bawl out your father for being a defective money-making machine, and your father was programmed to bawl her out for being a defective housekeeping machine. They were programmed to bawl each other out for being defective loving machines.
"Then your father was programmed to stomp out of the house and slam the door. This automatically turned your mother into a weeping machine. And your father would go down to a tavern where he would get drunk with some other drinking machines. Then all the drinking machines would go to a whorehouse and rent ****ing machines. And then your father would drag himself home to become an apologizing machine. And your mother would become a very slow forgiving machine."

You all have been around only long enough for me to be influenced (willingly or inadvertently) and will cease to exist after your influence is no longer needed. I am the only living being you are all robots or made up people. God told me so in a letter.


Whats the point here?

Why would the memory need to be erased to begin with?

If we are criminals which have been ostracized then what is the point in hiding that from us?

Occam's Razor applies.

As does the Flying Spaghetti Monster...

As does the flying pink elephants that personally give me the 'wisdom' that has bestowed upon me... in secret, I might add...

Substance requires something more.

The human mind can be programed just as easily as a PC, easier in fact because mankind has had 5 thousand yrs (at least) to learn how.

It also seems like a pretty elaborate hoax and kind of pointless. I mean these aliens or "programmers" would have had to plant all of these ancient remains of dinosaurs, prehistoric animals, fossils, human remains, evidence of human crossover. It just seems like a lie they were forced to continually keep building upon and to what end? These aliens are kind of bored or have a lot of free time to create very intricate fictionalized accounts of the origin of their programs. Why bother? Why did they invent a Charles Darwin program then? He was really poking around with things...

Didn't Descartes already cover that? lol

Prove to me that this world didn't start 5 mins ago and all we think we remember isn't just a memory plant?

The argument given is as equally valid is an argument for the existence of 'God'.



False... The analogy falls completely apart, rather quickly. To use it one must first identify a 'programmer'...

Call it what you want... 'God', spirit, whatever... then one must also apply intent, purpose, and reason to this 'programmer', which cannot be proven to begin with...

Prove to me that atheism isn't true!



See whatta mean?

The human mind can be programed just as easily as a PC, easier in fact because mankind has had 5 thousand yrs (at least) to learn how.