Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy

by David J. Chalmers

In Stanislaw Lem’s 1971 short story Non Serviam, Professor Dobb, a specialist in “personetics,” creates a society of artificial “personoids.” After many generations, the personoids speculate about the nature of their creator. The personoid Edan 197 assumes that their god requires reverence and gratitude in order for them to win salvation; if the personoids don’t believe in their creator, they won’t be saved. Adan 900 says that this would be unjust: God hasn’t given them strong evidence of his existence, so he cannot justly punish them for not believing in him; a perfectly just god would save nonbelievers as well. Adan 900 goes on to suggest that since an almighty god could have provided certainty, the fact that God has not provided certainty suggests that God is not almighty.