Solipsis: Escape from the Comatorium (19 page)

“
Who
told you this, your pastor?”

“
Would
you do it?” Seth persists.

“
No,”
Renee replies.

“
See,
your morals aren't coming from utilitarianism, as a utilitarian, this
dilemma has no room to wiggle yourself out of. Save five and
sacrifice one, you must do it. But you don't, that's because there is
something deeper at work, a sense of the soul, the dignity, the
importance of human beings, that they can't be used like numbers in
an equation. God gives us this.”

“
First
off, I've taken an oath to do no harm. Secondly, your moral dilemma
is a good hypothetical, but your analysis is completely wrong.”

“
I've
got you, that's the end of the argument. If your morals are
materialistic, then you have to sacrifice the one to save the five,
it's that simple,” Seth says.

“
Okay,
listen very carefully. The problem with that argument is that you're
saying utilitarians can only do this math of number of persons living
or dead,” Renee replies, “but there's far more to it. Let
me ask you, if you were one of the patients, needing a liver, and
they took some guy, euthanized him and gave you his liver to save
your life and the lives of others, would you be happy knowing that a
man was killed to save you?”

“
No
I wouldn't, because I know that humans shouldn't be treated like
numbers because I have a God-given morality.”

“
Okay,
fine you think that, but let's imagine that this is a world without
god, you're an atheist. They kill someone healthy to save your life
and the lives of four others. Are you okay with this?”

“
Absolutely,
if I'm a utilitarian, then yes, it's the right thing to do.”

“
Well
you're wrong, because let me tell you how I would feel, as an
atheist. If someone was murdered to save my life, I might be thankful
to be alive, but it would weigh heavily on my mind. There are some
people who would rather die with dignity than have someone murdered
to save them. Now, imagine living in a world where you know you could
be murdered and have your organs harvested at any moment. Imagine
every person walking around everyday with this knowledge in the backs
of their minds. Do you think that the world is better off with all of
that suffering, than it is to allow five to die? Which world is
better off, the one where they murder people and harvest organs, thus
letting more people to live, or a world where people aren't afraid
they're about to be murdered any moment by a doctor? It's easy to
see, as a utilitarian, that aggregate happiness is higher in the
world where we respect human life than it is in the world where we
don't. A utilitarian doesn't just look at the number of people dead
or alive, but at the quality of living of everyone.”

“
You're
not ready.”

“
Yeah,
you're right, I'm not ready to exchange my working mind for a
brainwashed one. Move along little demon, go spread your bullshit
somewhere else.”

“
What
if you're wrong?”

“
About
what?” Renee asks indignantly.

“
What
if there is a God, and you've wrongly chosen to be an atheist. If
there is no God, like you think, then what difference does it make?
What do you have to lose?”

“
Pascal's
Wager? Really? You know that's been thoroughly debunked.”

“
Ad
Hominem!”

“
That's
not Ad Hominem,” Renee says, shaking her head.

“
Appeal
to authority then.”

“
Okay,
I'm going to destroy Pascal's Wager, so pay attention, since you
apparently don't have the attention span to, I don't know,
ever
try
googling it and reading about it for five minutes to realize how
non-sensical it is.”

“
I'm
listening,” Seth says through gritted teeth.

“
So
Pascal's Wager basically says that if god doesn't exist, it doesn't
matter if you believe in him or not, you might waste some time or
money, but ultimately it makes no difference. But if god does exist,
and you don't believe in him, then you are punished for eternity. But
if he exists and you do believe, then you are rewarded infinitely. So
with that dilemma, you obviously should just believe because you have
nothing to lose, so you might as well believe in god. Right? Did I
cover it all? Just want to make sure we're on the same page,”
Renee says.

“
Let's
hear how you argue your way out of this one.”

“
Alright,
first off, it's a false dichotomy, the choice isn't merely to believe
in god or not to. Which god? There are many gods to pick from. By
your logic, I should believe in Zeus, Mohamed, Buddha, Zoroaster,
Jesus, Thor, whatever god that's out there, because, hey, what do I
have to lose? But, a lot of religions maintain that their god is the
one true god, so you can't double up, therefore I have to figure out
which god to pick. So it's not at all a dichotomy, there's hundreds
of choices. Secondly, it assumes that if god exists, then heaven and
hell exist, which isn't necessarily true. Again there are multiple
gods, multiple religions, so in some of them, yeah there would be a
hell or a form of hell, but not in all of them.”

“
Why
do atheists always bring up Thor? You're dodging the question.”

“
Thirdly,”
Renee interrupts, “it assumes that if heaven and hell exist,
that the test for whether you go to heaven or hell is solely
determined by what you believe in. Right?”

“
No,
not entirely.”

“
If
a serial killer makes a death bed conversion does he go to heaven?”

“
That's
such a cliché argument.”

“
It's
a cliché because it makes a good point and you can't refute
it, so answer the question, does he go to heaven?” Renee
demands.

“
Only
if he truly accepts Jesus,” Seth reluctantly answers, “but
it's extremely unlikely that a serial killer would really come to
Jesus like that, Jesus knows if you're faking it.”

“
Okay,”
Renee smiles, making progress, “so your perfect god, who is so
magnificent, made of pure love, etc, has designed a universe where
billions of people will live good lives, be productive members of
society, not killing, not raping, not stealing, being generous, good
to each other, not abusing children, trying to do good...but if they
aren't praying to the right god, then they are tortured forever.
Meanwhile, a person who rapes and kills as he pleases, has no regard
for others, is a despicable human being, can get eternal rewards of
the highest order, just so long as he prays to the right god at the
end of his life. That's the universe your god has made. Does that
sound like the work of an omni-anything creator? That's not
intelligent design, that's really bad, drunk on the job,
snorting-coke-to-stay-awake design.”

Seth
takes a deep breath, debating with himself whether he should even
continue arguing. “Okay, you can't judge god like that. God is
not a person, the universe is not his plaything, so you aren't in a
position to judge him”

“
Okay,
well, if I were god, I would punish the evil, reward the good, and
prevent horrible things happening to good and bad alike. I wouldn't
send someone to hell for their thoughts, but only for their evil
actions. And, beyond that, I wouldn't send anyone to hell. I wouldn't
have a hell. I mean, why not skip over life and go right to the part
where we all hang out in heaven forever feeling good? If you look
around, it is obvious that we do not live in a world with a god that
either can stop disasters, or cares to. Billions of people will go to
hell in Christianity because they were born in the wrong country,
grew up in the wrong faith, by no fault of their own. Why judge
people on which magical book from thousands of years ago they believe
in? There have never been any verified miracles, certainly not in
modern times. So you hold up the bible and say, see, these magical
things happened. I can hold up
Harry
Potter
and
say the same thing. Why would the ultimate test of your soul be which
god you believe in? I mean, if that's the test, then why is it
completely unclear which religion is the correct one. Every religious
person thinks theirs is the right one, but none of them can make a
convincing argument. That's why even the major religions have
hundreds of sects and different versions of their holy books. If one
of these faiths was right, its holy book would be especially
magnificent, its followers endowed with some kind of power, their
prayers answered, miracles abound. But none of that happens anywhere.
The laws of nature hold true. So to me, as a person who looks for
evidence, that seeks the truth, that asks questions about how we know
the things we know, it is especially insulting that god apparently
hates me for thinking. Does that make any sense to you?”

“
Yes
it does.”

“
It's
as if Pascal's Wager was conceived in a world where Christianity is
the only religion and there's some evidence for the existence of
heaven and hell and for belief as the test for heaven. It is a flawed
premise. It only makes sense to you, because you believe in a god
that sends believers to heaven and non-believers to hell. You think
the only alternative to that concept is to not believe or that god
doesn't exist. You're not taking into account the possibilities of
other gods or other versions of your own god.”

“
Quite
a logical puzzle you've just walked me through,” Seth says
sarcastically.

“
Here's
the part where you tell me that I'm an agent of Satan trying to get
you to stray from the righteous path,” Renee replies.

“
No,
I'm secure in my faith, I'm not going to resort to a childish tactic
like that.”

“
Well
good,” Renee replies. “Since you've offered me a
hypothetical, Pascal's Wager, can I offer you a hypothetical?”

“
I
don't have time, there's so many souls out here that might actually
want to be saved.”

Renee
awakens, sitting up. She sees a fluttering mirage, an image of
something in the distance. It grows closer and sharper. Suddenly she
understands what she's looking at. She's staring at herself. The
mirror image of her approaches and sits right across from her.

“
There's
something that's been bothering me about this,” Mirror-Renee
says.

“
What?”
Renee asks.

“
Only
people that have been vivisected and are actually plugged in can get
administrator privileges,” Mirror-Renee says carefully, “But
they turned gravity. You need admin privileges to do that.”

“
There's
a traitor on the inside helping them,” Renee realizes.