Wired - Douglas E. Richards [37]
“Most religions subscribe to the belief that there is something bigger than us out there,” continued Kira. “That there is some purpose to human suffering. That there is a form of continued existence after death. All of this helps to bolster the altruistic side of the human equation. Why not be totally selfish?—especially now that we don’t really need clans to survive: we can take down the mastodon alone. The answer: because there will be a reward or punishment in the next life.” She paused and shook her head. “But what if you knew with absolute certainty that when you died, that was it? There was no afterlife of any kind. Why not be totally selfish? With no God, what is the point to anything? There is no right and wrong: there is only doing what will make you happy. You have a short time to be alive—why not maximize the experience? To hell with anyone else.”
Desh looked thoughtful. “Because even if you believed there was no afterlife, altruism is still wired in. That was Lincoln’s point: altruism provides its own reward. Being good makes people feel good.”
“Excellent,” she said. “This is true. So a certainty that there is no afterlife doesn’t necessarily imply that pure sociopathy reigns. It isn’t perfectly straightforward. But it’s definitely a step down that path.” She paused. “And our society does have laws. So even if you reasoned that nothing really mattered, that good and evil were relative, and were determined to be completely selfish, you would have to perform a risk-reward analysis. Why not steal that luxury car that you love? One reason is that if you get caught, you’ll go to jail. There are risks that your selfish act would lead to a worse existence rather than a better one.”
Desh’s eyes narrowed. “Unless you had absolute power,” he noted.
Kira nodded. “Exactly. I won’t resort to the overused cliche, but if you didn’t believe in the afterlife and could get away with doing anything you wanted, sociopathic behavior would become more and more likely.”
“So that’s the connection,” guessed Desh. “In your enhanced state you feel that you can do whatever you want.”
“Exactly. With intelligence this great, you can’t help but feel superior and almost invincible. And you really could get away with almost anything. At the same time, you clearly see the stark reality. There is no God. There is no afterlife.”
Desh bristled at this pronouncement. “Why would increased intelligence necessarily make you an atheist?” he challenged.
“The change in brain architecture transforms you into a purely intellectual creature. There is no longer room for faith, something you have to have to sustain a belief in God and the afterlife.”
“So how does your enhanced intellect grapple with the question of how the universe came to be? It surely must have been created, which implies a creator.”
“I can’t come close to understanding my thinking on this subject while in the transformed state. What I do know is that when I’m enhanced, I’m absolutely convinced that God does not exist.” She paused. “You asked me who created the universe. Let me ask you this: who created God?”
Desh frowned. “God is eternal. He didn’t need a creator.”
“Really?” said Kira. “Then why does the universe need one? If God can exist without a creator, why can’t the universe? No matter how you slice it, at some point you get to something that existed without being created. Which is impossible for even an enhanced mind to fully comprehend. Conjuring up a God to explain creation is just a convenient cheat unless you’re prepared to explain how God originated.” She paused. “And even if you accepted God for the sake of argument, why would an omniscient, omnipotent being waste his time creating humanity? The more intellect you bring to bear on the question, with faith out of the picture, the more certain you become that God is just a construct of the human mind, nothing more.”
Desh shook his head in irritation and disagreement but didn’t argue further. “So enhanced intelligence alters the balance of power in the altruism versus sociopathy war.”
Kira nodded.