No one can ever know the precise intentions of another. As I finished reading God's Debris, I realized that the central thesis of the book could well be a modern metaphor of philosophical Taoism. I don't know, however, if author Scott Adams is a Taoist or if he even knows much about Taoism. In the end, it doesn't matter.
Adam's postulates that everything in the universe represents the debris of an omnipotent being that has destroyed itself. Put another way, everything is part of what was once God.
The supreme being chose to destroy itself because it lacked the motivation or curiosity in doing anything else. Because this entity is omnipotent, every thought or whim instantaneously became part of reality. It knows and sees all things past, present and future. The only way it could escape this all encompassing knowledge (what in human terms could be described as absolute boredom) is by destroying itself.
Our reality -- life -- contains the debris of this destruction and the purpose of life is to reconstruct the entity again. Consequently, rather than living our lives to return to God, we our living our lives in the hope of resurrecting God.
While I might not describe the essence of life in these precise terms, I do see much congruency between Adams' thought experiment and some of the theses of Taoism.
For the Taoist, everything is connected and everything shares an essence of the ultimate reality. The purpose of life is to try to find the best way to relate to all these entities we're already connected to. We try to reestablish this connection through the achievement of balance and harmony.
The above description could just as easily be defined as God's debris.
Adam's postulates that everything in the universe represents the debris of an omnipotent being that has destroyed itself. Put another way, everything is part of what was once God.
The supreme being chose to destroy itself because it lacked the motivation or curiosity in doing anything else. Because this entity is omnipotent, every thought or whim instantaneously became part of reality. It knows and sees all things past, present and future. The only way it could escape this all encompassing knowledge (what in human terms could be described as absolute boredom) is by destroying itself.
Our reality -- life -- contains the debris of this destruction and the purpose of life is to reconstruct the entity again. Consequently, rather than living our lives to return to God, we our living our lives in the hope of resurrecting God.
While I might not describe the essence of life in these precise terms, I do see much congruency between Adams' thought experiment and some of the theses of Taoism.
For the Taoist, everything is connected and everything shares an essence of the ultimate reality. The purpose of life is to try to find the best way to relate to all these entities we're already connected to. We try to reestablish this connection through the achievement of balance and harmony.
The above description could just as easily be defined as God's debris.
Reminds me of John Varley's Steel Beach. Sci-fi, but very thought-provoking sci-fi.
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