So our souls are like . . . . some kind of hard drive? And at the end of our lives, when they won't re-boot any more, and they're full of malicious rootkits, trojan horse viruses all zombying for some botnet somewhere, when our system is no longer operable, some divine hand takes us offline, unplugs us from the motherboard, and . . . . . . what? Reformats our C Drives?
Keeps our documents folder on a separate partition perhaps?
The question in this scenario for me, is whether or not we have global administrative powers. To access the partition where (hopefully) the experience and wisdom of our "previous lives installs" are kept.
If we are, then why can't we remember these installs at will? Why can't we remember this previously stored data, and then, by cross referencing any corresponding data stored on hard copy records, prove empirically that past life memory has some validity?
Does user modification to the OS, or to the hardware configuration invalidate the warranty? If we start running software that hasn't had verification from the system manufacturer, do we breach the contract? Instead of getting reformatted, will we be recycled? Melted down for our metal parts?
On my computer, I don't mind running software sourced from P-P torrent sites. If I get hardware conflicts, I can replace bits, until I get it sorted. If there's a sticker on the case that says "No user serviceable parts" I'll ignore it, because I've found that much of the time that's a downright lie.
So running with this analogy, I've probably hacked my spiritual C Drive completely. If I had Global admin status in the first place, then why was the drive partitioned? If I didn't, then I've usurped the power of some spiritual systems admin. In which case, what does "free will" really mean?
I want my cake, and I want to eat it. What's the point of having a cake, if you're prevented from eating it? If that's the kind of cake you're selling, then I don't want it.
If I've made my bed, then yes, I'm quite happy to lie in it. Why would I have made my bed, if I wasn't going to lie in it? I might even get some cake crumbs it. Bite me.
I'll tweak the analogy a little now. Instead of having previous documents in that partition, there's an automated remote control unit, set to factory defaults. It's fairly unimaginatively programmed, but it's robust enough to be functional.
Now, if there's an autopilot running the program I like to call; "me", then that's wonderful. It explains how I've managed to keep my meat mobile for 46 years. It explains "luck". It also suggests some kind of intelligent design.
But I want the option of manual over ride. Without this, the "me" program is no more than another piece of botnet malware. Filling up the meat world with spiritual spam. There might be something that's been overlooked in my spam folder. It happens. I demand to see. "Oh my, there's some ugly complicated shit in there". Well? I'm a complicated kinda person. I'll cope. Or not. Either way, I'm not giving global control over MY bloody C Drive, to some overlord nanny algorithm, no matter how stable it is.
Once you've accessed the partition, you can't really just do a sys.rest and pretend you never saw it. The Genie won't go back in the bottle. It's not my fault. I didn't design the runtime environment. I'm just going to hack it for my own curiosities sake. The "me" program is human. Humans are dynamically predisposed towards curious behaviour. If that's a bug in the human program, then it's probably best to have another look at the code.
But if our curiosity is an A.I Driver that periodically opens software expansion packs, then my analogy is still good.
So a rare thing has happened. From beginning to end, one of my interminably long and rambling posts (no no, It's ok) hasn't contradicted itself, fallen apart, or (hopefully) insulted the intelligence of anyone who has followed it's (admittedly shaky) logic. So I'd best shut up now before I ruin it.
