I don't know about a Mormon God (human ascended). But I'm pretty sure it is taught that God is infinite, the alpha and omega, being able to see all time. I think with a little imagination that an infinite being outside of all dimensions (not parallel dimensions, space time and matter dimensions beyond our comprehension) would be able to know of all possible outcomes of people's lives and choices. That is that our beings experiencing time is not linear (from an outside perspective) to God but like a tree with lots of branches and as we make the choices other choices that would be derived from the initial choice no longer are available. Like the tree is the branches and we are walking to the twigs but we can't go back and move to a different branch, each new branch and twig coming off the branch we are on being a new choice. The rest of the tree goes away for us.drumdude wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2024 8:48 pmIt's worth noting that Laplace was before our understanding of quantum randomness - that the universe is not a completely deterministic set of small billiard balls bumping into each other. There is uncertainty and randomness baked in, such that even a perfected human like the Mormon God would not be able to see the future. One of many reasons Joseph Smith got it wrong.MG 2.0 wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2024 8:35 pm
This is interesting. Some won’t like this but I plugged your statement into Pi A.I..
Here’s what I got:
Someone else here with more knowledge and expertise than me might be able to elaborate on Laplace’s Demon but to me it looks like the “hypothetical being” could be referred to as God. In and through all things knowing the end from the beginning. Even though we feel as though we have free will (and do as a matter of fact for all intents and purposes…accountability, guilt, joy in choosing right over wrong, etc….we do), God might be able to see it all from a perspective in which free will is redefined or calibrated differently.
Although I can’t say right this minute what that definition might be.
I know there have been some interesting discussions along the way as to whether or not God has free will.
Thanks for spurring me on to further thought, pirate.
Regards,
MG
It is also said that God knows us. Some autistic people are so good at noticing patterns that it is like they can see things others don't. I was sitting near a severely autistic person. He can barely talk. He doesn't really communicate at all. And he said,"wind". And then seconds later a gust of wind came. I was amazed that he sensed it.
I'm not sure free will is relevant to an omnipotent being because an omnipotent being isn't travelling through a linear sense of time.
Edit: correction