So there must be something more
Perhaps you have experienced something you cannot explain, an incredible coincidence or something else, for instance, a near-death experience. Or maybe you know someone who did. You cannot reason it away so you think there must be something more to this universe than science can explain.
Is there a plan?
On 28 June 1914, a Serbian nationalist shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand in his open car in Sarajevo. This event triggered World War I. The war ended with the Armistice of 11 November 1918. The car in which Franz Ferdinand met his destiny bore license plate number A III 118, a possible reference to the Armistice of 11-11-18. So, is there a plan behind everything that happens?
Wake up call
Every time I woke up at night, I looked at the clock, and it showed times like 2:22, 3:33, 4:44 or 5:55. Then out of the blue, my wife told me that she too was waking up at night and seeing these same time prompts again and again. I had not mentioned this to anyone.
A few possible scenarios
What will our future look like? Robots and artificial intelligence may take over our jobs. Gumans may enhance themselves with biotechnology, cyborg engineering and information technology. These post-humans may create games and imaginary worlds with simulations of human civilisations to entertain themselves.
Knowledge theory
What is truth, and what is knowledge? Philosophers have been discussing these questions for thousands of years. This is called knowledge theory. It aims to answer questions such as: What do we know? What does it mean that we know something? And what makes beliefs justified?
Explaining the unexplained
The paranormal has been a subject of controversy. The evidence is often problematic. Many paranormal incidents could be natural phenomena or the result of fraud or delusion, but a large number remain without explanation. In virtual reality, the laws of nature do not have to apply or they could apply in an arrangement suggesting that someone is pulling the strings.
Simulation hypothesis
Some major religions claim that gods created this universe and that we are like them. For long it was impossible to clarify why this world might not be real or how the gods might have created it. Recent advances in information technology have changed that. This universe could be a virtual reality created by an advanced humanoid civilisation.
Simulation argument II: adding information
Simulations could be realistic in many ways while not being realistic in some aspects. Instead of speculating about us living in a simulation by guessing the probability of the existence of post-humans and their abilities, resources, and possible motivations, it seems more illuminating to look at the available information about our universe.
The mystery of being
Why do we exist? We are self-centred, hence inclined to see ourselves as unique. And so we might delude ourselves by thinking that this universe is there for us and, therefore, must have a creator who is concerned about us. The odds appear stacked against us being here, so our existence might appear a miracle.
Post-human motivations
We may find out that we live inside a simulation if we notice that reality is not realistic, at least in some aspects. To see why, we can look at the possible motives for post-humans to run simulations of human civilisations. Even though it is not certain, post-humans might have similar motivations as we have.
Properties of this universe
Either this universe emerged for some unknown reason or it was created by an advanced civilisation. Some people believe they can prove that this universe is created by demonstrating that the underlying properties are just numbers that can be represented in a computer. But properties are not a cause of existence.
The weird universe
Coincidences like the licence plate number of Franz Ferdinand’s death car being a reference to the end date of World War I suggest that history is a script. Evidence of reincarnation indicates that memories can be stored outside the body. The universe may not be what is appears to be.
Death: the final frontier
Quite a few people have experienced near-death. To some people this is proof of an afterlife but most scientists are not convinced. A psychiatrist named Ian Stevenson proved them all wrong. But why do so few people remember a previous life? The answer might be a bit discomforting.
Meaningful coincidences
If we live inside a virtual reality there may be a script. And if there is a script then this universe probably is a virtual reality. Presumably, someone must be running the show in that case. Such a script might generate meaningful coincidences we can recognise. Some of them can be quite intriguing.
What are the odds?
Meaningful coincidences may happen by chance. There are so many things happening all the time that meaningful coincidences must occur from time to time. That is the law of large numbers. Is there a way around this law so that we can demonstrate that there is a script?
Numerology, 11, and 11:11
Numerology is a way to give meaning to events using numbers. Numbers have no meaning, except the number itself. Weird things happened. This justifies a closer look at coincidences like 11:11 turning up on clocks again and again. There appeared to be a relation with the end of the Mayan calendar on 21 December 2012.
Psychics, mediums and premonition
Perhaps mediums are so good at asking the right questions to influence people’s minds and reading people’s body language and facial expressions that they appear psychic. But perhaps psychics can make guesses that are more accurate than chance allows for without fraud. A prediction I made shows how that might be possible.
Ghost stories
People believing in ghosts are sometimes seen as nutty or delusional. But there may be more to ghosts than science can explain. A Fox News reporter, who allegedly has been attacked by ghosts and demons in a haunted house, had to admit that the ghostlike phenomena at least felt real.
History’s as a script
World War I ended with the Armistice of 11 November 1918. The licence plate number of the car in which Franz Ferdinand was killed referred to this date. The peculiarities surrounding D-Day are even more puzzling. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 has been predicted. The coincidences combined suggest that history is a script.
11 September coincidences
One of the first major geopolitical events in the age of the Internet was 9/11. This event has been the subject of conspiracy theories. That obscured a remarkable fact. No other event in world history has ever been riddled with so many peculiar coincidences. Perhaps the conspiracy theorists simply weren’t paranoid enough as history might be a script.
The aftermath of the 11 September terror attacks
In the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terror attacks some peculiar coincidences happened. For instance, 11 years after the attacks, on 11 September 2012 there was a collision of trams 9 and 11 near the Hollands Spoor Station in The Hague in the Netherlands. A few days earlier a report had come into the news that Al-Qaeda had recruited two Somali men to carry out a suicide attack in The Hague.
History’s oddities
US Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were both involved in drafting the US Declaration of Independence which was signed on 4 July 1776. Both died on 4 July 1826, fifty years after the Declaration of Independence. There are more of such oddities in history.
The UFO mysteries
In April 2020 the Pentagon released three declassified videos showing pilots running into unidentified flying objects. It vindicated people who believe that extraterrestrials visit us from time to time.
The Plan For The Future 