Reply #27: Infinite recursion, among other things [View All]

[jgraz]

This is a different problem than before. The earlier problem is that the mind of god couldn't logically be large enough to be both eternal and omniscient. Once you add introspection, you run into the additional problem of recursion.

If god knows what he'll think for every instant of all eternity, then he must know what he thinks about what he'll think for every instance of all eternity. If that's true, than he must have some sort of reaction to his reaction to his own thought processes (otherwise, "knowing" and "thinking" become meaningless), so we add another layer. And so on.

Even if he only has one thought for all eternity, omniscient introspection will lead down an infinite path of self-examination. He becomes so wrapped up in his own thoughts and reactions that he doesn't have room for anything else.


Actually, that explains a lot. ;)