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Natural evil: the simulation solution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2018

BARRY DAINTON Open the ORCID record for BARRY DAINTON [Opens in a new window]
BARRY DAINTON*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7WY, UK
*
e-mail: bdainton@liverpool.ac.uk
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Abstract

That natural evils are plentiful in our world is impossible (plausibly) to deny. Why would a benevolent and all-powerful God allow such an obviously imperfect world to be created? I argue that the problem of evil in this form only seems serious and intractable because our science and technology are currently at comparatively primitive levels. Civilizations whose technological capabilities are significantly more advanced than our own will be able to create artificial worlds of their own in a variety of different ways. Given the very real possibility of world-makers who are non-divine, the problem posed by natural evil is very much diminished.

Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 209 - 230
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018

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Footnotes

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

(Exodus 20:3)

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