posted
My roommate just posed this question to me. We had fun talking about it for a while, I'm curious what the answers would be here:
Assume that you have suddenly, inexplicably, found yourself with infinite godlike powers (but not godlike sentience). Essentially you have Bruce Almighty's powers (hence the thread title). With one difference: you know for a fact (somehow) that there is no other God out there who ultimately has power over you.
What do you do?
Me, my first several actions:
1) Make a small planet in some remote corner of the universe, give it some atmosphere, and fly around a lot. A) Because it's fun, and I've always wanted to fly and build a planet. B) Because I'd want to practice using my God powers to verify I had control over them)
2) After verifying said control, I'd weave a big smiley face in the sky that was visible to everyone at the same time. Then I would make it say, audibly to everyone in the appropriate lanuages "Hey there. So... uh, I'm the new God. This is my first official podcast. Just lettin y'all know that I'm giving you guys about a year to get yourselves together before I start making some changes aroung here. So... uh, yeah. See you in a year."
Step three would depend a lot on what happened in the upcoming year, during which I'd be studying the world as a whole and trying to figure out whether it actually made sense to do anything.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
1) fix my brain so I'm clear headed, smart, and happy all of the time. 2) Think for a while 3) In the meantime, maybe collide a couple of planets together to see what that looks like. (Maybe I'd do that somewhere far away from Earth to avoid the work of stopping the debris from wiping out everybody.)
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Number 1 is a good choice. I'd have to wonder though... how do I KNOW that my brain really is fixed the correct way? (I guess the phrase "God Powers" is kinda unclear on whether you can just say "I want to be sane!" and have it work).
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posted
Can Step One be "give myself godlike sentience?" If not, Step One would have to be "create rock; see if I can lift it."
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
For hunger/overpopulation issues, I'd probably go with this (although I'd wait a while to think about the consequences first), is to implement a system wherein whenever a person gets a given amount of exercise done over the course of a day, that person is presented with enough food (albeit not too tasty) to survive until the next day.
This prevents people from turning into fat lazy slobs and doesn't put all the chefs out of work.
I wouldn't want to make people feel like there was no point in trying to accomplish things on their own. I think that would ruin the human experience a la Worthing Saga. (Also bear in mind that despite your Godlike powers you don't have the omnisentience required to actually fix everyone problem instantly as it comes up)
To deal with the overpopulation issue I might also institute the "only people who intended to get pregnant can" policy that's been hypothetically discussed in other threads. Magically changing everyone's biology to accomodate seems like the least invasive way to go about that. I can see some people being miffed at that as it could encourage liscencious (sp?) behavior, but I'm not even sure that really counts as a problem.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Can Step One be "give myself godlike sentience?"
Hmm. I think the official answer is no, although I suppose you could create a super computer system that can observe everyone with creepy big brother reliability and calculate stuff instantly for you, which is close enough. (You'd still have to manually make the decision to use any given instance of your power)
Although, I suppose I'd be hard pressed to explain why you can't rig that computer system up to a nanocomputer that you integrate with your brain, allowing you to trigger your god powers the same way you keep your heart beater.
So... oh what the hell, have godlike sentience if you want it.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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What just occurred to me as first order of business: Create several duplicate earths, so I can A) observe if each version of each person does the same thing, B) so I have a backup copy in case I screw one of them up. (I think I'd start with one duplicate earth that's frozen in time and one other that's in motion.)
Eventually I would try adding dragons, aliens and uncontrollable urges to sing and dance at random intervals (as well as the skill to do so well) in some of the worlds, and observe how people react.
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posted
I'd create a paradise planet. Green and Blue and far away. Full of natural resources and easily accessible food.
Then I'd go through the population of earth one by one. The good people I would take to the paradise planet where they would live as long as they wished and remain in their mid 20s the whole time. They would be cured of any disease or deformity. If they wanted kids, they could have them, but only if they and their partner (of whichever sex) agreed. (Hey, I'm god. I can redesign things as I see fit.) I'd tell them that I am God and this planet was theirs to build as they see fit. I'd warn them that they needed to build shelter and till fields because the food would eventually run out and they needed to be ready. I'd actually respond to their prayers, audibly, when they asked for it. But for the most part, I wouldn't interfere past that.
For the vast majority left behind, I would tell them, audibly, in a booming voice, that they have displeased God. I would tell them that they did not love their neighbors, they did not mind their own business, they are forsaken, reprobated and left to live in this hell of their own creation until they die and face neither salvation nor damnation, only oblivion.
Only then would I get busy on making my own people.
Posts: 7085 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
I think it would be great fun designing an appropriate afterlife for people based upon (my experiences with) the Lucasarts game of the same name.
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
It was a game developed by Lucasarts back in the 90s, during a time when it was a pretty creative and quirky company.
Basically, it was a Simcity game with a twist, instead of managing a city you would manage the afterlife, heaven and hell.
The basic game mechanics were that people would generally get the afterlife that they believed in, if they believed in hell only, you would need to build hell up, if they believed in reincarnation you would have to build facilities for that.
There were some interesting quirks, you could send down prophets to influence beliefs on Earth if you wanted an afterlife tilted in different ways, in Hell you would want the reverse of a good city with crappy traffic, and so forth.
The best part of the games were the descriptions for each of the punishments which were loaded up with puns and funny pictures.
The game wouldn't be too fun to play today, it was based on a clone of what looked like a Simcity2000 engine or something. But the concept was intriguing.
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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quote:Basically, it was a Simcity game with a twist, instead of managing a city you would manage the afterlife, heaven and hell.
Wow, I mean I knew that George Lucas liked to have total control over things, but heaven and hell too?
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
Maybe it was a phase, they also released Grim Fandango around that time, an adventure game based upon a Mexican-themed afterlife.
While playing it, it looked and sounded really nice, but reading about it on Wikipedia now it seems like it was a bit of a commercial dud.
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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1) Create a dark lord and demi-gods for a great game of Ragnarok.
2) Make healthy things taste better, unhealthy things taste worse, uncomfortable surfaces comfortable, and mosquitos non-existant.
3) Raise an island from the ocean, make it inaccessable to humans, give local fauna intelligence and voice, and party harty. Life for the rest of the world would progress about as it has.
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If you didn't have God-like sentience along with the power, how much could you actually do? Could you really create a planet?
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
It seems to me you should be able to think "giant sphere of dirt" and then stare at some fractal pattern to gouge out a randomized surface. It might not be a very nice planet but I'm sure you could do it.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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What just occurred to me as first order of business: Create several duplicate earths, so I can A) observe if each version of each person does the same thing, B) so I have a backup copy in case I screw one of them up. (I think I'd start with one duplicate earth that's frozen in time and one other that's in motion.)
Eventually I would try adding dragons, aliens and uncontrollable urges to sing and dance at random intervals (as well as the skill to do so well) in some of the worlds, and observe how people react.
I've actually fantasized about being a deity, and this would be my first order of business.
Afterwards I would go to one of my earths and impregnate early humans, the children would be demi-gods with mortal lifespans. Then just port myself to the future and find out who is of the purest lineage. (the most direct descendant of me)
Posts: 1574 | Registered: May 2008
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