God's Love For Us

[Ziggamafu]

Since God is and always will be infinitely above us - even though He took on a human nature - could His love relationship with us be loosely compared to the scenario of a human falling in love with a videogame character? I'm not suggesting the validity of this, just bringing up a provocative idea.

In both situations, there is a fundamentally superior and, well, [i]different[/i] entity falling in love with a created "intelligence" that is essentially dependent on its creator (indeed, in both cases, the created "intelligence" is so inferior to the intellect of its creator that it seems undeserving of the attribute). If anything, it would seem that an artificial intelligence relates to the nature of a human almost infinitely more closely than a human relates to the nature of Almighty God (even granting theosis). One could even simulate the next step in the scenario by suggesting that the human takes on an avatar in the videogame by which to interact with the a.i. videogame character (i.e. a sort of "incarnation")...

Edited June 19, 2010 by Ziggamafu

[MIKolbe]

no

[aalpha1989]

[quote name='MIkolbe' date='19 June 2010 - 12:46 PM' timestamp='1276965981' post='2131463']
no
[/quote]

you're rackin' up the awesome posts the last couple days.

[Ziggamafu]

[quote name='MIkolbe' date='19 June 2010 - 12:46 PM' timestamp='1276965981' post='2131463']
no
[/quote]



You're missing a great opportunity for theological discussion! That's no fun!

[MIKolbe]

I am theologically stupid, so i go for succinctness.

[Hassan]

[quote name='Ziggamafu' date='19 June 2010 - 12:49 PM' timestamp='1276966176' post='2131465']


You're missing a great opportunity for theological discussion! That's no fun!
[/quote]


Video game characters don't have intelligence and very few people ever fall in love with video characters. Unless you are suggesting that God is a lot like a 400lb shut in who still lives in his mom's basement and is incapable of making friends with real people, then I would say no.

[rhetoricfemme]

We create robots knowing that if we cut their circuits, or get bored and just leave them to collect dust, or [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kronick/215124884/"]destroy each other in robot fights[/url] that they aren't going to cry about it. They won't ever feel pain or decide to love or hate us. And even if we get to the point where we can make a robot that cries, or can make facial expressions and looks human... [b]We can never give it a soul as God has given us.
[/b]
That's right. I'm not happy to say it. But.







Johnny 5 doesn't have a soul, either.
[img]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p261/kndennison/johnny5isalive.jpg[/img]

I would hope that even a person who doesn't believe in God would be able to discern the major difference between love for a digital or robotic robotic creation (no matter what it's capable of), and love for a living, breathing human being.

Edited June 19, 2010 by rhetoricfemme

[Paddington]

I usually just make things worse when I "incarnate" into a video game.

[aalpha1989]

[quote name='rhetoricfemme' date='19 June 2010 - 01:02 PM' timestamp='1276966923' post='2131472']
Johnny 5 doesn't have a soul, either.
[img]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p261/kndennison/johnny5isalive.jpg[/img]
[/quote]

You didn't.

[kafka]

Also sprach Zarathustra was Nietzche's video game.

[Paddington]

[quote name='rhetoricfemme' date='19 June 2010 - 02:02 PM' timestamp='1276966923' post='2131472']Johnny 5 doesn't have a soul, either. [/quote]


Neither does the guy who made that movie.

[Ziggamafu]

Here's what I think: God is a spirit (albeit infinite spirit), and we are spirits (albeit finite spirits). So the analogy is flawed. A better one would be a human falling in love with a genetically engineered clone.

[MIKolbe]

[quote name='Hassan' date='19 June 2010 - 12:58 PM' timestamp='1276966694' post='2131469']
Video game characters don't have intelligence and very few people ever fall in love with video characters. Unless you are suggesting that God is a lot like a 400lb shut in who still lives in his mom's basement and is incapable of making friends with real people, then I would say no.
[/quote]
dude, stop talking about posters on PM.

srsly.

[Ziggamafu]

[quote name='rhetoricfemme' date='19 June 2010 - 01:02 PM' timestamp='1276966923' post='2131472']
...They won't ever feel pain or decide to love or hate us. And even if we get to the point where we can make a robot that cries, or can make facial expressions and looks human...[/quote]

I think the analogy presupposes a hypothetical future where robots can make their own decisions and progressively form their own personalities.

[quote]I would hope that even a person who doesn't believe in God would be able to discern the major difference between love for a digital or robotic robotic creation (no matter what it's capable of), and love for a living, breathing human being.
[/quote]

The distance between a human and an a.i. (e.g., videogame character) is finite, but the distance between God and a human is infinite.

[rhetoricfemme]

[quote name='aalpha1989' date='19 June 2010 - 01:03 PM' timestamp='1276966998' post='2131475']
You didn't.
[/quote]
I did. But I'm not proud of it... I'm sure God would make a special place for Johnny 5--he can be Saint Michael's little helper and sweep up after he whales on some diabolical forces.

Edited June 19, 2010 by rhetoricfemme