Friday, November 17, 2006

Existential Guilt

(1)

So here I am back at Non Serviam. I must have run out of ideas. Standby while I check out my camera contents... Ah, now I get it: Existential Guilt. I have been hanging with the other blogs for so long that I am feeling guilty. What to do about that?

I suppose the best way to proceed here is to explain 'Non Serviam.' Here goes:

Non Serviam is Latin for, 'We do not serve (God).' Non Serviam is the title of a short story by Stanislaw Lem, which glorious story I found in the book, 'The Mind's I' (Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul) composed by Douglas R Hofstadter and Daniel C Dennett. The story is about you and me.

'You and me' are played by computer 'personages' in NS. The main computer character (personage) is Adan 300. I am he. He is me. The story discusses the idea of God from the perspective of digital beings. These digital beings wonder about their creator: What was He thinking?!

Little do they know that they are all only computer simulations, digital compositions. And so they engage each other in metaphysical discourse concerning the nature of 'the Creator' they have imagined. Meanwhile 'the creator' observes their philosophical consternations. The story is written from the point of view of 'Creator as ultimate eavesdropper.' It is as if the Jewish God is having second thoughts concerning the creation of The Universe and the inhabitants thereof, and is feeling guilty as a result.