The Accidental Editor
(This is a living and evolving paper)
Are we here by accident or by design? If it’s by design, then someone or something had to design it. Some would say that would be God, but does that make God all powerful? Or just has power over some things?
By accident or by God. I am not sure which is the more amazing “explanation”. If by God, then we need figure out what God did to bring this about. Some say we are made in the image of God. If that’s true then we can be certain God is just as imperfect, powerful/powerless and screwed up as mankind is (mankind being made up of man and woman and everything related to those two types, giving us a large number of “types”).
If we are here by “accident”—by “chance”—then the possibilities are endless. There is no doubt that the universe is infinite, which means anything can happen. Being infinite, then it’s possible that objects in the universe came together after an infinite number of “events”—or over a long period of time—to eventually create a planet, like earth, that eventually evolved into “life” and then, eventually, evolved into a being capable of being conscious of its own existence, and then conscious that existence exists—and then conscious that it is a conscious being (ie, conscious that it’s a conscious being). In other words: “I am a conscious being and aware that I am conscious and that existence exists”.
And if we are here by chance, does it mean there are others in the infinite universe who are conscious (or should I say, capable of being conscious)? Or does the mere fact that we on this planet are conscious, and arrived to this level by chance alone, then that is truly remarkable that the universe, by chance—”by accident” created a self-arising conscious being. So, in an infinite universe, it’s possible that we are the only conscious beings in the universe, because the chances of just one conscious entity coming about by chance in an infinite universe is so absolutely remarkable that just having one come about is exceptional.
Then there is chaos theory
Chaos theory is a misnomer, because chaos theory really says that there is no chaos, that everything happens through a series of events that cause other events, and so on and so on. In other words chaos theory says there is no chaos. If the chaos theory was correct, that would make everything pre-determined and leave us with no free will. Personally, I do not believe that all happens through chaos theory, but that it does have a major effect, so some things/events are pre-determined. What is something that can screw up the pre-determined world of chaos theory? Free will—which can be a “creative” act can disrupt the existence of chaos theory (not chaos, but chaos theory). And who, or what, has free will? When does free will come into play to change the events from being pre-determined to not being pre-determined. Since free will, in my mind, is the ability to make things happen outside of the rule of pre-determinism, ie, outside the rule of chaos theory, then free will can arise at almost anytime, even by accident. After all, is that not what we are talking about? Is it all by accident or by chaos theory? I would say that it is most likely the more we are outside of chaos theory, the greater the existence of free will.
But people believe they have free will. But just believing it is not enough proof of having it. And there lies the rub in it all; how do you know if you really have free will and if so, how do you get it?
And so lies the essence of life on the Accidental Planet.
“We are as gods . . . we might as well get good at it.” ― Stewart Brand