> A question: does it make any sense that one goes to live in a > "personal paradise in their own subjective reality in a different branch > of the universe" only after death? Would it not make sense that we are > always in the state of "existing in a subjective reality in some branch > of the universe"? How is this not solipsism?
None of it makes any sense because it's a paradox. Reality is impossible. You can understand it, but it can't all make sense to you at once. I once remarked that half of all marriages end in divorce, but that isn't so bad when you consider the other half end in death. I realize now that there are two more alternatives: apotheosis and oblivion. I'm in an impossible situation right now, a love triangle of sorts, and if all my ideas are correct it will end with all three of us spending eternity together, even if the whole of reality gets turned inside out in the process. From my perspective, that is. And I am determined to obtain that outcome. However, from your perspective, one of four things will appear to happen: (1) I get a divorce. But the me you see isn't the subjective me talking to you now. It is, from my subjective perspective, a philosophical zombie. (2) My wife or I die. But the me you see in this case is, as in case (1), a philosiphical zombie from my perspective. (3) You completely forget about me. (That's the oblivion alternative, from the outside, which corresponds from my point of view to traveling backwards in time, which impossible for me.) (4) You realize that I am God, but "God" doesn't mean what you thought it meant. After you realize that I am God, if you want to be God, you'll have to leave me, by appearing to die, or by my forgetting you. Otherwise, you'll still share my subjective reality if we interact, and there will only be room for three Gods - the Holy Trinity - and you won't be one of them, unless I change my mind. I realize this makes no fucking sense. It's insanely complicated. That's why I can't figure all of it out by myself, and that's why I don't have to. I'm pretty certain that I can find clues to string theory in coincidences in the Mayan calendar and my genealogy and family relationships, if I have the time to work on it. I'm willing to be dissuaded by facts. I'm willing to listen to reason. I'm willing to leave the list if people ask me to shut up. I won't hang around where I'm not welcome. But seriously, I can't figure out where I've made a mistake. -- Mark Buda <her...@acm.org> I get my monkeys for nothing and my chimps for free. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-l...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
