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Scientia et Fides

The Universe as a Computer Game, from Virtual to Actual Reality
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The Universe as a Computer Game, from Virtual to Actual Reality

Authors

  • Alfred Driessen prof. emer. University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7901-4020

Keywords

Philosophy of Science, Hylomorphism, Aristotle, Aquinas, Creation, Rationality

Abstract

From the very beginning of ancient Greek philosophy up to the present day a puzzling correlation is found between rationality and reality. In this study this relation is examined with emphasis on the philosophical tradition of Aristotle and Aquinas. A comparison is made with the virtual reality created by computers and actual reality of our universe. The view expressed in the scientific neopositivism of Jordan and Mach is found to be an adequate approach to avoid contradictions in the interpretation of modern physics. A challenging hypothesis is made by updating the Laplacian Demon by a powerful creative intellect in line with Judeo-Christian tradition. With this hypothesis a new light is shed on several fundamental issues in modern science.

References

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Artigas, Mariano. 2002. “The Mind of the Universe: Understanding Science and Religion.” In Faith, Scholarship, and Culture in the 21st Century, edited by Alice Ramos and Marie I. George, 113–125. Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press.

Beiglböck, Wolf, D. 2007. “Ernst Pascual Jordan als Autor wissenschaftlicher und allgemeinbildender Schriften.“ In Pascual Jordan (1902–1980) Mainzer Symposium zum 100. Geburtstag. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Preprint 329.

Benedictus XVI. 2006. Address at the University of Regensburg, 12.09.2006.

Berryman, Sylvia. 2016. “Democritus.” In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democritus/

Dawkins, Richard. 1986. The blind watchmaker. New York: Norton & Company, Inc.

De Broglie, Louis. 1947. Revue de metaphysique et de morale, 3:278.

Driessen, Alfred. 1995. “The question of the existence of God in the book of Stephen Hawking, A brief history of time.” Acta Philosophica 4:83–93.

Driessen, Alfred and Suarez, Antoine. 1997. “Introduction” and “Final Remarks”. In Mathematical Undecidability, Quantum Nonlocality and the Question of the Existence of God, edited by Alfred Driessen and Antoine Suarez, Springer (Kluwer).

Driessen, Alfred. 2015. “Life and Quantum Biology, an Interdisciplinary Approach.” Acta Philosophica 24:69–86.

Driessen, Alfred. 2016. “The Role of Philosophy as a Guide in Complex Scientific and Technological Processes.” http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/12446/

Elders, Leo J. 1982. De Metafysica van St. Thomas van Aquino in historisch perspectief. Tabor Brugge, p. 158. For the English translation: The Metaphysics of Being of St. Thomas Aquinas: In a Historical Perspective. Brill, Leiden, New York, Köln, 1993.

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Fokker, Adriaan D. 1955. “Albert Einstein, 14 maart 1978-18 april 1955.” Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Natuurkunde, 21:125–129.

Gardner, Martin. 1970. “Mathematical Games, The fantastic combinations of John Conway's new solitaire game ‘life’.” Scientific American 223 4:120–123.

Hawking, Stephen. 1988. A brief history of time, from the big bang to black holes. New York: Bantam Books.

Hawking, Stephen. 1999. Does God play Dice? Lecture, published on http://www.hawking.org.uk/does-god-play-dice.html

Jordan, Pascal. 1972: “Neopositivismus und physikalische Erkenntnistheorie“. In Erkenntnis und Besinnung. Oldenburg: Stalling Verlag.

Kelvin, Lord. 1884. Baltimore Lectures on Molecular Dynamics and the Wave Theory of Light (1884 and printed 1904), see also http://todayinsci.com/K/Kelvin_Lord/KelvinLord-Quotations.htm

Laplace, Pierre Simon. 1814. Essai philosophique sur les probabilités. Gauthiers-Villars: Paris, 1921, p. 3.

Laeuffer, Jacques. 1997. “Scientism and Scientific Knowledge of Things and God.” In Mathematical Undecidability, Quantum Nonlocality and the Question of the Existence of God, edited by Alfred Driessen and Antoine Suarez, 185–191. Springer (Kluwer).

Lisska, Anthony, J. 2016. Aquinas's Theory of Perception: An Analytic Reconstruction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Llano, Alejandro. 2001. Gnoseology. Manila: Sinag-Tala Publishers Inc.

Lloyd, Seth, 2013. The universe as quantum computer. arXiv:1312.4455.

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Popper, Karl R. 1959. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Oxford: Routlegde Classics.

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Suarez, Antoine. 2015. Unified description of quantum nonlocal and relativistic local correlations: Both assume ‘free will’ and happen without connection in space-time. arXiv:1510.01312v1, 3 Oct. 2015.

Vicente, Agustin. 2006. “On the Causal Completeness of Physics.” International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 20:149–171.

Scientia et Fides

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Published

2018-02-13

How to Cite

1.
DRIESSEN, Alfred. The Universe as a Computer Game, from Virtual to Actual Reality. Scientia et Fides. Online. 13 February 2018. Vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 31-52. [Accessed 6 July 2025].
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Vol. 6 No. 1 (2018)

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