both would lead to an inert, entropic, and ultimately meaningless existance and likely suicide.
I'm not sure I agree with this. If you were both omnipotent and omniscience, you could simply choose for everyone else to be too or for yourself not to be. Considering giving up power is not in our nature, probably the former, which would really be the same as the latter considering every other conscious being would once again be on an even playing field with you. Although by being all knowing, you would know which choice was correct and if giving up your power was the better one, there wouldn't be a reason not to.
In history, kings/emperors/lords etc. still had reason to live and that was to keep their power. But in the case where you have limitless power and knowledge, if you knew that having it would lead to ending your own life and you knew that life was more worth living without limitless power and knowledge, why would you not give it up? The assumption that life without limitless power and knowledge is somehow more worthy of time than with such attributes is of course a huge assumption from me without such things.
If U is supposedly the "smart" color, how is it that it overlooked the fact that it seems that having Omnipotence would allow one to have Omniscience?
I mean, theoretically, that means that by having B's goal, you could also accomplish all the goals of every other color, since you have the power to do so (W = peace, R = freedom, G = growth). Being omnipotent would mean that you could have any of those in an instant, right?
Oh, wait a second. Would one be at peace if one attained ultimate power? Most fictional works I know of show that powerful people hardly have any peace, be it peace of mind, peace for others, or otherwise. Powerful people also arent simply free by virtue of being trapped by their own power, and people who believe they have all the power they could want no longer have any capacity to grow in any healthy way.
Does that mean, therefore, that Omnipotence might not really be all it's cracked up to be, if, in the end you are alone and not at peace, ultimately bound by your own power, and have no more capacity to grow? You might just need Omniscience to cope with Omnipotence, which of course implies that Omniscience is actually the more valuable one.
I mean, I'm not saying Omniscience is any different (it comes with its own caveats), but I'm just pointing out that while theoretically having Omnipotence would result in having everything else, in reality we simply know that a person can only deal with having so much power before going insane. Of course, none of them are all-powerful, but that's beside the point, because no matter how much power you have, it doesn't follow that it will make you happy.
I participate yearly in a survival challenge in which I am dropped off in the wilderness with 1 days rations, a knife, and no other supplies, and have to find my way home. This is typically several weeks hiking from civilization.
I have personally killed several bears in the course of this challenge, with the use of snares and other traps.
If we're going to assume the caveat that omniscience would grant you the knowledge that omnipotence is impossible, then I'd defer to omniscience because that way I could at least ise my mind to make things the way I want them to - my physical existence would still have meaning and I wouldn't accidentally destroy myself with my REALITY-BENDING POWERS. Here's a thought: To the people who chose omnipotence, would you still want to be omnipotent if you could only be omnipotent in one directiom, i.e. no reversals of mistakes? Why or why not?
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
I myself am partial to omniscience. I don't believe it would be too much to contemplate/feel like the Dr. Doom comic scene up yonder simply for the fact that I am not thinking of everything I know at all times. I certainly don't feel everything at once, at least consciously. And when posing the question my friends and I were taking this as a vacuum, you cannot gain the other with the one you have. Say there was some divine law or wish law that prevented gaining both, you can only have one. I figure knowing everything would rock, whereas having power of everything would become boring. In my opinion at least.
If we're going to assume the caveat that omniscience would grant you the knowledge that omnipotence is impossible, then I'd defer to omniscience because that way I could at least ise my mind to make things the way I want them to - my physical existence would still have meaning and I wouldn't accidentally destroy myself with my REALITY-BENDING POWERS. Here's a thought: To the people who chose omnipotence, would you still want to be omnipotent if you could only be omnipotent in one directiom, i.e. no reversals of mistakes? Why or why not?
That's not omnipotence. That's extreme power, but it's not omnipotence. So it's not a question of omnipotence vs omniscience but one of 'a large amount of power' vs omniscience.
But let's put it this way:
Omnipotence entails omniscience. If there's anything which can be known which you can't learn, you aren't omnipotent. You could choose omnipotence, grant yourself omniscience and then choose never to use your omnipotence again. Choosing omnipotence grants you both; choosing omniscience grants you one.
There are potentially unavoidable downsides to omniscience, and no unavoidable downsides to omnipotence. It's possible that unless an omnipotent supernatural power intervenes, you will eventually die. An omnipotent being could choose not to prevent that death, or could choose to prevent that death. An omniscient being can't choose to prevent it. If you want to eventually die, you still get it either way, but if you want to keep living, omniscience doesn't necessarily let you do that (as a practical matter it'd potentially prolong your life to the end of the universe, if you're careful, but it may not give you the power to prevent the universe from ending). You may end up with something like a cosmic Cassandra complex - certain knowledge of a coming disaster and no way to avert it.
Another possible drawback: it may turn out there are things you don't want to know. It might be some Cthulhu-esque horror the knowledge of which will slowly warp your mind and drive you insane, or it could be something trite, like the exact and unavoidable knowledge of precisely what your father looks like during an orgasm. Omniscience isn't guaranteed to come with the power to not know something (it might, or it might not). Omnipotence is.
So, even if all you want is to know everything, choosing omnipotence is a better choice than choosing omniscience.
you cannot gain the other with the one you have.
Then what you're being offered is not omnipotence. It's merely a lot of power. That changes a lot.
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I'm not sure I agree with this. If you were both omnipotent and omniscience, you could simply choose for everyone else to be too or for yourself not to be. Considering giving up power is not in our nature, probably the former, which would really be the same as the latter considering every other conscious being would once again be on an even playing field with you. Although by being all knowing, you would know which choice was correct and if giving up your power was the better one, there wouldn't be a reason not to.
In history, kings/emperors/lords etc. still had reason to live and that was to keep their power. But in the case where you have limitless power and knowledge, if you knew that having it would lead to ending your own life and you knew that life was more worth living without limitless power and knowledge, why would you not give it up? The assumption that life without limitless power and knowledge is somehow more worthy of time than with such attributes is of course a huge assumption from me without such things.
U's ultimate goal is Omniscience.
B's ultimate goal is Omnipotence.
If U is supposedly the "smart" color, how is it that it overlooked the fact that it seems that having Omnipotence would allow one to have Omniscience?
I mean, theoretically, that means that by having B's goal, you could also accomplish all the goals of every other color, since you have the power to do so (W = peace, R = freedom, G = growth). Being omnipotent would mean that you could have any of those in an instant, right?
Oh, wait a second. Would one be at peace if one attained ultimate power? Most fictional works I know of show that powerful people hardly have any peace, be it peace of mind, peace for others, or otherwise. Powerful people also arent simply free by virtue of being trapped by their own power, and people who believe they have all the power they could want no longer have any capacity to grow in any healthy way.
Does that mean, therefore, that Omnipotence might not really be all it's cracked up to be, if, in the end you are alone and not at peace, ultimately bound by your own power, and have no more capacity to grow? You might just need Omniscience to cope with Omnipotence, which of course implies that Omniscience is actually the more valuable one.
I mean, I'm not saying Omniscience is any different (it comes with its own caveats), but I'm just pointing out that while theoretically having Omnipotence would result in having everything else, in reality we simply know that a person can only deal with having so much power before going insane. Of course, none of them are all-powerful, but that's beside the point, because no matter how much power you have, it doesn't follow that it will make you happy.
Just something to think about.
How well do you do against one?
{мы, тьма}
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
That's not omnipotence. That's extreme power, but it's not omnipotence. So it's not a question of omnipotence vs omniscience but one of 'a large amount of power' vs omniscience.
But let's put it this way:
Omnipotence entails omniscience. If there's anything which can be known which you can't learn, you aren't omnipotent. You could choose omnipotence, grant yourself omniscience and then choose never to use your omnipotence again. Choosing omnipotence grants you both; choosing omniscience grants you one.
There are potentially unavoidable downsides to omniscience, and no unavoidable downsides to omnipotence. It's possible that unless an omnipotent supernatural power intervenes, you will eventually die. An omnipotent being could choose not to prevent that death, or could choose to prevent that death. An omniscient being can't choose to prevent it. If you want to eventually die, you still get it either way, but if you want to keep living, omniscience doesn't necessarily let you do that (as a practical matter it'd potentially prolong your life to the end of the universe, if you're careful, but it may not give you the power to prevent the universe from ending). You may end up with something like a cosmic Cassandra complex - certain knowledge of a coming disaster and no way to avert it.
Another possible drawback: it may turn out there are things you don't want to know. It might be some Cthulhu-esque horror the knowledge of which will slowly warp your mind and drive you insane, or it could be something trite, like the exact and unavoidable knowledge of precisely what your father looks like during an orgasm. Omniscience isn't guaranteed to come with the power to not know something (it might, or it might not). Omnipotence is.
So, even if all you want is to know everything, choosing omnipotence is a better choice than choosing omniscience.
Then what you're being offered is not omnipotence. It's merely a lot of power. That changes a lot.