stonecrandall Chapter 298 The Solution – God's 9 Million Names
Chapter 298 The Solution – God's 9 Million Names
Chapter 300: The Solution – The Nine Billion Names of God
According to the definitions of superstitious people and religious figures, the most strictly defined deity must be omniscient and omnipotent.
This concept is not ancient. In the beginning, the religious concept of God, in the ancient doctrines passed down from generation to generation by believers, did not possess such vast and boundless power.
However, as the debate between science and faith erupted, atheists, including Medan, posed a series of sharp and rigorous questions to those who believed in the existence of God, regarding the definition of God.
For example, is the god you speak of who created the world a single being, or are multiple beings coexisting? Can he simultaneously perceive and influence events occurring on different planets? If so, how would he simultaneously exist in two separate locations, influencing different planets tens of thousands of light-years apart? Leaving aside these questions for now, can we call a fleeting, ethereal fluctuation of thought, like smoke gathering and dispersing, an individual's will?
These intertwined issues are not problematic when discussed individually, but when put together, they are so malicious that if theists deal with them carelessly, the gods they believe in will either fall into an awkward situation of self-contradiction and be unable to exist in a self-consistent and reasonable way, or they will be stripped of their divinity and reduced to ordinary creatures that are not fundamentally different from other life forms.
Therefore, in order to answer these questions from human reason, even the highest gods have been forced to embark on an endless expansion of their military power.
No, let's think about it from a different perspective. If God truly exists, wouldn't it be precisely these questions that reveal just the tip of the iceberg of the nature of deities?
If it weren't for Mei Dan and others using logical and philosophical contradictions to drive those blindly following and believing believers to a theoretical dead end, those people might never have realized the true power and terror of what they believed in.
Thus, after a series of heated debates, once the dust settled, both theists and atheists were rendered speechless by the conceptual monster they had created. Based on ancient doctrines and logic, the God who created the world must simultaneously hold the power of time and space; therefore, distance and time difference in any sense cannot limit Him. The God possesses absolute will; He can be seen as a single individual, yet also capable of multiplying into countless forms. Due to His creation of all things, God is both the origin and model of all life, and the source and ultimate source of all energy. He possesses all-seeing eyes, able to perceive the entire universe as clearly as the lines on the palm of his hand, and infinite wisdom, capable of absorbing and understanding all information in the world in a timely and effective manner. And a God capable of all of the above, throughout endless ages, has neither destroyed the world out of weariness nor abandoned the universe out of laziness. Therefore, while possessing the power to end everything, He also possesses compassion beyond the realm of human understanding.
"This is absolutely ridiculous, isn't it? It's unimaginable that such a twisted existence could lurk in the shadows in a world that follows logic."
Mei Dan leaned against the long table in the reception room, her head bowed, yet she showed none of the dejection she had previously displayed. Her mottled, scattered gray hair, like a skull, obscured the old professor's sinister face. "However, we still cannot theoretically deny the possibility of such an existence. It's too ironic."
"So you started that experiment."
Zhu Lan remained calm, showing no sign of wavering despite the fact that the gods she had studied for many years were about to be proven or disproven. "A verification experiment that can create a fatal contradiction between the basic definitions of the gods."
"When theoretical development stagnates, experimental observations should pave the way first. Aren't there many such cases in our scientific history?" Medan said.
"I find it a bit puzzling that, in such a vast world, no one has yet conducted such a simple experiment."
The Sinnoh champion shook his head: "Anyone who can undergo this experiment must have an equally profound understanding of religion and science—even though my field of research overlaps with both, I still sincerely feel that this experiment is far too far-fetched and risky. Mr. Medan, not all scholars are like you."
A person with scientific literacy would never actively try to prove the existence of God; and a person with firm religious beliefs would be even less likely to challenge the contradictions between the definitions of God.
There is only one person in the world who would conduct such an experiment: Meidan.
"So, besides biology and information technology literature, your bookshelf contains an encyclopedia of elves, ancient poems and texts, and those specialized books on phonology and grammar. I originally mistook them for reference books prepared for translating ancient texts—but these..."
"That's the most important part of your second research, Professor Meidan."
Mei Dan did not deny it, but nodded silently.
"Miss Zhulan, what exactly is Mr. Meidan's research?"
Even though she felt the champion of Bamboo Orchid was about to reveal the correct answer, Officer Jenny couldn't help but urge her on. She hoped the mythologists could cut to the chase; it wouldn't be too late to check the answer after they had some evidence.
"Mr. Medan has only one thing to do."
Mythologists say.
"That is to invoke the name of the gods."
Just as hearing one's own name called on the street would cause most people to turn around and look, regardless of who it is, what the circumstances, or what the situation, Meidan hopes to use this method of invoking the gods to prove whether the gods are omniscient and omnipotent.
Does it possess the will of an individual as a living being?
If, after invoking the name of a deity, nothing happens, everything remains unchanged, and the world continues as before, then he can seize upon the logical flaw in the theory of theism and use the concept of a deity itself to deny its own existence.
If God did not hear this call, then He is by no means omniscient.
If he senses the call but is unable to respond in time, then Shen Zhang is by no means omnipotent.
If a god is omniscient and omnipotent, yet doesn't even have a name to identify himself, or even if he hears his true name, he is still unwilling to display his effortless abilities or give the slightest response to those who call upon his true name, then the god that believers call upon may very well not have an independent will at all.
Even if such a god exists, his attitude towards humanity should be as indifferent as that towards a passerby who ignores a greeting—in that case, the god would naturally not exert much influence on the human world.
In the spirit of "entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily," it is not unreasonable to consider such deities as non-existent.
As for that remaining one in a billion chance, if that omniscient and omnipotent god truly responded to that call—
Hehe, in that case, this research, which has troubled Mei Dan for most of her life, can be completely put to rest without even needing to be classified and discussed.
"No, no, no, no! This is too weird!"
Officer Jenny shook her head vigorously, feeling her head throb. "Although you've been using terms like 'god,' 'deity,' and 'divine being' to refer to the creator god of this world for academic rigor, based on archaeological discoveries over the years, the name of this deity you're talking about should be 'Arceus,' right? Haven't we been using that name all along? Even many Pokémon Pokédex entries accept this name. If calling a god's name would always be perceived by the deity, then the omniscient and omnipotent Arceus should be tired of hearing his own name by now, shouldn't he?"
"Even if Professor Medan shouted that phrase out to the sky at maximum volume, the deity himself couldn't possibly respond, could he? This is no different from Medan's previous private remarks about the deity. Besides, why do you think that just because you shout something to the deity, the deity is obligated to respond? Professor, you don't have that much influence. Who is the deity, you or him?"
"Therefore, whether this call will be answered depends not on how loud it is, but on whether it is correct."
Mei Dan waved her hand, her tired voice drifting into everyone's ears.
"Take your name, Officer Jenny, for example. In this limited, face-to-face interaction, you'd naturally recognize that the name Officer Jenny refers to yourself. But if you had ears that could hear everything in the world, even if you heard the name 'Officer Jenny' called out, there would be hundreds or thousands of other Officer Jennys in the world at the same time. Therefore, you wouldn't assume that the call was referring to you, would you?"
"It's a bit convoluted, but I can still understand it barely."
Officers from police families all look alike, and they all happen to like calling themselves Officers by their family name, so Officers feel particularly empathetic to this example.
"Therefore, strictly speaking, 'Officer Jenny' is not your real name, Miss Officer Jenny. As for what your real name is, it might be Officer Jenny plus your nickname or pet name in your family, or perhaps it's simply your registered title and employee number at work. In any case, this name will allow you to clearly perceive the existence of your own will in any situation."
"In addition, the language in which the name is used is also crucial."
Cynthia, revealing the truth behind the research, helped Meidan further add, "Although the language we use today was standardized long before the League was established, it is undeniable that in the earlier human settlements, people in different parts of the world used different languages—in this case, the names of Pokémon and gods naturally could not be determined either."
The champion, holding ancient books, spoke eloquently in his familiar field of mythology.
"We should have talked about this here before, right? In the ancient Sinnoh region, people even believed that the name of the Sinnoh Grandmaster who created this world was 'Dialga' or 'Palchi'."
"Now it seems that this name is undoubtedly a huge misattribution, but if we talk about the real name that Professor Medan claims, the name 'Arzeus' is actually not much more accurate than the former two—this is not a name that the gods personally conveyed to mankind through oracle."
Rather, like the names of other Pokémon in the Pokédex, it is a new term created by Pokémon scholars after they studied how people in different regions called this creature.
"On this point, one can see the strong traces of artificial naming simply from the fact that its spelling name starts with the first letter A of the alphabet, and the way the name incorporates the creation gods of different regional mythologies."
From the perspective of studying ancient books and visiting folk customs, the first generation of Pokémon scholars at that time may have been the world's earliest researchers of mythology.
"Furthermore, the names listed in the Pokémon Encyclopedia are merely the names of their races, just like referring to a person as 'human.'"
"It doesn't serve the purpose of calling out real names," Professor Mei Dan added.
"So the experiment you're doing is to find out the true name of that creator god? Oh my god! That computer cluster in the basement! Those machines are used for this!" Officer Jenny suddenly realized.
The old professor nodded smugly, his deep gaze seeming to pierce through his gray hair. "I spent half a year adapting an expanded version of the language and script that is several times more precise than the previous phonological rules. Many people in history have done similar things, so it doesn't take too much effort. As long as I use this script, I can perfectly cover any pronunciation or intonation in natural language."
"On this new alphabet of phonetic writing, any possible name for a god can be represented by no more than nine letters. After subtracting the remaining information that cannot be pronounced normally, I can obtain a list containing nine billion names, and the true name of the god who rules the world must be mixed in among them."
Just like listing from "AAAAA" to "ZZZZZ"—
Compared to the experiments with artificial androids, this ritual of summoning a god was even more unacceptable to Officer Jenny: "This is absolutely insane, utterly meaningless. Professor Medan, you simply can't discern that name!"
"If God truly exists, then He would naturally have a way to discern the information representing His own name."
Meidan was not deterred by Officer Jenny's questioning at all. "Can you understand the true meaning of God? All the fluctuations of our thoughts are like an open book in His eyes. To such a being, sound waves in the air are no different from graphite imprinted on paper pulp; similarly,"
The words written on the paper were indistinguishable from the array of light spots—I didn't even need to write down those names on paper; I just needed to design a program to scroll this list across the electronic display.
"Then I can call upon God!"
"Mr. Mei Dan, it's just a name, a combination of characters!" Hearing this, Zhu Lan finally couldn't hold back and retorted sternly.
"A creature's real name may indeed represent a lot of philosophical meaning, but I really don't think it can summon gods."
"Really?"
Mei Dan raised one eyelid, like a night owl that had spotted its prey.
"I originally thought that only you, the champion of Bamboo Orchid, could fully understand its meaning in this world."
"What do you mean?" Zhu Lan was really confused now.
What exactly is this arrogant and decrepit biology professor up to?
"Human language originated from the imitation of the speech of ancient Pokémon, but before that, all Pokémon could already communicate freely with each other—so where did this most primitive language come from?"
This is exactly the academic paper that Zhu Lan published before she became the champion!
The mythologist frowned deeply. She certainly remembered the speculation she had made in her paper: "Regarding the origin of this primitive language, we might offer two explanations: First, before life existed, there might have been a creator, almost divine, who, while creating all the Pokémon in the world at that time, also left an instinctive memory of using the same language deep within their genes; second, this primitive language itself is particularly unique, perhaps possessing a divinely inspired propagation nature, causing various biological populations to actively or passively begin using this language upon contact with it."
"Regardless of which interpretation it is, they all suggest that the language we use daily today may contain some profound mythological content that transcends previous understanding. Perhaps, in a religious sense, it is the language used by the gods."
"Champion Bamboo Orchid, even after all this, do you still believe that the names of these nine billion gods are insufficient to summon the true gods?"
'
In the dimly lit forest mansion, the biology professor, who had been slandering gods and ancestors, revealed a mysterious and unpredictable smile.