Creating the Universe: Test 1

The process of creating the Universe

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I haven’t been updating my blog with artistic experiments as much as i should, mainly focusing on the thoughts that drive the expression of the experimentation. I plan to change that from this day forward.

As of this moment, i am working with ideas that will, once completed, form a sequence. A theoretical sequence that is not meant to represent reality, rather i aim make one think. For now, i am making experiments, ‘draft’ imagery if you like. Once specific images have been chosen at the ‘conclusion’ of this side of the project i will rework them to a higher quality and finish. The work will then be exhibited under specific conditions.

The sequence will play out as a story, the story of existence. A purely theoretical sequence that focuses on the emotional side to the exploration of science and faith. The story will express the foundations which birthed, stabilized and which eventually, inevitably will bring an end to our existence.

An example of one of my tests is below, the theme of this specific image is the ‘catalyst’ that birthed the universe. The mysterious light in the image represents an unknown, it represents ‘something’. You could say that ‘something’ is ‘god’.

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Birth

(please be aware that for space and copyright reasons, the work is sampled at low quality on my blog)

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Seeing really isn’t believing …

Why science will surpass religion

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From such a title one would presume that now i will begin an atheistic chant against the evil that is religion, much as one Richard Dawkins might do. But my statement is not born out of atheism, i appose the atheist with the greatest of respect.

Many believe in science as the word of truth, they do so without taking into consideration that in reality science is theory. Science is constantly evolving and rethinking, firing out theories which become truth to many, that is till that truth is proven wrong by another truth. The point being there is no real truth, truth is only truth until it is proven wrong.

We as a race are quick to jump at conclusions, after all it is human nature to judge one way or another. We are unsatisfied with not knowing the answers, not having a preference or standing. As a result both science and religion fall prey to this human quality, both domains are flooded in narrative which serves the purpose of defining our existence.

Darwin’s origin of species is a prime example of such a narrative. I find it important to note that i believe in evolution, my point here is that i recognize what a  neat and ordered story we have fabricated the theory into. We act as if we have the entire fossil and DNA record of life on earth, at every stage of existence and then lay it out in a pretty sequence with nice illustrations. Evolution is not a complete and 100% accurate theory, as many think. But for the sake of needing that definition of our existence in scientific terms it is widely accepted as fact, rather than an overwhelmingly plausible theory. One of the major holes in the theory is our lack of understanding of DNA, how metaphorically speaking, a phone turns into a fax machine (as opposed to a phone turning into another phone, think the breeding of pedigree animals such as cats).

Religion has its very own narrative. Ill use my major religious influence being Christianity as an example. Take what we know as fact from the core of Christianity’s beliefs. That being that Jesus did exist, that he was a real historical figure. I think we can take on board that he was a great man, a good man, obviously a very charismatic and influential one.  He also must have performed explainable acts. I use the word  unexplainable loosely. We have only to see works of illusionist Derren Brown to realize that seeing really isn’t believing. Once you start to break down the Bible, if you think rationally all that you are left with is a moral code. Whatever truth there may have been embedded in the text about god is now clouded by the fog of speculation, interpretation and time. Maybe some can see through it, but thus far i have not been able to. The Bible has fallen prey to the error of translation and interpretation, there are different interpretations merely in English text for all to see, never mind its roots in Hebrew. My point is this, Christianity has weaved together speculation and interpretation and filled in the missing gaps. But it certainly isn’t alone in doing so, as i have stated science is a victim of this also.

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Why science will surpass religion.

Science is in itself heading towards religion. Not in a way that aligns itself with religions of the world as such, rather science may become a unification of present science and the truth in religion. Of course, it would no longer be science as such so maybe what i should say is that science is showing signs that one day it might birth a new religion. With numerous theories desperately trying to understand reality. Speculation on possible parallel universes, multiverses, simulation theory to a 5th dimension, it is not hard to see how one could start to form narratives that exist within such developments. After all, god is very much a possibility in such existences. Narratives such as these could coincide with science.

It is the way things work, evolution is formed on the back of unification, theories die and merge together into a new hybrid offering a more complete view. It is possible that this is the fate of religion and science. Who knows, only time will tell.

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Is god impossible …?

Hmm?

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Talking with a Physics student, his views on god.

‘God is impossible‘

Why do people believe in god then?

‘Upbringing‘

‘A sense of community‘

‘Blind faith, wanting to believe in something‘

Then, i asked him what if there is a god.

‘If there is a god, i don’t want anything to do with him‘

Isn’t that last bit rather interesting?

When i asked for him to expand on this comment, he said:

‘It would take away the purpose of life‘

Now, things are really getting interesting!

Why is it, that god would take away the purpose of life? Well, from talking with him and knowing him for around a year i could guess what the reason was. If there is a god, at least in the translation of those of faith, being a personal being, then it would take away the ‘achievement’ of man somewhat wouldn’t it? I mean, how can we ever match god? We create an iphone, god creates the universe…… hmm.  I can understand that, its partly why i cannot understand worship. Even if you believe in god, why do you have to kneel and pray, worship? Why? Personally it makes me feel like a beggar, if i was to kneel before god, it would make me feel inferior, under powered, like i am raising the white flag. My physics friend i believe thinks somewhat on the same lines.

Now, i asked him later on if this was the reason maybe why he was so against the idea of god, so heavily atheist that he is arrogant enough to lay claim that god is impossible. He looked to the side, thinking ….. he then said, maybe. But to back himself up he went on to say that god isnt needed to create the universe. He doesn’t not believe in the theories of reality, believing that it is bad science. So what he is left with is what we are, as we know it. And within these rules, god isnt necessarily needed no, i agree. Physics is needed though. Hence his conclusion that:

‘God could be the laws of physics‘

Its only really when you consider the possibility that there could be more to life, the universe, existence, more to reality that we realize the idea of a god more along the lines of faith. Within the models we have today in science, in an attempt to understand the universe and our existence in it, a personal god doesn’t exist. At least, there is nothing really to go on within our knowledge. Although we must remember that they are just that, models, and models dont always match reality hence why theories constantly develop as more and more information is included in the model. That said, there really isnt much to go on, well, there’s nothing to go on. Thats not to say that god is impossible within our universe as we see it, but, improbable shall we say.

Now, add more into the mix. If we say take on the idea that we really dont know what reality actually is, say for example, as ive mentioned in earlier posts, we are a reflection of something else, a simulation maybe, in only one dimension of many and so on and many scientists today are wrestling with. Say reality is not the reality we think it is, then, the idea of a personal god becomes very possible. Just, it could change the form in which that personal god exists. Take for instance the simulation theory, god would be the creator of our simulation, but whats the stop the creator being in a simulation itself?

This is an interesting point, the physics student said to me:

‘If god is real, if god is our creator, then i ask, what created god?’

Could things really get more interesting?

This brought on the thought of space and time. He states that time doesn’t exist as its just a vacuum to describe a sequence of events. We are bound by time, and therefore cant understand existence outside of it. We cant understand infinite.

Is space infinite?

If it is not, what is at the end of it?

How is it possible for space, if it is infinite, to be infinite?

“If you could travel at infinite speed, you will never reach the limit of the universe, because the only thing you would achieve is to expand it“

I quote this from a forum a while back, it stuck. (don’t ask me what forum, i cant remember). This quote describes this thought perfectly, it paints a rather puzzling picture no?

What is in dark space? Nothing?

Makes me remember that film called ‘The Thirteen Floor’ . The idea of each world being a simulation and  as such it had an end, where a man would find the ‘end of the world’.

Basically, to sum up, i do not believe god is impossible. I do however believe in physics, i believe in mathematics. A god that defies these rules that the universe seems to work on seems improbable. It seems improbable because we have witnessed no such miracle where the laws of mathematics have been bent without explanation other than that of a designer putting his hand in. I think, if there is such a thing as god, then it exists outside of time and therefore i do not believe that it acts in the moment so it would not need to bend the rules with which it has put down. For those rules are put into place with a specific outcome in mind. Those rules would allow god to be timeless. Reason being is because one could then see into the future if everything was following such a plan. A god that changes to our actions within our time limits therefore seems rather improbable, it seems too ‘messy’ for a designer that could put the universe into motion.

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A question of faith … and god

What is it?

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I have not posted for some time now, going on a month. In the process of moving property i have come face to face with numerous opportunities to further my knowledge on faith. With the influence of a family i have come to know, my curiosity of what faith is has been heightened.

What is faith?

I am not religious yet i find myself sitting uneasily between the powerhouses of science and Christianity. For the first time in my life i have decided to open my mind, go to church, meet those of faith directly and present my thoughts to them. The response…….. has been interesting. Like all of us, i am prone to judgement and i must say, i have been wrong about those of faith.

Tonight, i found myself among a group of Christians expressing their faith to each other. There was the usual i was going through bad times, i spoke to god and he helped me out of it. There was the arrogant one, the one who thinks they are high and mighty, when they are not. There was also the victim of life, they expressed how god turned that around and how much they thank him for that. But the one who i truly locked horns with and thus, sparked my interest, was what  i did not expect. He was intelligent, he made me stumble on my words, at times he knocked me down and offered his hand as a way back up. He had a counter for almost everything i said, whats more his responses were often plausible.

That is, till i regrouped and continued to challenge him to answer my questions.

What it came down to at the very end was the answer i  had prepared for, he said i dont know. This is an intelligent man, one who has thought through his faith, his ideas paralleled science in alarming ways, at times fusing the two together. But, he had not thought through everything it seems, the words he finished on, the words with which he made his last are evidence of this. One thing is for certain, i have not made him question his faith, nor do i want that to happen. I find this strength of mind fascinating.

He is a man of faith.

I do not understand this blind belief in a being with such certainty that you can talk about your relationship with god like i would talk about mine with my girlfriend, whom i might add i love more than anything in this world. He said to me until you experience it (the holy spirit), i cannot show you the way. These words are like sticking a brick wall between us, how do i get past it? The simple answer is i cannot. I cannot unless i can understand faith. Can i understand faith? I do not believe i ever can, not in the way that a christian does. It seems apparent to me that to have faith, you have to be willing to bypass knowledge that defies that faith. This is something i cannot do, a theory is just a theory, a coincidence is just a coincidence unless it is proven otherwise. I find it ironic that they use coincidence as proof of their faith, yet refuse to give overwhelming evidence that clashes with their faith a look in. It seems to be a game of making up the rules as we go so to speak at times. Tweaking things here and there to allow one to relate in a more comfortable manner.

How can i invest my life and soul into something that is so riddled with holes? Religion is riddled with holes, it turns a blind eye to facts that clash with it scriptures. Science is also equally riddled with holes, filled with arrogance and leaps to so called facts which in actuality turn out to be just theories. But i can see a day when we are more than we are today, where religion and science meet. This is something i will talk about in the near future.

I have yet to witness a miracle where the rules of the universe are bent to make way for god. Yet, the universe in itself is a miracle is it not? If there is a creator, it does not mean that it has the ability to bend the rules of which our reality is built upon. It would be like the domino effect, everything is in balance one way or another, change one thing and it affects everything else. Mathematics defines the universe, the rules with which can be calculated allowing us to look into the past and into the future. But, as a man of faith would say, understanding how the universe works does not answer why there is a universe in the first place. That is an intriguing thought.

We humans think we are greater than we are. We place too much stock in our limited intelligence, we turn our emotional reactions into so called logic, some of us become twisted and state there is no such thing as god. This question, in my opinion, is something that nobody on earth can answer. When we try to understand what god is, we place restrictions on what it can be whether we like it or not. This is because we are human, we are caged by the rules with which we live in and therefore we cant understand existence outside of them.

Until we are free of these rules, until we are all knowing and all powerful attempting to comprehend god is like trying to study micro-organisms with a magnifying glass.

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Test 3 …

Man meets the creator, creator meets its creator …?

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Visualizing the theory of being in a simulation from the perspective of man meeting the creator.

The man, almost insignificant next to the higher being. Man stares into its future, it wants to be god. Man’s creator stands tall next to him, its eyes illuminating bright light, it sees what man can only imagine, it believes it is god. Yet, the higher being also finds itself standing in the face of its creator.

Man and the higher being with which it seeks to become, both find themselves in the face of a true unknowable other, in the face of the true god.

Two examples of my tests with this idea are displayed above. Feel free to comment on the work itself, or the themes with which i am working alongside.

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The Future of Simulation …?

A thought

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In time, advancements in simulation technology we will undoubtedly begin to blur the boundaries between what we define as real and what is simulation.

Look at it this way, think of a video game you enjoy playing. It is in essence a form of escapism, when in that game world you are no longer you, instead you become that character. Pick up say a boxing sim but you yourself in actuality are only 5ft1 and weigh just over a 100 pounds. In the world of the game it is irrelevant, it lets you be whatever you want to be, you can become ‘the greatest’ in that world. That may be a near physical impossibility in their actual reality.

Lets take the point of view of someone who hasn’t achieved what they wanted to in life. Lets say, they wanted to be a world famous musician. For whatever reason be it lack of opportunity,  ability or too many commitments,  they are not gaining ground on that dream. Someone approaches them and talks about this simulation, it allows you to live in a simulated world, you can be what you want to be, do what you want to do. Lets say that this simulation attaches to all your senses like touch, sight and smell. How would you separate the experiences you have in the simulation from real life. How would they feel when they go back to their reality? Think of it like superman giving you his powers for the day, only to be brought back to earth and become human again the next.

How would you feel?

What would you give to live in that world? Could you? Would you?

How could such a thing be used? Could we go as far one day as to simulate entire worlds? With science getting ever nearer to inevitably creating true A.I, could we distinguish those that are human from those that are not? Simulation from reality?

How would we know that we ourselves aren’t in a simulation?

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Part 3 – The shadow figure

Representing oneself, others and the world

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The human figure is very important in my work. It represents myself, others and the world as the title suggests.

For the last couple of years the figure has had no identity in my work. Instead, the figure is reduced to shadow. The reason for this is that it symbolizes more than one person, one expression, one thought etc.

People ask me, is the figure you? Yes, it is. But its not just me. Its more than me. Its my emotions, its my thoughts, its my life, its my experiences and its how the world sees me and how i look at it. More than that, it is an idea, a theory, it is too much to express in one person or many. It is like staring out a window and staring back in both at the same time.

The figure is an ‘unknowable other’ not because it is unknowable, but because it chooses to be.

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