DisownedSky's Journal: This has made a lot of people very angry

You're probably familiar with the idea of a "Trivial Solution." For differential equations, f(.) = 0 is often a valid solution to the system, but not an interesting one, so it's called "trivial."

By analogy, I am calling the solution to Fermi's paradox that posits that they're not here because they don't exist the "Trivial Solution," which is perhaps expressive of my dislike for it. I want the universe to be teeming with interesting civilizations some of which may stumble across Earth and its people. Others might call it the "Rare Earth" solution - complex life in the universe is so rare that any advanced civilizations that might exist haven't found us yet.

Without getting on the circular reasoning treadmill; it seems clear enough that the physics of our universe is well suited for complexity to emerge. Other "possible" universes which would differ from ours only a little would never have complex molecules and thus no opportunity for life to originate. However, out universe does accommodate interesting molecules, so we are here to observe this fact. I see four solutions to this:

1. All possible universes are interesting.
2. Dull universes are possible, but ours if the only one and we just got lucky.
3. There is a very large if not infinite number of universes, nearly all of them dull, of which ours is one.
4. Some agency crafted our physics to give rise to complexity and then flipped the switch.

I actually favor (3), but let us consider (4). Let us call this agency "The Mice." These are not theological entities in the way we are used to, but simply hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings. So, let's call this hypothesis HID for Hyper-Intelligent Design.

So, under HID, DNA almost had it right, but didn't think big enough. Not just the Earth, but the entire universe is a research project - a giant computer if you will, running an algorithm that The Mice do not know the answer to in advance. We humans are output devices in this scheme.

The speculations can continue. If - given the Trivial Solution - we are the only technological civilization in the universe, then this algorithm is all about us. We are (or are giving rise to) the most complex entities in the universe. I would posit that it is all about our geniuses that we occasionally give rise to - that their works are the outputs of this algorithm. And let's be honest, - without our geniuses ours would be a very dull and brute existence.

If you've always felt that there is something transcendent about the plays of Shakespeare, the music of Mozart, or the buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright; that there is more in these works than just superior cleverness and craft, then I think you are onto something. We might call it "silence." We're not just entertaining The Mice, but teaching them something they yearn to discover.

Now note, that under HID, the God of the Bible is a mere poser. The Mice are closer to Vishnu in human mythology.

"The Simulation Argument"

[benhocking]

If you like HID, you'll probably find this [simulation-argument.com] interesting.