Trillions of years ago, did the mankind create God or will mankind create God?

[KelleyNice]

The Last Question--A short story Isaac Asimov: To read in PDF, see


https://physics.princeton.edu/ph115/LQ.pdf

[abc3643]

I know "The Last Question" well.

You should also read Asimov's "The Last Answer" which was in his excellent 1983 collection "Winds of Change and Other Stories".

First 1983 paperback edition of "The Winds of Change And Other Stories"

For those who don't have time to read "The Last Question", I will summarize it.
The question of "The Last Question" is: "Can entropy of the universe be reversed?"

Now, for those who don't know physics and, in particular, thermodynamics, the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics basically says this: Any change in the universe requires the entropy of the universe to increase.

Now, entropy is a measure of disorder in the universe.

That doesn't mean much, but try to think about it like this...

Imagine you are a kid and in your bedroom and your parents tell you to clean your room.
So, you do that...
Your room is now perfect and everything is in its place with all the toys and games put away and your bed is made and carpet and windows are clean and furniture dusted...
We could say that your bedroom has zero entropy because there's no disorder... everything is exactly where it should be and in perfect condition.
The problem is that the moment you want to do something in your room like, say, play with some toy in your room, the toy is no longer where it is to be stored... Your room is no longer perfect. It now has some disorder. Its entropy has increased.

OK, well, you can clean up your room and make it perfect again bringing it back to zero entropy, but to do that, you need to expend energy... And your body has its own entropy and that just increased so you could expend energy to clean your room! For your body to recover new energy to rebuild itself - that is, to lower its entropy - you need to eat.

Now, what happens if you never eat? Sooner or later, your body's entropy is going to get so high that it can't do anything anymore... and you die.

Think of your body as a rechargeable battery. When you eat, you are recharging that battery and lowering its entropy.

But, by doing that, you are increasing the entropy of something else! For instance, if you have to drive your car to get food, sooner or later, you need to refuel your car... and get car maintenance like oil changes... and on and on and on.

So, to do ANYTHING, the entropy of that thing doing the doing has to increase. But you can lower the entropy again, but only by increasing the entropy of something else.

The ultimate thing is the universe itself and it has no way to recover its entropy... and that's a problem. Everything in the universe is like a rechargeable battery - except for the universe itself!

So, one day, the universe must die from an increase in entropy to the point that nothing new can happen. This is called "Heat Death" and likely would take quintillions of years or more to occur.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_death_of_the_universe

So, the universe is going to die. That's bad and a bit scary in a way.

The short story "The Last Question" is about humanity over a period of trillions of years always asking their computers if the entropy of the universe can ever be reversed.

Ultimately, humanity goes away merging with their ultimate computer (not being part of the universe), being all by itself trying to solve this ultimate "last question".

Here is how the story ends:
=============
Matter and energy had ended and with it, space and time. Even AC existed only for the sake of the one last question that it had never answered from the time a half-drunken computer ten trillion years before had asked the question of a computer that was to AC far less than was a man to Man.

All other questions had been answered, and until this last question was answered also, AC might not release his consciousness.

All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be collected.

But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in all possible relationships.

A timeless interval was spent in doing that.

And it came to pass that AC learned how to reverse the direction of entropy.

But there was now no man to whom AC might give the answer of the last question. No matter. The answer -- by demonstration -- would take care of that, too.

For another timeless interval, AC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AC organized the program.

The consciousness of AC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and brooded over what was now Chaos. Step by step, it must be done.

And AC said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"

And there was light----

[KelleyNice]

I never hear about "The Last Answer" but I'll Google it.

[In_Trance]

Theological philosophies came to fruition around the 1400s

[Snsl153]

An interesting story. I'd first come across this some time ago (don't recall exactly when), and even though it was written by someone who knew a great deal about science (Asimov), he still got a few things wrong (ex. our own sun will never go nova, it's not the right type of star), but no matter.
The story expresses the view that existence is cyclical, that when all ceases to be a new universe will arise, fresh and new from the ruins of the old.
Anyway, in answer to your question, "Did mankind create God, or will mankind create God?", I can only say...
Insufficient data for meaningful answer.

[KelleyNice]

Very good answer. I also noticed that Asimov said "nova" too. Typically his writings don't violate science or if they do, he explains it by calling it hyper space which can not be proven nor dis-proven. I want our universe to be cyclic, that it will stop expanding, and eventually collapse and start all over again but apparently that will not be.

[LaFemmeFatale_1]

I’ve read about a Chimpanzee who does some spiritual rituals around a tree.

I think that answers the question.

That poor spiritual chimp probably believes the tree is the God.

[KelleyNice]

You didn't read or listen to "The Last Question." Therefore you cannot answer the question.

[Guy13]

You know, the sad thing about SOME Physicists is they can never explain the most simplistic underpinning of Physics... How did Resting Mass, Resting Motion, and Resting Energy get there? Asimov ever address that? I know Pascal, Newton, Kepler, and Einstein did...

[KelleyNice]

I have no idea what you are talking about.

[Guy13]

I guess I am saying Scientists and Social Sciences come up with all these complexities, both in structure and name, but still can not tell me how Resting Mass (Meteorite), Resting Motion, and Resting Energy is... Physics is, because those Resting states somehow became Active states as evidenced by (Gravity).
The only options I see are Resting states that self-conceived, self-generated, and self-started or a Creator, God. The Intelligently Designed complexities, as Science continually uncovers, are too great to not be the work of an Intelligent Designer.

[Blackcosmo]

Mankind cannot create god.
God creates mankind.

[KelleyNice]

Obviously you didn't listen to or read "The Last Question."

[Adaeva]

If there ever is a God, that is how God would be created.

[Agape93]

Humans weren't even alive a million years ago, much less billions.

[KelleyNice]

It depends on your definition of human. Lucy, is about 3.2 million years old.

Furthermore, you fail to understand the question. The story could have been eons ago before the universal computer said "Let there be light," the Big Bang 14 billion years ago making us the second generation of Mankind. Or else, the story could start in our time and extend trillions of years into the future until the universal computer says, "Let there be light."

[Agape93]

Human, as in homo sapien. Progenitor species are not humans.

I understood the question, I'm discussing the fact that the first four words of your post is by nature incorrect.