Heart transplant

Elder Bednar’s talk this afternoon (transcript not available yet–I’ll edit it later) about heart transplants used a great analogy, working with the existing imagery. We’ve all got heart failure, due to sin; but God promises:

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (Eze 36:26)

Bednar said that this new heart would be rejected without daily medication (prayer and scripture) and periodic biopsies (weekly self-examination while taking the sacrament).

But the immune system exists to defend against infection; various viruses and tumors stimulate the release of TGF-β, a natural immunosuppressant, to survive in the body. We’d expect that any successful meme would encourage constant reexposure to the ideas constituting the meme and suppression of ideas that would break them down.

How do we know the difference between a heart transplant and an infection? There’s clearly good in Mormonism; it has many good fruits, as evidenced by the heartfelt service given by the members. But many other faiths have fruits just as sweet. As the Anglican minister John Mason Neale writes,

You have all heard of Thomas Scott the commentator. He was a man of some powers of mind, indefatigable perseverance, and no learning. You may probably have read his “Force of Truth.” If so, you will know the correctness of what I am going to say.

Before Scott came into public notice, he was in his belief an Arminian. Some considerations induced him to think that Calvinism was the doctrine of the Bible; and he determined to study for himself, with no other help but prayer and thought, whether it were or were not. After the labour of some months, he became a confirmed Calvinist. And he argues to this effect:—”I know,” says he, “that I spent vast labour in the search: I know I prayed earnestly during its course: I know that those who do so will be directed into all truth. I came to this conclusion. Therefore, I am right. Therefore, all who differ from me are wrong. Therefore, as the same promise was made to them, they must either have studied insufficiently, or prayed carelessly. If all men took the same pains that I did, they must come to the same conclusion.”

Now this is at least honest and straightforward: conceited enough and presumptuous certainly, but withal, after a sort, manly. The answer is, of course, easy enough. Twenty thousand persons from the same premises may with equal justice arrive at very opposite conclusions: therefore the premises themselves are false.

(Be sure to read the rest of the essay–it’s very good.)

What evidence justifies your beliefs?

You’re a good man, Charlie Darwin

Dresden Codak’s guest strip for Kate Beaton

Stuart Mackenzie the Revelator

Ach, I hated the Nicolaitans, with their wee, beady eyes and that smug look on their face: “Ooh, you’re going to hold the antinomian heresy of Corinth, oooh!”

Animism

D&C 131:7-8:

7 There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes;
8 We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.

Mormon doctrine asserts that there is a form of matter, invisible but not in principle undetectable, that interacts with normal matter. This matter is somehow related to the persistence of memory and personality beyond death, and also plays into agency and qualia.

We already know of dark matter, which interacts with visible matter only gravitationally and comprises a whopping 96% of the matter in the universe. Direct evidence for dark matter was announced only three years ago. Two large clusters of galaxies collided, and the dark matter traveled farther than the visible matter: while both forms of matter responded to gravity, the visible matter was also impeded by electromagnetic forces between the hot gasses. The dark matter, now stripped of normal matter, was detected by gravitational lensing.

Around the same time a new technique was proposed that would allow us to image anything that gravitates. For the first 400 thousand years after the Big Bang, the entire universe was glowing. Once the hydrogen cooled to the point that it was not radiating, the universe went dark. Around 400 million years after the Big Bang, starts started to form and there was visible light again. For a while before the stars lit up and for a long time thereafter, nearly all light in the universe was 21 cm light, the Lyman- band from a once-ionized hydrogen atom returning to its ground state. Because of the expansion of the universe, that light has been red-shifted to between 2 and 20 meters. Along any line of sight, there are around a thousand large structures (galaxy-cluster-sized thickenings of hot hydrogen gas); they can be separated from each other by filtering on the redshifted wavelength. By examining how these structures are deformed by gravitational lensing, we can get a map of the mass in the universe.

So dark matter is one candidate for spirit. There are several different ideas about ways dark matter could arise and what it might be made of; the properties of dark matter besides gravitational interaction vary widely from one proposal to the next. I don’t know if any of the proposals would allow for the necessary complex localized systems akin to bodies and minds to form, but it’s not unbelievable that dark matter could support such systems.

However, one thing everyone expects is that dark matter will obey laws that are very close to what we’ve already discovered; after all, we have proof that dark matter responds to gravity in the same way as normal matter. It will form linear superpositions of states, conserve energy and momentum, not violate causality, and so forth.

Most importantly, there’s no reason to believe that it will be any less ‘mechanical’ than the matter we already see around us, no reason to believe that there’s some property of dark matter necessary for qualia and agency. So while it may be the case that human minds depend on dark matter for their conscious experience, there’s no a priori theological reason we couldn’t build a perceiving machine.

We now come to the dancing pixies problem. Consider the quantum state of a perceiving being; we can write it as a weighted sum of basis states. Decoherence provides a preferred basis, usually consisting of states that are narrow in both position and momentum, but there is some evidence that quantum superpositions might persist in the brain. However, if it is simply the relative weights of the basis vectors that constitute a perception, then perceptive states arise by accident all the time. This is known as “panpsychism“, a strong form of animism. If one accepts this worldview, then because many (most?) of these states must be experiencing pain, this has bearing on the Atonement: will it bring about a universe in which accidental pain-perceptive states are forbidden?

Perception, however, is necessarily embedded in time. The computationalist says it is not the states that perceive, but rather the computation leading between the states. Naively, one might think that nothing has been solved: surely it was a physical process leading between the states previously identified as perceptive above. However, in computer science there is the notion of equivalence classes of computations: two programs may give the same output on each input and yet be fundamentally different programs. This is, essentially, the point of the Chinese room thought experiment.

The principle of relativity suggests to me, however, that bisimilar systems should be considered equivalent with respect to perception. Two systems are bisimilar if they each simulate the other: given an arbitary state of the first system, you can compute the state of the second system and vice-versa, and that relationship is preserved under time evolution. So an arbitrary physical process leading between states corresponding to successive states of a perceiving brain does not necessarily perceive, but a faithful simulation of the processes in the brain should.

Alma 46

In true Old Testament style, the prophet gives a tangible symbol as part of the prophecy: a rent coat.  We learn another interesting part of the Joseph story that didn’t make it into the Old Testament version: that when Jacob, before his death, saw that part of the coat of many colors had not decayed, he prophesied that even though most of his son’s descendants would perish, some small part would be preserved.  The rend also involves the covenant imagery of cutting, so those who follow Moroni make the covenant and rend their clothes as a token of the covenant.

The Book of Mormon itself is tangible evidence of prophecy.  I have had two dreams in my life that were vision-like.  In one, I was among men who were seeking a leader; there was an impending danger, and we were all worried.  A man called our attention, and asked, “Are you willing to follow this man to war?”  At this, Mormon or Captain Moroni stood up and we were all overjoyed that he had returned to lead us.  We shouted our assent, at which he responded, “Then why won’t you do your home teaching?”

Alma 45

In this extraordinarily intimate account, Alma passes on the plates to his son Helaman, and prophesies the destruction of the Nephite nation, the fall of the great and spacious building at the end of Nephi’s dream.  I think that Alma named Helaman for his best friends’ uncle, the brother of Mosiah II–what kind of a man was he?  I imagine a prince, highly educated, trained in diplomacy and war.  Alma’s son Helaman seems to be the one who most appreciated his father’s literary interests, the types and shadows, the symbolism of their own people’s epic journey.  I wonder, if Helaman had lived in more peaceful times, whether he’d have been a poet.  As it was, of course, he was the first choice for commander of the young Anti-Nephi-Lehites, the sons of Helaman, and led them to their incredible victories, backed by their invincible faith.

Alma becomes the first of five Nephites (that we know of) to be translated.  In Alma 29, Alma cries,

O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!  Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.  But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.  I ought not to harrow up in my desires, the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction. (Alma 29:1-4)

Alma got his heart’s desire.  We see him again some 2000 years later, again in the context of Nephi’s vision of the Tree of Life, working with another translated being, Siddhārtha Gautama.

(Edit, 2009-01-26: Karen guessed the reference above: Indiana Jones and the Tree of Life )

Alma 43-44

These chapters illustrate Captain Moroni’s character.  Mike Brown, our Gospel Doctrine teacher in Provo, said he believed that Mormon put these fighting chapters in for his own ten-year-old Moroni.  Now that Aidan’s nearly ten, I understand a little better.

Moroni is a champion fighter who hates violence.  At the earliest possible opportunity, he pulls his men back and offers the Lamanites an ultimatum: a chance to surrender if they will swear not to take up arms against the Nephites again.  Many accept; Zerahemnah infamously does not, claiming that they were preserved by their armor, not by any God.

I took a Book of Mormon course after my mission, and was dissatisfied with it; for example, in this section, the teacher thought that when Captain Moroni said, “I cannot recall the words which I have spoken,” that he meant Moroni couldn’t remember the words he uttered four verses earlier.  Clearly, Moroni is saying that he cannot take back the words he had spoken, and the ultimatum still stands.

Again, the Nephites take on the Lamanites, but the offer for mercy is still there: as soon as Zerahemnah is willing to stop fighting, Moroni is willing to make peace.

Christ is the same way: no allowance for sin, but eager to show mercy to the penitent.

Alma 42: Theodicy and a restricted God

24 For behold, justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved.
25 What, do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit. If so, God would cease to be God.

From an England essay in response to Rabbi Kushner:

Kushner thinks [p.96] that the author of the Book of Job has God appear out of the whirlwind not to reinforce Job’s position by asserting that he doesn’t have to explain suffering to his ignorant and weak creation, man, but rather to teach Job that it is too difficult even for God to keep cruelty and chaos from claiming their innocent victims (Job 40 and 41). In other words, the author of Job gives up statement number 1, that God is omnipotent, the cause of everything—and Kushner agrees:

If God is a god of justice and not of power, then He can still be on our side when bad things happen to us…. Our misfortunes are none of His doing, and so we can turn to Him for help…. We will turn to God, not to be judged or forgiven, not to be rewarded or punished, but to be strengthened and comforted.

It is unfortunate that this resolution to the problem of evil should be seen as utterly new, because, of course, it is the one revealed nearly 150 years ago to Joseph Smith.

David Bailey on the lack of scriptural support for omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence:

The terms omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and omnibenevolent play a central role in the definition of God for traditional Christian faiths, although at the present time they are used more often by conservative and evangelical denominations. Some Latter-day Saints also use these terms (at least the first two). Nonetheless it is a curious fact that these words, with the sole exception of “omnipotent” in one highly poetic verse in Revelations [Rev. 19:6] do not appear in the Bible. Instead, these terms and corresponding doctrines were devised with the creeds of early Christianity during the first few centuries after Christ, when Christian theology was recast in terms of Greek metaphysics.

England again on “The Weeping God of Mormonism“:

Traditional theodicies tend to solve the paradox of evil existing in an omnipotent God’s universe either by (1) redefining evil (as not really evil from God’s infinite perspective, as illusory, or necessary to build souls, or as merely the absence of good, the holes in God’s swiss-cheese universe) or by (2) equivocating on agency (it is given because for some unexplained reason an omnipotent God has to in order to have beings who freely love him). Some Mormon thinkers have used similar approaches, but the theodicy revealed to Enoch and foundational to Mormonism orthodoxy, I believe, questions the other pole of the paradox, God’s omnipotence. It suggests that God allows evil because there is much of it he cant prevent or do away with. And therefore, like a human, he weeps. Of course, this approach doesnt suggest that most or even much evil is beyond God’s literal power to prevent. That would make him impotent indeed. Certainly he can and often does interfere with evil. The weeping God of Mormonism I am trying to describe creates a world for soul-building which can only succeed if its includes exposure of our souls to the effects of natural law and maximum latitude for us to exercise our agency as we learn how that universe works. Evil is a natural condition of such a world, not because God creates evil for soul-building but because evil inevitably results when agency is freed to grapple with natural law in the universe. You cant have one without the othernot because God says so but because the universe, which was not created ex nihilo and thus has its own intractable nature, says so. And thus God is not absolutely omnipotent in the traditional Christian sense; he has limits imposed by the co-eternal nature of other components of the universe which he did not create, such as matter (D&C 93:33) and eternal laws (D&C 130:20-21) and especially human intelligences (D&C 93:29). As modern revelation teaches us, God is bound when we do what he says (D&C 82:19), that is, he is limited to some extent, required to respond in certain ways by our obedience to the eternal laws he teaches us. In other words, besides being infinite in many important ways (such as providing an Atonement infinitely able to save those who will accept it), he could in some ways be thought of as finite.

Alma 41: Restitution & restoration

Brocciflower: every floret is a copy of the whole.

Each leaflet of the fern is a copy of the whole

Diffusion-limited aggregation: self-similarity at all scales

3 And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.
4 And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil. Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame—mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption—raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other—
12 And now behold, is the meaning of the word restoration to take a thing of a natural state and place it in an unnatural state, or to place it in a state opposite to its nature?
13 O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish—good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous; just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful.
14 Therefore, my son, see that you are merciful unto your brethren; deal justly, judge righteously, and do good continually; and if ye do all these things then shall ye receive your reward; yea, ye shall have mercy restored unto you again; ye shall have justice restored unto you again; ye shall have a righteous judgment restored unto you again; and ye shall have good rewarded unto you again.
15 For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored; therefore, the word restoration more fully condemneth the sinner, and justifieth him not at all.

Christ is the pattern, patron, temple and template: if we get the first iteration right, then the rest will be restored to us in eternity.

Also, the epic story of the exodus:

1. Creation in Heaven / Jacob in famished Palestine
   Gen 46
   3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:
   4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.

2. Eden / Wilderness
3. Lone & dreary world / Egypt / Living in captivity to sin
   Scrifice of the Lamb, death of the Firstborn
   Flood / Red Sea / Baptism
   Fire / Pillar of fire / Confirmation

4. Millenium / Wilderness / In the word but not of it
   New Jerusalem / Mount Sinai / Temple

5. Sea of glass / Promised Land / Heaven

applies to worlds, nations, and individuals, self-similarity at all scales.

Alma 37

See also the hymn from last post.

6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

*cough* evolution *cough*

8 And now, it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these things should be preserved; for behold, they have enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls.

Long term memory is really overrated.  Keep a diary and a scrapbook.  I’m really glad Miriam does such a good job of documenting our lives.

25 I will bring forth out of darkness unto light all their secret works and their abominations; and except they repent I will destroy them from off the face of the earth; and I will bring to light all their secrets and abominations, unto every nation that shall hereafter possess the land.

Cf Mark 4:22 and Luke 12:2-3

38 And now, my son, I have somewhat to say concerning the thing which our fathers call a ball, or director—or our fathers called it Liahona, which is, being interpreted, a compass; and the Lord prepared it.

L-YH-HNH? (To Jah Behold!) = “Look to God and Live” ?

Spherical Astrolabe, by Musa, Eastern Islamic, 1480/81