The Multiverse as a Viable Solution to the Omnipotent Paradox

The Omnipotent Paradox at a Glance
What is known as the omnipotent paradox is a fundamental study for a student in philosophy. While we typically think of the many great Greek minds when we think of philosophy, it is worth noting that the first demonstration of this problem did not originate in ancient Greece, but rather in medieval times at around 10 BC. The question came as a result of Saadia Gaon responding to an inquiry of whether God’s omnipotence extended beyond logical absurdities. That being said, in order to not only understand the problem created by the paradox, but to solve it, it is essential to begin where one might start in the classroom; beginning with a concrete definition of omnipotence. Once one has a firm understanding of this working definition, logic would dictate that the next step would be to define the problems brought forth by the omnipotent paradox. For this purpose, let us define omnipotence has having unlimited or very great power; being all powerful. This understanding of omnipotence is crucial to this problem, because the omnipotence paradox is a group of logical absurdities and contradictions that center around an understanding of omnipotence. In what is known as the omnipotence paradox there is a group of questions that if answered with either yes or no, would seem to indicate that the entity is not all powerful. Some exemplifications of these inquiries include but are not limited to whether or not an all powerful being could create a stone that he could not lift. Logic would dictate that if the could create such a rock, then by not being able to pick up the stone, the being is not all powerful. At the same time, if the omnipotent one could not create such a stone, then the being is still not omnipotent because of his failure to do so. Another demonstration of the paradox is found in whether or not an omnipotent being could create for something that it could not control. Again, the same problem arises as we previously encountered, just as we find in other paradoxes created by the problem such as whether or not a circle could be a square.

The Arguments on the Omnipotent Paradox
Many great mind have attempted to solve the problems created by the omnipotence paradox. One of the most well-known instances of this is that of the argumentation made by Thomas Aquinas. According to the Italian philosopher and priest, the solution to the problem was found in absolute omnipotence. Aquinas felt that the reason that the paradox arose was due to a misdirected comprehension of the word omnipotence. Expanding on these points, Aquinas maintained that both logical impossibilities and innate contradictions had nothing to do with a working definition of what omnipotence means. Not only that, but Aquinas went on to elaborate on how such an omnipotent entity could only carry out actions that do not transgress against the basic laws of logic. Aquinas was not the only person to tackle this problem of antiquity. There were philosophers such as that of Rene Descartes also argued that absolute omnipotence was the solution. An illustration of this would be a reality where God could both lift the rock and not lift the rock at the same time. The vantage point taken by Descartes, where a being could do absolutely anything, even if it was logically absurd is one that is known as voluntarism. There have been countless other answers to this age long problem, each as more fanciful as the last. With that being kept in consideration, these brilliant minds did not have notions of a multiverse to work with to go about solving this problem. Thus, we will next superimpose the paradox onto various models of the multiverse, amalgamating it was the idea of absolute omnipotence in order to set out and solve the paradox once and for all.

History of the Universe

The universe that existed at the time that the omnipotent paradox came into being was significantly more different than the one that we find ourselves living in today. What we can observe is that this puzzle originated around 10 B.C. During that specific epoch of human civilization, the model of the universe as they knew it was most likely to be that of the geocentric model, with the earth as the center of the universe having all the celestial bodies orbiting around it. It would be centuries before the renaissance came along with Nicolaus Copernicus putting forth the heliocentric model of the solar system as we know it today. Even so, as with almost everything else that we can observe in the universe, our constructs of the universe are still constantly changing. Astrophysicists today question the steady state model of the universe, and new evidence even makes them skeptical about what we know about the big bang theory and singularity alike. Today, theorists of astrophysics have developed new models of the universe claiming that instead, we live in what is known as a multiverse, with as many as nine different models of what this may look like; these include that of the quilted, holographic, inflationary, brane, cyclic, landscape, quantum, simulated, and ultimate multiverses. What we find with these theories is that there is a viable solution to the omnipotent paradox that transcends the issues of logical absurdities at the root of the problem that did not exist at the time that the paradox came into existence. Similarly, the conceptualizations of our observable universe that can be found in string theory also yield a failsafe answer to this paradox. In string theory, it is assumed that we live in a universe with as many as ten to eleven dimensions to our reality. When we look at these higher dimensions, we find the possibility of the existence of planes of possible worlds both with the same initial conditions such as singularity, and others that have different begins and laws of universe.

The Omnipotent Paradox in the Background of the Multiverse

One of the more challenging aspects of the omnipotent paradox is that the human mind cannot begin to fathom the capabilities of an all knowing and all powerful being. That is at the very root of this philosophical inquiry; that is that it is a question of whether a reliable definition of omnipotence exists, and what this means to the many theologies of the world. Through human ingenuity we may be able to image such notions as God, the multiverse, singularity, relativity, quantum entanglement, and many other impressive feats of the human mind, but we are far from omnipotent, and we are incredibly limited in many ways. Be that as it mays, lets us assume that we live in one of the many speculated multiverses that have been put forth by astrophysics, while also assuming that an omnipotent being has absolute omnipotence. For all intents and purposes, let's use the ultimate multiverse in this case. Now, let us take the first problem of whether or not God could create a stone that he could not lift. In a theoretical multiverse, an omnipotent being with absolute omnipotence could create one universe where he could lift the rock, and another universe where he could not lift the rock, demonstrating absolute omnipotence. The same would hold true in the case of the higher dimensions of string theory. Using the problem of whether or not an omnipotent being, supposed to be God, could create for something he cannot control, we see that string theory yields similar results. To demonstrate this, let us use the belief that the seventh dimension of string theory where it is assumed that there is a plane of differing worlds that had differing initial conditions. In such a background this omnipotent being could create one world that had an initial condition where he could create something that he couldn’t control, and another world where the initial condition had it that he could control the very same thing. In the background of the multiverse, the same holds systematically true for each of the problems brought forth by the paradox. If we live in a multiverse with an omnipotent being, one that has absolute power, then it is very well possible that this being could not only create a. reality where he could not pick up the stone, but another where he is the stone itself. With the ultimate multiverse and absolute power, the omnipotent being could make a world that consisted of logical absurdities. Just as he could make one where a square is a circle, and the laws of physics don’t apply so that this being can create for an object with both unstoppable force but that is also an unmovable object. With such an atmosphere to work in, anything is possible.