Is God Real? Scientists ‘Prove’ His Existence With Godel’s Theory And MacBooks

Scientists have “proven” God’s existence, at least in theory, by plugging in mathematician Kurt Godel’s philosophy on their MacBooks. As noted by Spiegel Online, however, what the two computer scientists did was more of display of what can be achieved in scientific fields by using greater technology rather than verify the existence of a Supreme Being. The story, however, has become a sensation with headlines like “Scientist Prove Existence of God,” going viral on the Web.

Godel was an Austrian mathematician who, in 1978, left behind a theory, which essentially says that a higher being must exist if people believe He does. Though the mathematics are much more complex, God exists as a concept, than he can exist in reality.

According to CNET via the Inquisitr, the complication theorems and axioms boil down to this: “God, by definition, is that for which no greater can be conceived. God exists in the understanding. If God exists in the understanding, we could imagine Him to be greater by existing in reality. Therefore, God must exist.”

It’s not the first attempt at rationalizing the abstract idea, but computer scientists Christoph Benzmüller of Berlin's Free University and his colleague, Bruno Woltzenlogel Paleo of the Technical University in Vienna, put a new spin on it, Spiegel Online wrote.

Armed with their MacBooks, the scientific duo showed Godel’s proof was correct. "It's totally amazing that from this argument led by Gödel, all this stuff can be proven automatically in a few seconds or even less on a standard notebook," Benzmüller told Spiegel Online.

The original purpose of Benzmüller’s work was to show how advanced computers have become. He added: “I didn’t know it would create such a huge public interest but [Gödel’s ontological proof] was definitely a better example than something inaccessible in mathematics or artificial intelligence. … It’s a very small, crisp thing, because we are just dealing with six axioms in a little theorem. … There might be other things that use similar logic. Can we develop computer systems to check each single step and make sure they are now right?”