The Gambler
"Every gambler knows, That the secret to survivin', Is knowin' what to throw away, And knowin' what to keep." -Kenny Rogers
What is Most Likely?
When it comes to the unknowable and unverifiable things in life, like supernatural beings or the subjective experience of the afterlife, you can either fold your hand like an agnostic or go all in on the version of reality that you think is most likely to be true.
When you view these decisions in terms of "what is most likely?" as opposed to "what can be proven beyond any doubt?" it makes it much easier to come to a decision, place your bets, and move on with your life.
It is also important to decide what is truly relevant to your life choices. It is easy to get lost in the information overload. Call the bluff of pseudoscience, grift, conspiracy and materialism so you can bet the farm on best practices.
Everything is a Probability
Be it quantum mechanics, evolution, or the neurons that control our behavior, the universe operates on probabilities.
Universal Darwinism or Universal Bayesianism refers to an emergent unified theory of reality based on Information Theory that proposes a universal genetic algorithm for the accumulation of knowledge through the process of self-organization, from a subatomic level, to evolution and DNA, all the way up to intelligent human brains and cultures.
All knowledge has uncertainty. There is no truth for which you can be 100% certain while remaining intellectually honest. Gödel demonstrated that there can be no universal rule for determining what is true. Philosophers throughout the ages have proven time and time again that our subjective perception of reality cannot give us objective answers.
Therefore, we must evaluate what is most likely to be true, place our bets on that, and move on to more important things.
Faith is What You Bet On
The concept of faith is simply where you place your bets. In the realm of uncertainty, you must decide what you think is most likely and place your bet on that. This is what faith is.
The Gambler Meets God
As a gambler, what is more likely? Where do you place your reality bet?
- Every culture in history has independently had contact with different supernatural beings that formed the basis for their religion.
- Every culture in history has independently had contact with the same supernatural god that has taken different forms in different times and places, forming the basis for religion.
- Every culture in history has made up stories of supernatural beings with no basis in reality, creating religion strictly as a means of social and political control.
- Every culture in history has made up stories of supernatural beings, except for one culture (yours) that was actually visited by a supernatural being and given the correct religion.
- Every culture in history has observed the same reality and universe that we all exist in, and attempted to create a creation story using allegory based on their observations. It is intended to convey the wonder and beauty of existence as a conscious being, along with important lessons handed down from generation to generation about best practices for that culture. And maybe some social control thrown in by various rulers through the ages.
- Any of the above options, but from inside a computer simulation for some reason.
metaculture puts it all on #5. By far the best odds of the bunch. You can bet your life on it.
RIP Kenny