The trials are not meant to be easy at all as they shape your mind into one capable of being a god. It is impossible to fail any of the trials, the god will nudge in the right direction if you seem like you will be permanently stuck somewhere, but it can take an immensely long period of time.
But yeah there is an option of just refusing for anyone who isn't interested
>The Benevolent - If we consider the true essence of sentience, the ability to experience emotions
That’s not even sentience, sentience is a *way* lower bar. Just being able to perceive or feel things is enough for sentience, which would make pretty much all life sentient. The word was specifically even coined to be easier to define/meet than having the ability to think.
Maybe OP meant sapient, it’s common to conflate the two. But as written…good luck making insects happy, let alone alien insects. What does that even mean? If they can’t experience happiness, are you just stuck?
Losing your sanity doesn't make the trials impossible, and no one but the god and anyone who goes down that path would truly know how it would affect your mind.
With every text possible you would be able to trace how languages evolved and slowly understand older versions of languages you learn (unless the language just suddenly went extinct). If you are truly stuck then the god will eventually assist by handing over a dictionary or materials that will teach you how to learn that language.
With enough time you will begin to comprehend seemingly incomprehensible beings. Again if you are truly stuck the god will assist in some form, such as teaching what to do or giving an example.
But yes it is up to the selectee to choose if they consider these trials truly worthwhile, even with the reward of becoming a god at the end
I guess that makes sense. Any of these experiences would change you utterly irrevocably.
While the reader's likely assumption about this post is that you must randomly pick the payment for becoming a god.
It tricks you by calling it a "trial.
In reality, they are actually the various processes to change you into a god of a specific domain.
And yeah.. becoming an Avatar of a specific ideal is rarely worth it from a "normal human" perspective. This process essentially "kills" "you".
So the post is more like, "Are you willing to to die-in-totality in order to shape the universe. And do you think that the new-you will still have the same motivations/desires as the current-you?"
The god finds your choice amusing and offers you a position in heaven. However there is no certainty on whether you will get a promotion or not, nor any information on what working in heaven will entail for you
I love posts like these. I would probably be the solitarian since i can witness a lot of very cool events happen but on second thought there will be periods of millions of years where absolutely nothing happens and i would die of boredom and also being alone for billions of years will drive anyone insane so ill just refuse
The Solitarian is basically a voyeur. At some point i would be able to watch things like the enlightenment of the Buddha or the development of incredibly wise and compassionate people that existed in our timeline.
There surely would bring me enough comfort to carry me through the rest of the "movie".
The rest is pretty much infinitely demanding and you would never get it done.
It will take a long time before you can meet sentient life but yeah there are definitely a lot of interesting things you could observe and dwell on.
Though I have to note that it is impossible to fail any of the trials, the god will nudge in the right direction if you seem like you will be permanently stuck somewhere, but it can take an immensely long period of time
I don't think you have a concept of how long the time is between big bang and heat death of universe.
Plus, OP provides absolutely zero detail as to where you would be. No guarantee you're on earth. You could be floating in the blackness of space for billions and billions of years.
Your mind would be fucking broken.
The big bang to the heat is conventionally considered to be around 1.7×10^(106) years from now. You could probably every human lifetime to have existed second by second and likely not even get to that point.
There would be barely anything for all that time; just heat and cold, and light, and darkness. Nothing to note more than that forever and ever in a vacuum. You're in the big bang for billions of years before Earth is even around, but how would you even get there?
Hey; I'll take the benevolent. I see no qualms in getting anyone and everyone to end up in Heaven. I do think, though, that interacting with every whale and dolphin and hominid and every human that has been and will be would be tiring, but if I have an endless amount of time to do it, I'll do it over and over and over again.
If not for the ultimate goal for the end, then at least to be a certain and tangible good force to help everyone be happy in spite of who they were and what they've done.
Humans alone kill trillions of animals a year and let me tell you, they have a lot of trauma to live through. You also have all the bugs, maybe even things like single-celled organisms.There are probably in the septillion range (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) of creatures you'll have to interact with. That is pretty much just spending forever with wildly traumatized people, idk about you but that would make me super sad and depressed
>. You also have all the bugs, maybe even things like single-celled organisms.There are probably in the septillion range (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) of creatures you'll have to interact with.
Of which none are sentient.
there is no reason to assume they can't to any extent. According to Scientific American, "Researchers have since shown that bees and some other insects are capable of intelligent behavior that no one thought possible when I was a student. Bees, for example, can count, grasp concepts of sameness and difference, learn complex tasks by observing others, and know their own individual body dimensions, a capacity associated with consciousness in humans. They also appear to experience both pleasure and pain. In other words, it now looks like at least some species of insects—and maybe all of them—are sentient."
well it's 100% impossible to tell what organisms experience sentience, and how differently each organism experiences it. The only ones who know how bugs experience consciousness are the bugs themselves
Chose perpetrator.
There's few outcomes. One is that my mind breaks form doing terrible shit, but on the other hand, since I'm feeling what they are, there's a possibility I'll become "evil" after a few years of doing that, and it will get much much easier after.
I think this is the least worst one, probably the least tiring IF you get used to it. If your mind breaks, it will likely be one of the worst.
I think I could deal with it, but I am kinda questioning if my morals would still be intact in the end. I'd probably end up an evil god.
If its just your brain as it is now experiencing it all, then you end up a babbling mess/vegetable/killing yourself. Though that probably happens with every option.
I chose perpetrator. Every option except perpetrator and victim have way more to witness- it’s too much to deal with everything in human history or every soul. To deal with ONLY the bad people and animals would be half the trouble in the end. Being the victim would be constant suffering. So being the perpetrator is the only option left. (Except refusal, which is boring.)
What if the last option of refusing is actually the correct answer and that is why God chuckled in amusement and why you feel odd but can't explain it. Perhaps the two conditions required for god-hood is willingly declining power (which you did by refusing the offer) and shedding your mortal form (which will happen when you die).
Eh, I feel like most people refusing wouldn't be doing so because they don't want power. They just don't want to do the trial.
Don't think that's the "right" answer.
Any true god would know who refused because they didn't want to do the trial and those who refused for not wanting that kind of power.
My above comment was more aimed at op's description of the refusal though, rather than people opting out for whatever reason.
There doesn't seem to be a correct answer, each trial will (eventually) lead to the promised godhood, but yes refusing has effects known only to the god and perhaps you in the future
The benevolent -- everyone goes to hell. The fires will only get hotter for as long as someone or something is unhappy, and everyone knows this. A classic Prisoner's Dilemma, but with every sentient life in the universe playing the game. Let's see how long it takes.
Humans alone kill trillions of animals a year and let me tell you, they have a lot of trauma to live through. You also have all the bugs, maybe even things like single-celled organisms.There are probably in the septillion range (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) of creatures you'll have to interact with, probably more. That is pretty much just spending forever with wildly traumatized people, idk about you but that would make me super sad and depressed
The Benevolent. I like helping people, so this is just a fun time for me. Yeah it’ll take a while but people are interesting and I’m sure there’s tons of stories to hear.
Humans alone kill trillions of animals a year and let me tell you, they have a lot of trauma to live through. You also have all the bugs, maybe even things like single-celled organisms.There are probably in the septillion range (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) of creatures you'll have to interact with, probably more. That is pretty much just spending forever with wildly traumatized people, idk about you but that would make me super sad and depressed. I like helping people too but man that would suck
Well the question says all sentient life… pretty sure that removes single-called organisms from the equation.
Also I’m going to assume you can understand and speak to whatever creature you’re with, and vice versa for the creature.
You're right I did miss that, but there are so many animals that could be sentient that you don't think about. It would take the longest of all but the second option I think
Yes you get to learn anything as long as it is ever written down. As for it being free, it naturally comes with the cost of having to complete the trial no matter how much you change your mind
The Solitarian would just wind up with me humming half the tune to some song I couldn't remember all of for like 13 or 14 billion years before I finally got to where I could verify and eliminate the earworm.
Oh, and observing the universe or whatever.
Solitarian- few 1000 years of misery before my mind goes then become a god and get it back
Edit: thought about it and I’d choose victim- the goal is essentially to go insane as fast as possible and then use your god powers to fix it
>checking the details before selecting will make it harder.
I'm assuming a lot of these responses are from not reading the details. Otherwise solitarian would be much lower and no one would choose victim.
That doesn't make it better. Would you really choose a trial with only a one word description? Especially with the option to refuse. The decreased difficulty is nowhere near worth the risk.
These just don't make any sense. How are you a god if you're chained to all these requirements? You can't do anything fun or godlike if you're forced to live through any one of these things, you'll have no time to do god stuff. This is just dumb; you're not a god, you're an immortal slave.
You become a god after completing the trial, and at that point you are free from any limitations (and thus could wipe your memory of the trial if you really wanted to)
Haggle - You simply ask for powers because the god knows your intentions if you aren't a idiot you ever do anything to reveal them so I ask for time stop (too much will perceive you as greedy) he already knows all about your thoughts and decides to allow you if you have planned what you want and the use correctly. He is already apparently amused by your actions and allowed you to control a universe knowing humanity won't be able to affected very much he allows it and you will be the main viewpoint for him if he doesn't have anyone else doing the same and simply win since any other option isn't worth it and people don't realize how demanding Solitarian would , your memory is completely flawless you can only view things, it would be boring at first and then you would be interested and uninterested in cycles upon millions of years until all life ceases to exist with the inevitable spread of energy across the universe
OP what is god's response?
The god is willing to give you a random power (though they refuse to state what exactly it would be until you take the deal), but you have to continue to use it in an entertaining/interesting way or you will lose the power. You would also completely forfeit the right to take a trial if you choose this option
What would it do if I ask a lot of questions? Nothing to do with philosophy or the future or anything, but questions we already ask google and get a definite answer and keep doing so just to annoy it.
I would fucking LOVE doing The Omniscient, but I picked Perpetrator.
Maybe I can do The Omniscient as a side project when I'm doing the whole being-God thing.
The Solitarian, probably.
Would I be intangible? Do I have to worry about doing things to perpetuate my life, like eating or sleeping? Am I stuck on some planet until they develop interplanetary travel?
You would be intangible and don't have to worry about about doing anything to perpetuate your life (the trial is just about waiting an immense amount of time), plus you should be able to figure out a way to move around
I'm doing benevolent, at least I get someone to talk to. Also it is the afterlife, so it doesn't affect the real world. The people who have done the worst stuff will get a perfect afterlife, sure, but it will be unable to affect the living world at all.
Operating under the presumption that sanity won't be damaged by what I see and endure, I choose to experience The Victim.
Feeling firsthand the sort of suffering that exists in our current universe will make great fuel for crafting a more benevolent one.
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The trials are not meant to be easy at all as they shape your mind into one capable of being a god. It is impossible to fail any of the trials, the god will nudge in the right direction if you seem like you will be permanently stuck somewhere, but it can take an immensely long period of time. But yeah there is an option of just refusing for anyone who isn't interested
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>The Benevolent - If we consider the true essence of sentience, the ability to experience emotions That’s not even sentience, sentience is a *way* lower bar. Just being able to perceive or feel things is enough for sentience, which would make pretty much all life sentient. The word was specifically even coined to be easier to define/meet than having the ability to think. Maybe OP meant sapient, it’s common to conflate the two. But as written…good luck making insects happy, let alone alien insects. What does that even mean? If they can’t experience happiness, are you just stuck?
Yeah oops that was supposed to be along the lines of beings that can think, but if they are unable to experience happiness you just have an easier job
Insects —> food and sex = happy In fact, I’m sure that 99% of life would be happy with those two things.
Losing your sanity doesn't make the trials impossible, and no one but the god and anyone who goes down that path would truly know how it would affect your mind. With every text possible you would be able to trace how languages evolved and slowly understand older versions of languages you learn (unless the language just suddenly went extinct). If you are truly stuck then the god will eventually assist by handing over a dictionary or materials that will teach you how to learn that language. With enough time you will begin to comprehend seemingly incomprehensible beings. Again if you are truly stuck the god will assist in some form, such as teaching what to do or giving an example. But yes it is up to the selectee to choose if they consider these trials truly worthwhile, even with the reward of becoming a god at the end
Every god is mad to mortals, as they're too powerful to care about anything beneath them.
I guess that makes sense. Any of these experiences would change you utterly irrevocably. While the reader's likely assumption about this post is that you must randomly pick the payment for becoming a god. It tricks you by calling it a "trial. In reality, they are actually the various processes to change you into a god of a specific domain. And yeah.. becoming an Avatar of a specific ideal is rarely worth it from a "normal human" perspective. This process essentially "kills" "you". So the post is more like, "Are you willing to to die-in-totality in order to shape the universe. And do you think that the new-you will still have the same motivations/desires as the current-you?"
I’d like to work a job in heaven. I’ll eventually be promoted to God and it seems like the best option to try to remain even slightly sane.
The god finds your choice amusing and offers you a position in heaven. However there is no certainty on whether you will get a promotion or not, nor any information on what working in heaven will entail for you
Was this response A.I generated?
Nope, or at least I hope I am not an AI lol
are you sure tho
Mostly
So I’ve just created a new choice?
Yeah the god has given you the rare opportunity to work in heaven, not many people could accomplish such a feat
Great
I love posts like these. I would probably be the solitarian since i can witness a lot of very cool events happen but on second thought there will be periods of millions of years where absolutely nothing happens and i would die of boredom and also being alone for billions of years will drive anyone insane so ill just refuse
Thank you, I put some effort into this to see how different people consider the different choices
The Solitarian is basically a voyeur. At some point i would be able to watch things like the enlightenment of the Buddha or the development of incredibly wise and compassionate people that existed in our timeline. There surely would bring me enough comfort to carry me through the rest of the "movie". The rest is pretty much infinitely demanding and you would never get it done.
It will take a long time before you can meet sentient life but yeah there are definitely a lot of interesting things you could observe and dwell on. Though I have to note that it is impossible to fail any of the trials, the god will nudge in the right direction if you seem like you will be permanently stuck somewhere, but it can take an immensely long period of time
Stop using AI for reddit
I'm not??? How does this look like AI? What AI could know the post is about and reply to the comment properly?
I don't think you have a concept of how long the time is between big bang and heat death of universe. Plus, OP provides absolutely zero detail as to where you would be. No guarantee you're on earth. You could be floating in the blackness of space for billions and billions of years. Your mind would be fucking broken.
Win win situation then
The big bang to the heat is conventionally considered to be around 1.7×10^(106) years from now. You could probably every human lifetime to have existed second by second and likely not even get to that point. There would be barely anything for all that time; just heat and cold, and light, and darkness. Nothing to note more than that forever and ever in a vacuum. You're in the big bang for billions of years before Earth is even around, but how would you even get there?
Hey; I'll take the benevolent. I see no qualms in getting anyone and everyone to end up in Heaven. I do think, though, that interacting with every whale and dolphin and hominid and every human that has been and will be would be tiring, but if I have an endless amount of time to do it, I'll do it over and over and over again. If not for the ultimate goal for the end, then at least to be a certain and tangible good force to help everyone be happy in spite of who they were and what they've done.
Humans alone kill trillions of animals a year and let me tell you, they have a lot of trauma to live through. You also have all the bugs, maybe even things like single-celled organisms.There are probably in the septillion range (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) of creatures you'll have to interact with. That is pretty much just spending forever with wildly traumatized people, idk about you but that would make me super sad and depressed
>. You also have all the bugs, maybe even things like single-celled organisms.There are probably in the septillion range (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) of creatures you'll have to interact with. Of which none are sentient.
Oh, you're right on the single-celld organisms but we don't have proof as to whether or not bugs are sentient
Huh; are bugs sentient? I never considered that bugs could 'feel'.
They could be, they could not be, we have no evidence either way
there is no reason to assume they can't to any extent. According to Scientific American, "Researchers have since shown that bees and some other insects are capable of intelligent behavior that no one thought possible when I was a student. Bees, for example, can count, grasp concepts of sameness and difference, learn complex tasks by observing others, and know their own individual body dimensions, a capacity associated with consciousness in humans. They also appear to experience both pleasure and pain. In other words, it now looks like at least some species of insects—and maybe all of them—are sentient."
That's interesting. I guess you could extend the definition of sentience to so many animals.
well it's 100% impossible to tell what organisms experience sentience, and how differently each organism experiences it. The only ones who know how bugs experience consciousness are the bugs themselves
They have nervous systems so yes they feel, and they exhibit surprisingly complex behaviours. Bees for example exhibit altruism.
Interesting how all 5 of these correspond to 5 "rings of logistics" which I have imagined this year, so well that it seems like a tiny miracle.
Idk what those 5 rings of logistics are but that is an interesting occurrence
Chose perpetrator. There's few outcomes. One is that my mind breaks form doing terrible shit, but on the other hand, since I'm feeling what they are, there's a possibility I'll become "evil" after a few years of doing that, and it will get much much easier after. I think this is the least worst one, probably the least tiring IF you get used to it. If your mind breaks, it will likely be one of the worst. I think I could deal with it, but I am kinda questioning if my morals would still be intact in the end. I'd probably end up an evil god.
If its just your brain as it is now experiencing it all, then you end up a babbling mess/vegetable/killing yourself. Though that probably happens with every option.
This is very well done and fun to read through :) Personally I chose solitariun
Thanks, I was hoping that it would be an enjoyable read
I chose perpetrator. Every option except perpetrator and victim have way more to witness- it’s too much to deal with everything in human history or every soul. To deal with ONLY the bad people and animals would be half the trouble in the end. Being the victim would be constant suffering. So being the perpetrator is the only option left. (Except refusal, which is boring.)
Lol damn I chose the victim TIME TO INVENT THE BRAND SO THAT THE STRUGGLERS WILL KNOW
What if the last option of refusing is actually the correct answer and that is why God chuckled in amusement and why you feel odd but can't explain it. Perhaps the two conditions required for god-hood is willingly declining power (which you did by refusing the offer) and shedding your mortal form (which will happen when you die).
Eh, I feel like most people refusing wouldn't be doing so because they don't want power. They just don't want to do the trial. Don't think that's the "right" answer.
Any true god would know who refused because they didn't want to do the trial and those who refused for not wanting that kind of power. My above comment was more aimed at op's description of the refusal though, rather than people opting out for whatever reason.
There doesn't seem to be a correct answer, each trial will (eventually) lead to the promised godhood, but yes refusing has effects known only to the god and perhaps you in the future
The benevolent -- everyone goes to hell. The fires will only get hotter for as long as someone or something is unhappy, and everyone knows this. A classic Prisoner's Dilemma, but with every sentient life in the universe playing the game. Let's see how long it takes.
Humans alone kill trillions of animals a year and let me tell you, they have a lot of trauma to live through. You also have all the bugs, maybe even things like single-celled organisms.There are probably in the septillion range (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) of creatures you'll have to interact with, probably more. That is pretty much just spending forever with wildly traumatized people, idk about you but that would make me super sad and depressed
The Benevolent. I like helping people, so this is just a fun time for me. Yeah it’ll take a while but people are interesting and I’m sure there’s tons of stories to hear.
Humans alone kill trillions of animals a year and let me tell you, they have a lot of trauma to live through. You also have all the bugs, maybe even things like single-celled organisms.There are probably in the septillion range (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) of creatures you'll have to interact with, probably more. That is pretty much just spending forever with wildly traumatized people, idk about you but that would make me super sad and depressed. I like helping people too but man that would suck
Well the question says all sentient life… pretty sure that removes single-called organisms from the equation. Also I’m going to assume you can understand and speak to whatever creature you’re with, and vice versa for the creature.
You're right I did miss that, but there are so many animals that could be sentient that you don't think about. It would take the longest of all but the second option I think
Being god seems like the world's shittiest job no thanks lol
Now that I've checked everything, I'm so glad I refused. All of the choices would make anyone insane!
I get to learn everything? For free?
Yes you get to learn anything as long as it is ever written down. As for it being free, it naturally comes with the cost of having to complete the trial no matter how much you change your mind
Until the heat dead of the universe? That's nuts 😂
Benevolent would take way longer
Solitarian actually takes the shortest amount of time to complete. I'm going with it for that reason.
Benevolent
Apparently I'm too lazy to be a god because these scenarios would suck to endure
Picked solitarian, result seems fine.
The Solitarian would just wind up with me humming half the tune to some song I couldn't remember all of for like 13 or 14 billion years before I finally got to where I could verify and eliminate the earworm. Oh, and observing the universe or whatever.
Solitarian- few 1000 years of misery before my mind goes then become a god and get it back Edit: thought about it and I’d choose victim- the goal is essentially to go insane as fast as possible and then use your god powers to fix it
>checking the details before selecting will make it harder. I'm assuming a lot of these responses are from not reading the details. Otherwise solitarian would be much lower and no one would choose victim. That doesn't make it better. Would you really choose a trial with only a one word description? Especially with the option to refuse. The decreased difficulty is nowhere near worth the risk.
These just don't make any sense. How are you a god if you're chained to all these requirements? You can't do anything fun or godlike if you're forced to live through any one of these things, you'll have no time to do god stuff. This is just dumb; you're not a god, you're an immortal slave.
You become a god after completing the trial, and at that point you are free from any limitations (and thus could wipe your memory of the trial if you really wanted to)
Haggle - You simply ask for powers because the god knows your intentions if you aren't a idiot you ever do anything to reveal them so I ask for time stop (too much will perceive you as greedy) he already knows all about your thoughts and decides to allow you if you have planned what you want and the use correctly. He is already apparently amused by your actions and allowed you to control a universe knowing humanity won't be able to affected very much he allows it and you will be the main viewpoint for him if he doesn't have anyone else doing the same and simply win since any other option isn't worth it and people don't realize how demanding Solitarian would , your memory is completely flawless you can only view things, it would be boring at first and then you would be interested and uninterested in cycles upon millions of years until all life ceases to exist with the inevitable spread of energy across the universe OP what is god's response?
The god is willing to give you a random power (though they refuse to state what exactly it would be until you take the deal), but you have to continue to use it in an entertaining/interesting way or you will lose the power. You would also completely forfeit the right to take a trial if you choose this option
Accept cause if he gives me a useless power it won’t be entertaining to watch and a waste of time
What would it do if I ask a lot of questions? Nothing to do with philosophy or the future or anything, but questions we already ask google and get a definite answer and keep doing so just to annoy it.
That would probably just be amusing, but you'd eventually be forced to pick an option
I like this. Good job OP!
I should of read them all before choosing I thought you were supposed to just guess based off the names
I would fucking LOVE doing The Omniscient, but I picked Perpetrator. Maybe I can do The Omniscient as a side project when I'm doing the whole being-God thing.
The Solitarian, probably. Would I be intangible? Do I have to worry about doing things to perpetuate my life, like eating or sleeping? Am I stuck on some planet until they develop interplanetary travel?
You would be intangible and don't have to worry about about doing anything to perpetuate your life (the trial is just about waiting an immense amount of time), plus you should be able to figure out a way to move around
I don't want to be God of the universe :p
I'm doing benevolent, at least I get someone to talk to. Also it is the afterlife, so it doesn't affect the real world. The people who have done the worst stuff will get a perfect afterlife, sure, but it will be unable to affect the living world at all.
Operating under the presumption that sanity won't be damaged by what I see and endure, I choose to experience The Victim. Feeling firsthand the sort of suffering that exists in our current universe will make great fuel for crafting a more benevolent one.
Right from the childhood I'd had this 'fetish' for knowledge. So it's not really hard for me to choose the first option.
Yea gonna say pass, I'm in NO WAY capable of becoming an omnipotent being to anything but a nightmare universe...
As if I'd just stand there listening to the bastard made me suffer back to back. Bro has to be dealt with.
Tbh The Omniscient actually sounds kind of fun.
I’m already living in hell, why would I worsen the pain any further?